Monopoly for Millennials: the board game for hipster socialists

Hasbro has released Monopoly for Millennials.

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Americans love to hate Millennials, so maybe it was inevitable that someone would invent a board game to, er, celebrate their enthusiasms. The toy company Hasbro has released a new take on its classic board game, and Monopoly for Millennials is fun for the whole socialist family this holiday season.

“Forget real estate. You can’t afford it anyway,” the game’s box proclaims. Players instead acquire experiences. In true hipster fashion, being the first to discover a new vegan bistro or meditation retreat wins points. Game pieces include emojis, and Rich Uncle Pennybags takes selfies and gets a makeover with sunglasses.

Millennial moaning about the game has helped it go viral. “The rules are simple, you start with no money, you can’t afford anything, the board is on fire for some reason and everything is your fault,” quipped Aaron Gillies, author of How to Survive the End of the World (When It’s In Your Own Head): An Anxiety Survival Guide.

Emily Roehler, a millennial meteorologist at Fox’s Colorado Springs affiliate, tweeted that she hopes Hasbro would “be donating the proceeds to student debt relief. (which is why Millennials can’t afford real estate).”

And in the inevitable piece from the left-wing scolds at Vox, Rachel Sugar called the game “a tired joke, a joke we have been telling, without addressing the grim reality behind the joke, for well over a decade now.” Talk about proving the point of the jokes about Millennials.

Hasbro’s take is #onpoint. Millennials aged 25 to 34 have an average $42,000 in debt, Northwestern Mutual found this year. More than Baby Boomers or Gen Xers, Millennials spend their money on events, activities and travel instead of goods or houses, McKinsey reported last year. If they’d kept pace with these two earlier generations, 3.7 million more Millennials would own homes, the Urban Institute found last summer.

Some 51 per cent of American adults under 30 harbour positive views about socialism, Gallup found in August. So Hasbro deserves credit for offering a lesson in Capitalism 101.

When Monopoly for Millennials hit the shelves this month, it sold for less than $20. But as the game gained attention, it briefly sold out, and now it won’t leave the Walmart shelf for less than $75. So as Millennials pass go, they may notice there is money to be made when supply meets demand.

Perhaps the experience will even pique new interest in economics and entrepreneurship. Someone has to pay for the baby boomer entitlements that progressive millennial pundits are working so hard to expand.