Legal Cheating

So Hasbro is planning to release a special "Cheater's Edition" of Monopoly this fall, which will contain legal ways to circumvent the rules.

If that sounds confusing, then you probably have a better understanding of the word "rules" than Hasbro does. What the new version of the game has is some suggested "cheats," such as moving someone else's token, paying them less than you actually owe them, and so on. "Cheat cards" in the center of the board outline what rewards you will get if you manage to pull off your nefarious deed unnoticed. And they also spell out the penalty if you do not.

Hasbro said the new version of the game comes in response to surveys that show many Monopoly players cut corners and such when they are trying to win the game. If you own Hasbro stock, you might want to take notice of the fact that they had to survey their customers to learn this.

But teasing aside, this sounds like a neat new wrinkle in the game. People who want to try to cheat will still do so, but now there are specific penalties if they get caught. One of the problems with the previous "improvisational" cheating was a lack of clearly defined consequences for the miscreants. Swirlies might be the acceptable punishment in one setting, while being forced to wash the dishes after dinner might be required when the game was played among family. Although swirlies might not be out of bounds in that arena either.

Now, though, someone who wants to take the risk but fails to cheat successfully will have a clear fine or punishment printed out on the card. The element of risk-taking to earn a little extra cash follows the purpose and atmosphere of the rest of the game, too.

The limited number of potential cheats is probably a wise decision. If there were too many, then some sly scoundrel might devise an entirely new strategy even more devious than the printed cheats: Playing strictly by the rules. Diabolical!