(Atlantic City, NJ) – Monopoly has been one of the best selling and most loved board games for the past 80 years both in the United State and around the world. There have been over 600 different versions of the game manufactured, from the best-known original version to variations that pay homage to Star Wars, bacon, Indiana Jones, John Wayne, Shrek and the Beatles. Other popular variations include versions tailored for various countries, cities and professional sports teams around the world.

With all of these variations, the basic game play has remained the same. There are always two dice, Chance and Community Chest cards, properties to be bought and sold, railroads, utilities, free parking, and the receipt of a salary for passing Go. Some changes in the player tokens have been the most evident to long-time players. The confusing iron token was replaced with a cat token in 2013, and this year the classic thimble token will be replaced with something more modern.

These changes are small potatoes compared to what fans will experience next year. Starting in 2018, the Monopoly board will no longer include the “jail” and “go to jail” board spaces. The past 80 years have seen drastic changes in the prevailing social theories regarding incarceration. Hasbro, the current caretaker and manufacturer of the Monopoly brand, has decided that it is time to modernize the basic mores of the game to be more in line with these theories. 

In the new Monopoly version, the “jail” space will be renamed “rehabilitation,” and will be referred to as “rehab” on the Chance cards. Likewise, the “go to jail” space will now be called “go to rehab.” A new twist will be that the first three times that players land on the “go to rehab” space, they will receive a “probation before judgement” token. Once they have collected three of these tokens, they will go straight to rehab upon landing on the “go to rehab” space for a fourth time. On their way to rehab, they will receive their salary for passing the Go space.

To get out of rehab, players must wait for their next turn.

A Hasbro spokesman stated that these changes make the game more realistic, more in line with our actual criminal justice system, and better prepare our youth for what they will face if they break the laws of our society.

Hal Donetto, president of the Classic Board Game Players Association of America (CBGPAoA), was stunned by the news, but recovered quickly, saying “we still have Yahtzee.”