Cash has had its day. The analysts say it, the many countries that have adopted policies to favour digital payment demonstrate it, and now even Monopoly says it. Yes, you read that correctly; there are no typing errors. We are talking about one of the most popular and profitable board games, known everywhere and played since childhood.
The news is that Monopoly is being updated, and cash is being retired to make room for Monopoly App Banking, a new version in which there are no more paper banknotes. Because everything is done digitally. As soon as I read about this new version, my mind went back several years to the long games with friends and relatives that characterised part of my adolescence. At the time, it was another world, and it was unthinkable to play Monopoly digitally. That was still too far in the future. Today, what Hasbro, the US games and toys publisher that is second only to Lego and Mattel in the sector, has announced seems like a natural step, almost a must to keep up with a society centred on digital services.
Monopoly: a virtual credit card for faster payments
According to the US company, Monopoly App Banking simplifies banking operations. For this reason, at the beginning of the game, each player will receive a replica of a credit card, which must be linked to the app so that the titles of the various properties they own will also be synchronised with the Banking app. With this shift to digital, there are two significant consequences for the future of Monopoly. Firstly, games will last less, as transactions are faster, while on the other hand Hasbro aims to broaden the range of people interested in the game, as even the youngest children will be able to get involved more easily. Last but not least, there’s an aspect that’s always important when playing: no one will be able to cheat anymore!
It should be noted, however, that not everyone has welcomed the farewell to paper money because several parents and teachers have expressed concern about the technological implications. The fear is that children will gradually be drawn away from practical activities, such as calculating and managing money, which the classic Monopoly game helps them to develop. The risk, along the lines of what happened with smartphones and forgetting telephone numbers (stored on the device), is that children may rely too much on technology and then encounter mathematical problems, showing gaps in counting numbers.
A digital society with a digital Euro?
Beyond Monopoly, whose Banking App version will be available in the United States in August for $24.99 and will arrive in Europe in the following months, the transformation of a board game is symptomatic of how digital currency has taken over from cash. This is not surprising given the success of online shopping and the gradual shift of a long list of activities from the traditional to the digital version, including the boom in cryptocurrencies (and the relative flops). Perhaps for this reason, too, it is no longer so absurd to think that in a few years, the digital Euro, or other solutions capable of replacing current coins and banknotes, could become the main means of carrying out transactions at all levels.
