References to the board game Monopoly in popular culture

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Since Parker Brothers first published and marketed the board game Monopoly in 1935, it has influenced popular culture in many ways. It has been referenced in cartoons, comic strips, novels, and comedy routines, among others. The following is a list of references to the board game Monopoly in popular culture.

  • Tom Lehrer's 1950s song "We Will All Go Together When We Go" includes the line: "You will all go directly to your respective Valhallas. Go directly, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dolla's."
  • A common dismissive comment about a colorful currency is to call it "Monopoly money". For example, Americans sometimes refer to the more colorful Canadian banknotes as "Monopoly money", and the recolored US $20 bill introduced in 2003 was subject to the same criticism.
  • McDonald's Monopoly is a sweepstakes run by the fast-food chain, with a theme based on the board game where you receive a prize if you collect all the properties of one color section. The playing pieces are often found on medium to large drinks and french fries, as well as other selected menu items. For example, in the autumn 2005 incarnation, game pieces could be found on their "Premium Chicken" items.
  • The CGI title sequence of Greek series Sto Para Pente shows the five protagonists as pawns walking a huge board game and avoiding hazards. While this is not very reminiscent of Monopoly, during the course of the plot they are shown to enjoy playing Monopoly in their free time. Dalhia, the rich bimbo who hates money, discovers her innate talent in winning. In one episode, Fotis explains to Angela how destiny and free will work, by paralleling how dice and decisions form the game of Monopoly.
  • CNBC TV anchor James Cramer, a Monopoly fan who was a co-host with Lawrence Kudlow on Kudlow & Cramer, has referred to railroad stocks as "the Readings and the Short Lines" on his TV program Mad Money. Like Monopoly patentor Charles Darrow, Cramer is from southeastern Pennsylvania, specifically Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.
  • The arch rival of The Simpsons' character C. Montgomery Burns (in addition to Aristotle Amadopolis) is Uncle Pennybags, who has been featured in a few episodes. Also, in another episode titled "Brawl in the Family", the Simpsons try to decide what game to play, going through a list of Monopoly clones including: Oligopoly, Edna Krabappoly, Gallipolopoly, and Star Wars Monopoly. [1] Later a family fight breaks out when they discover Bart using red Lego pieces as hotels; one of the police officers later said: "Another case of Monopoly-related violence, chief. How do those Parker Brothers sleep at night?" In "Who Shot Mr. Burns", Mr. Burns states that he owns "the electric company and the water works, plus the hotel on Baltic Avenue," to which Principal Skinner replies "That hotel's a dump and your monopoly's pathetic!". In the episode "Homer Defined", Bart plays a game of Monopoly with Maggie, having been banned from seeing Milhouse. The game proves to be a bit advanced for Maggie, prompting Marge to say "Bart, don't feed your sister hotels".
  • "Do not pass go; do not collect 200 (dollars, pounds, etc.)" has entered popular culture as a phrase used with various meanings.
  • In March 2006, thieves robbed a van on its way to Heathrow Airport in England and stole £75 million in Monopoly money. [2] They apparently believed the van to be carrying real currency.
  • One of Larry the Cable Guy's stand-up routines involves him tipping a stripper with Monopoly money because she has fake breasts so she deserves fake money.
  • In the novel Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor, Dave Lister went on a drunken Monopoly board pub crawl with his friends to celebrate his 25th birthday, where he got very, very drunk — when he awoke, he was on Mimas, one of Saturn's moons, wearing a lady's pink crimplene hat and a pair of yellow fishing waders, with no money and a passport in the name of "Emily Berkenstein", and a worrying rash.
  • Monopoly has been featured in other American newspaper comics, such as FoxTrot and Calvin and Hobbes. In the latter, Calvin is seen to play the board game with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, which his mother describes as cute, but to which his father replies, "I dunno, I overheard him using words he didn't learn in this household."[3]
  • Monopoly has also been featured in comics originating outside the United States. One such example is the comic Madam & Eve, in which the characters use fictional "South African Monopoly" and "Zimbabwe Monopoly" boards to satirize current political events in both countries.[4]
  • In the episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot, "The Lost Mine", a then new 1936 Waddingtons Monopoly set, based on London, plays a minor part in the plot. Poirot and Captain Hastings play the game throughout the episode, and Poirot complains about not being able to build hotels at the train stations in London (which has more to do with the original layout, as in the American version, they are railway lines instead of stations). The instructions to the game become part of the method with which Poirot solves the particular mystery.
  • In an episode of Lamb Chop's Play-Along, Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy play the original Monopoly, however they seem to be using the multicolored houses from Monopoly Junior rather than the original houses and hotels.
  • In an episode of The King of Queens, Doug (Kevin James), while pretending to be a real estate agent, said he had to get off the telephone because he was "trading in four houses for a hotel."
  • In Over the Hedge, RJ uses Monopoly tokens to plan their foraging — as usual, everyone wants to be the car.
  • A newspaper story run in the Daily Herald on 5 December 2006 about a planned development in Wheaton, Illinois described the project as: "A downtown Wheaton project already told to pass go and head to free parking will now get $2.4 million from the community chest."[5]

[edit] "Get Out of Jail Free"

A waiver or other excuse that prevents a person from otherwise getting in some sort of trouble is sometimes referred to as a "Get Out of Jail Free card." An example of this is in the 1994 film Clear and Present Danger as CIA Deputy Director Robert Ritter refers to a Presidential memo as such: I have an autographed get out of jail free card! "The President of the United States authorizes Deputy Director of the CIA Robert Ritter to conduct 'Operation Reciprocity' including all necessary funding and support. This action is deemed important to the national security of the United States etcetera, etcetera, etcetera." You don't *have* one of these, do you Jack?

  • In the Jackie Chan Adventures episode "Relics of Demons Past," when Drago breaks out of jail, Jade tries to stop him and says, "There are no Get Out of Jail Free so long as Jade-girl's still got game!"
  • In the B.C. newspaper comic, the son of an ant who was in jail sent him a Get Out of Jail Free card.
  • In the Internet cartoon series Tomorrow's Nobodies, the main characters bail their friend Chase out of jail with a Get Out of Jail Free card. The arresting officer then says "Damn you, Milton Bradley! Damn you!" despite the game's being made by Parker Brothers.
  • In the Jumanji cartoon, Allan Parrish buys a "Get out of Jumanji free" card.
  • On the cover of an Archie Comics digest magazine, Archie Andrews was shown receiving an oversized Get Out of Detention Free card.
  • On the premier episode of Arrested Development, there is one scene where the Bluth family is playing a game of Monopoly after George Bluth has been arrested. One character remarks that the elder Bluth will want a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Simpsons Archive page for the Brawl in the Family episode. Accessed 1 January 2006.
  2. ^ Spanton, Tim. "The great GAME robbery", The Sun, May 28, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-05-28.
  3. ^ Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, by Bill Watterson. Originally published on 24 January 1988.
  4. ^ Francis, S. and Rico (2002). Madam & Eve: 10 Wonderful Years. Rapid Phase, Pages 116-117. ISBN 0-620-29248-2.
  5. ^ "Dusek project clears its final hurdle in Wheaton" by James Fuller. Published in the Daily Herald on 5 December 2006, accessed on the same date.
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