Monopoly fans have spoken and a cat token is the latest game piece to the board game, replacing the tiny iron statuette. Toy maker Hasbro Inc. announced the winning token Wednesday after closing the voting page on Facebook. The kitty joins the wheelbarrow, shoe, battleship, thimble, top hate, race car and Scottie Dog as the new set of pieces for the property-inspired board game.
Hasbro Inc., maker of Monopoly, created a month long elimination on Facebook in an effort to engage consumers and fans and keep them invested in the long-time board game. Seeing as the Internet loves cats, it was no surprise the kitty beat out other pieces including a diamond ring, guitar, helicopter or toy robot. The only thing that could have beaten the kitty in the polls was maybe a picture of One Direction, but even that is debatable.
185 countries took place in the voting, battling it out to try and get their favorite piece to win. Fans showed the least amount of interest in the housewife's iron, which debuted in the 1930s and only received 8 percent of the vote. It will now join other eliminated pieces- the lantern, purse and rocking horse which were removed in the 1950s. The fan-favorite Scottie Dog earned the most backing with 29 percent of the votes.
The iron will be retired from production immediately, so fans will have to put a rush order out on Monopoly games if the iron was their favorite. A clever marketing tool by Hasbro Inc. The company intends on debuting the new version of the board game in late 2013.
Naturally, social media took right to the new monopoly piece with many fans speaking out in anger against the new cat. Like it or not, the cat is here to stay.
