Will the shoe get the boot? Board game fans to vote on next Monopoly tokens
Will the shoe get the boot?
Hasbro, the maker of Monopoly, is letting you vote on the tokens you want to see in the next generation of the classic board game.
Dubbed the "Monopoly Token Madness Vote," folks will have the opportunity to select eight pieces from a collection of more than 50, including old favorites like the shoe, top hat, thimble and Scottie dog and new designs like a T-Rex, rubber duck and an emoji.
The game, which went on sale during the Great Depression, has had 20 different tokens. The thimble, top hat, race car and boot were among the original tokens in 1933, and others have been added in an attempt to modernize the game.
It's no surprise that Hasbro is seeking to update the 84-year-old game. When it comes to toys, the game segment has seen tremendous sales growth in the last year, up 20 percent this year, according to the NPD Group.
The segment, which includes card games, board games, puzzles, dice and strategy games, caters to toddlers, teens and adults and has been gaining speed in recent years. In 2015, game sales rose 14 percent from the prior year, when sales climbed 6 percent year over year, Juli Lennett, an NPD Group toys industry analyst, told CNBC.
Legacy games like Monopoly have continued to be top sellers, although not quite as much as newer games like Pie Face and Speakout.
This isn't the first time that Hasbro has held a contest to create a new iteration of the game. In 2013, the company held a "Save Your Token" vote to determine which classic token would be replaced. The iron was ditched and a cat charm took its place.
In 2014, Hasbro held a vote for its Australian version of the game to determine which state or territory in the country would hold the coveted Boardwalk location.
The "Monopoly Token Madness Vote" begins Tuesday and runs through Jan. 31. To place your vote click here.