Right-wing parody Monopoly: Socialism lets players give money to society rather than buy properties

A right-wing parody version of the classic board game Monopoly mocking socialism has gone on sale, amusing and outraging those on both sides of the political spectrum.

With the tagline ‘winning is for capitalists’, the scathing game offers players the chance to contribute to community projects instead of buying properties.

Instead of the classic tokens such as an iron, a dog and a boot, the socialist version is played with a typewriter, an old-fashioned phone, a pocket watch, a phonograph, and a CRT Television.

The board game is being sold for $19.99 at Target and features spaces such as a vegan restaurant and an all-winners school

The board game, which is being sold for $19.99 at Target, replaces iconic city locations with the ‘healthcare for all hospital’ and the ‘we’re all winners school’.

Target’s website states: ‘In the Monopoly Socialism game players move around the board working together to make a better community by managing and contributing to projects such as a no-tip vegan restaurant, an all-winners school, or a museum of co-creation. But nobody said that cooperation is easy! 

‘Drawing a Chance card presents the flip side of striving for the perfect utopian society. 

‘You’ll have issues with your neighbors, your DIY community projects go awry, you’re constantly voting to shake things up, and there’s always an emergency that requires dipping into the Community Fund! 

Author and historian Nick Kapur wrote a scathing review of the game which he says does not understand what socialism is

Many online have said they are ‘shocked’ by the ‘mean-spirited’ game which is marketed by Hasbro

‘Contribute all 10 of your chips to win the game, unless the Community Fund runs out of money and everyone loses. So much for a socialist utopia.’

Instead of collecting $200 each time a player passes Go, they receive a $50 living wage.

One of the cards even says: ‘You seem to be doing too well for yourself. That’s not how socialism works. As a community, choose one player to take back five of their chips.’ 

Author and historian Nick Kapur posted a thread on Twitter about the game after he played it.

He said: ‘It goes without saying that this game is entirely uninterested in trying to understand what socialism actually is and how it might function. 

‘In sum, I can’t quite figure out who the target audience of this game is.’ 

He says the game focuses heavily on health food and environmentalism despite not having a discernible link to socialism. 

He also points out that the original Monopoly was created by American anti-capitalist Lizzie Magie in an attempt to satirize the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies.

She created two sets of rules: an anti-monopolist set in which everyone was rewarded when wealth was created, and a monopolist set in which the goal was to create monopolies and crush opponents by forcing them into bankruptcy.

Her game called The Landlord’s Game was then bought by the Parker Brothers who turned it into the smash board game we know today.

Many on social media, like Mr Kapur, have criticized the ‘mean-spirited’ game, but others say they find it hilarious.

Socialist versions of Monopoly already exist such as the anti-capitalist Class Struggle which Britain’s former Labour leader Ed Miliband said was very popular in his house when he was growing up.