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Game maker Parker Brothers has added VISA Debit Cards to the classic board game Monopoly so players can now pay for properties with debit cards.

According to Parker Brothers, they have phased out the standard multi-colored cash in a new version, so if you have the classic game with the paper money, hold on to it as it will most likely become a collectors item for sure.

What does this mean to new upcoming players of Monopoly? It means that players will instead use a Visa mock debit card to keep track of how much they win or lose. The debit card is inserted into an electronic machine where the banker taps in cardholders’ earnings and payments.

That’s very interesting from a geek point of view. I wonder if the mock debit cards have a magnetic strip on them? I wonder what kind of information actually gets encoded on the card? I’ll have to track one of these new versions down and do some testing and of course report my findings.

So why did Parker Brothers decided to move to a debit card system for buying properties? According to spokesman Chris Weatherhead:

The new electronic Monopoly reflects the changing nature of society and the advancement of technology. It is part of an international deal between Parker and finance giant VISA, which designed the mock debit card and its electronic machine.

Ah, so VISA is getting a cut too. It’s all about the almighty dollar.

Now that I know VISA is part of this project, I really want to check out the mock up debit cards and see what makes them tick.

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