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Cashing in on demonetisation and the attendant excitement around going cashless, board game Monopoly has launched a cashless version for India. Monopoly Electronic Banking comes with four colour-coded debit cards and an electronic banking unit which replaces the paper cash and bank in the classic version.
Players can exchange any of their Monopoly paper notes for a ₹100-cash discount on the new version at major toy stores. Those who do not have the game yet can take a pledge to go cashlessand redeem the cashdiscount at Amazon.
The Electronic Banking version has been around in other countries for many years now. Last year, Hasbro launched the Ultimate Banking version where a scanner could read bank cards, event cards and title deeds.
Wider appealBhavesh Somaya, Country Head, Hasbro India, tells Business Line that “integrating technology in games will ensure that the interest in board games continues and will appeal to a wider audience. We are moving towards the digital age and India is progressing towards a cashless economy.” The consumer profile for classic and electronic Monopoly is pretty much the same.
Will the gameplay and ‘money management lessons’ for children still be the same?
Delhi-based Aishwarya Karthik Darbha, who has owned the electronic version for over eight years, says: “The game picks up speed quickly and it’s easy to remember the cash balance we have. It is important that the design of the game remains the same, regardless of cashless or the older system.”
US-based Jaya Shree says her 11-year-old daughter finds the modern version more fun and convenient, adding: “I think the ‘cool’ factor of being able to use a card and feeling like an adult counts for some of the fun.”
Somaya says the game does not lose its lessons on managing money. It helps parents teach their kids about a cashless /digital economy.
Hasbro has modernised other board games too. Game of Life, which is a game on life and career choices, as well as Battleship , now have electronic versions. Other games which have updated for the digital age include Trivial Pursuit and Uno .
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