Three classic Monopoly tokens booted after public vote

Three new Monopoly tokens, as chosen by the public, have been revealed, and some old favourites are getting the axe.

The new tokens are a gold T-Rex, rubber duck and penguin.

 Five of the original silver tokens were spared – the cat, racecar, dog, battleship and top hat, while the thimble, wheelbarrow and the boot, are getting, err, the boot. 

 The new tokens were chosen in survey launched by Hasbro, the makers of Monopoly, which put up 56 options to be voted on.

 Some of the tokens that didn’t make the cut were a hashtag, a thumbs-up emoji, a gramophone, sliced bread, a typewriter, a thong (a.k. a flipflop, in British parlance), a pocket watch and and a rotary phone, according to Business Insider.

Monopoly fans have one last chance to say goodbye to old favourites, with the release of the limited-edition game Monopoly Token Madness, which features the eight original tokens and eight gold tokens.

Tributes to the classic Monopoly pieces that were axed flooded in on Twitter at the weekend.

https://twitter.com/metajane/status/842778129357664256

One user pointed out a potential political angle in cutting out these particular tokens, noting that the thimble, wheelbarrow and boot were originally included as symbols of the working class.

 There have been plenty of positive comments about the new pieces too, though, with lots of praise for the gold T-Rex.

The Sun provides an explanation of how the Monopoly pieces came about. The game’s investor, Charles Darrow, initially imagined players using household items such as buttons and coins to mark their progress, but when his niece used a charm from her bracelet as a token, he liked the idea so much he changes his intention. 

It’s not the first time Monopoly has changed the tokens – a cannon dropped out of the set in the 1950s, according to The Sun, and the beloved Scottie dog was added at around the same time.

What’s your favourite Monopoly token? Are you sad that they’ve been changed?