New voice-activated banker Monopoly means you can never cheat
The omnipotent talking top hat also will yell, "YOU'RE BANKRUPT!" at you.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
This new version of Monopoly won't let you cheat.
Hey, Monopoly cheaters. Here's a version that won't let you sneak extra hundreds from the bank or neglect to pay your taxes.
The upcoming Monopoly Voice Activated Banking Game, available July 1, adds an omnipotent banker in the form of a voice-activated top hat that manages the game's financial transactions. It's the opposite of the Cheaters edition that came out last year and rewards your lying loser friends.
Basic gameplay is the same -- march around the board and try to buy up properties so you can charge your fellow players rent when they land on them.
But now you don't have to slag off the thankless job of "banker" on to your friend who's good at math (or who's the most honest among you.) Tell all your transactions to the voice-activated hat (1970s kids, this has Lidsville written all over it), and trust it to manage the money.
So if you are buying Boardwalk, you press the button that represents you as a player and tell the top hat what you're doing, and it subtracts that amount of money from your balance. Same deal if you select a card that makes you pay your taxes or famously enjoy that rare bank error in your favor.
It'll also bluntly yell, "You're bankrupt!" at you if that's the case -- thanks for rubbing it in, disturbingly anthropomorphic headgear.
The game can be preordered only at Walmart.com for $29.99 (£23.69, AU$43.56) but as of July 1, it should be in most major stores.
Voice Banking Monopoly features an interactive top hat as the banker.