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Monopoly revealed its new game tokens today and Bucky the T. rex couldn’t be happier. The dinosaur with the massive skull, long tail, and short arms was roaring up a storm at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis when he received the news. His likeness was selected to be one of the chosen few new game pieces that families everywhere will likely want to represent them when starting a new game.
“Dinosphere lit up with lightning and the sound of thunder when Bucky heard the news,” said Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “Dracorex hogwartsia and Leonardo, the mummified dinosaur declined comment.”
Meanwhile, it is “game over” for the thimble, wheel barrow and the boot. None of those pieces will pass GO again (unless of course you have a collector’s edition of Monopoly game) like the world’s largest children’s museum does. Where else in the world can you find real dinosaur fossils and a 1961 edition of Monopoly? The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis’ curator pulled the collector edition of Monopoly out of storage for this special photo opportunity.
Make way for T. rex! The other new tokens (game pieces) include a “rubber” ducky and a penguin. The three new tokens will now join the racecar, the battleship, the cat, Scottie dog, and top hat. There were 64 contenders for the three new spots. The decision to include the T. rex was no roll of the dice. According to the Associated Press, The Scottie was top dog in the competition, leading all contenders with 212,476 votes. The T. rex was second with 207,954, and the hat was third with 167,582. The racecar was fourth with 165,083; the “rubber” ducky was fifth with 160,485; the cat was sixth with 154,165; the penguin waddled into seventh place with 146,661; and the battleship made the final cut with 134,704. Who’s extinct now thimble?
In 2012, The Children’s Museum showcased dozens of toys that everyone knew, loved, and remembered from growing up. The museum then asked the public to vote and share stories about their top 20 toys that define childhood. Hasbro’s Monopoly was one of the fan-voted Top 20 toys.
The original 10 game pieces included an iron, purse, lantern, racecar, thimble, shoe, top hat, battleship, cannon and a rocking horse. A Coolmaterial article states the game’s inventor, Charles Darrow, had a niece who suggested that the pieces be charms from a girl’s charm bracelet.
The announcement comes just before World Monopoly Day, which is March 19, 2017. The newest version of the game will go on sale with the new tokens in the fall. You may recall Indianapolis was featured in a recent edition of Monopoly game in 2015. That’s when Hasbro teamed up with BuzzFeed and invited fans to pick the U.S. cities to be featured as property spaces in Monopoly Here & Now: U.S. Edition game. It launched in August 2015.
About The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is a nonprofit institution committed to creating extraordinary learning experiences across the arts, sciences, and humanities that have the power to transform the lives of children and families. For more information about The Children's Museum, visit www.childrensmuseum.org, follow us on Twitter @TCMIndy, Facebook.com/childrensmuseum and YouTube.com/IndyTCM.
