Monopoly Money No More: Voice-Activated Banking In New Edition

Having been around for 84 years at this point, Monopoly is a game that's gone through a large number of variations. The most recent spin on the classic board game, however, might be the most interesting one yet. The newest version of Monopoly actually drops physical cash and cards and makes most everything digital, with a voice-activated Mr. Monopoly keeping track of transactions as you play.

Yes, it seems that Hasbro is following the lead of companies like Amazon and Google here and turning Mr. Monopoly into something of a smart assistant. His intelligence pretty much begins and ends with matters related to Monopoly, though, as players will need to press the button associated with their token on the top hat-shaped speaker that sits in the middle of the board to issue their commands.

The game hasn't appeared on Hasbro's website yet, but a listing for Monopoly Voice Banking Edition (as it's called) is live on Walmart.com. Hasbro says that by putting Mr. Monopoly in the role of voice-activated banker, gameplay will move along at a faster pace, as players can simply issue commands like "Buy St. James place" to have the purchase automatically deducted from their cash stockpiles.

Though the game still ships with the standard 22 title deed cards, it doesn't have any paper money, Chance cards, or Community chest cards, save for one "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Though most versions of Monopoly support up to six players and some go as high as 10, Monopoly Voice only supports between two and four. Finally, the speaker runs on three AA batteries, with demo batteries that probably won't last very long included in the box.

So, if you want to see what Monopoly in the connected age is like, you'll soon have your chance – Walmart says that Monopoly Voice Banking Edition will be available beginning July 1st for $30.