Hasbro Launches Online Poll to Choose New Monopoly Piece

It looks like the end could be in sight for the classic wheelbarrow playing piece in Monopoly, as boardgame maker Hasbro has launched an online poll to replace one of the vintage tokens in favour of a new one. The online poll, which is beind held on Facebook, closes on 9th February and, so far, the potential losers are the iron (seriously though, who's going to miss that?) or the wheelbarrow, which currently only has 2% of the total votes. The lovely Scottie dog, a perennial favourite among most players, is currently leading the pack with 34% of the vote.

But, we hear you cry, what could one of these tokens be replaced with? Well, there are five to choose from and each comes with its own reason for being chosen. They are a rather smashing robot, complete with a natty moustache, a diamond ring, a cat (the perfect rival to the dog, surely?), a helicopter and guitar. Of course, anyone with any sense will choose the robot...

It'll be rather sad to see one of the classic pieces go, as many have been around since 1935 when a game similar to the one we play now was introduced. However, its origins can actually be traced back to 1904 when the earliest known design was patented by American Elizabeth Magpie. Since then there have been numerous versions, including editions based on popular movies like Star Wars and a credit card version, which swaps the typical Monopoly money for snazzy credit cards.

If you want to save your favourite playing piece, make sure you head to the Facebook page (and vote for the robot).