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McDonald's Monopoly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The McDonald's Monopoly game is a sweepstakes advertising promotion of McDonald's and Hasbro that has been offered in the United States, Canada, Germany, UK and Australia. In recent years, Best Buy has been involved in the U.S. version and recently in the Canadian one as well. It has also gone by various other names including "Monopoly Best Chance Game" (2003-05, the first years of Best Buy's involvement) and "Monopoly/Millionaire Game", a version based on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire TV show.
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The game mimics the game of Monopoly. Originally, customers received a set of two tokens with every purchase, but now tokens only come with certain menu items. Tokens correspond to a property space on the Monopoly board. When combined into color-matched properties, the tokens may be redeemed for money or prizes such as video games and portable CD players (though the 2006 U.S. game was for money only). Historically, the grand prize has been the combination of the two most costly properties, Park Place and Boardwalk, but in a 2006 game the grand prize was awarded for collecting the four railroads. In order to restrict the availability of the top prizes, one property in a set is rare. There are also "instant win" tokens the recipient can redeem for McDonald's food (typically small menu items such as a free hash browns or ice cream sundae), cash, or other prizes.
Additionally, in the 2007 edition, certain foods always come with one coupon which can be used at either Toys R Us or Foot Locker (this includes the online stores) Although it is certain to get one coupon, the value of the coupon is random, with Toys R Us coupons ranging from $1 to $5, and they allow up to $5 in coupons to be used in a single transaction, allowing up to five coupons to be used at each store visit, depending on their values. You Can redeem up to 20% off of all foot locker items with the instore coupons also.
The rare collectible pieces, the ones that dictate the odds of winning, are:
| Property | 2007 code | 2007 prize | 2006 code | 2006 prize | 2005 code | 2005 prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mediterranean Avenue | 801 | $50 | 3601 | $50 | 5001 | |
| Vermont Avenue | 804 | $500 | 3604 | $500 | 5004 | |
| Virginia Avenue | 808 | $1,000 | 3608 | $1,000 | 5008 | |
| Tennessee Avenue | 810 | $5,000 | 3987 | $1,500 | 5010 | |
| Kentucky Avenue | 812 | $10,000 | 3612 | $5,000 | 5012 | |
| Ventnor Avenue | 816 | $25,000 | 3616 | $10,000 | 5016 | |
| Pennsylvania Avenue | 820 | $50,000 | 3620 | $50,000 | 5020 | |
| Boardwalk | 822 | $1,000,000 (annuity) | 3622 | $1,000,000 (annuity) | 5022 | $1,000,000 (annuity) |
| Short Line | 826 | $100 | 3626 | $5,000,000 | 5026 | Dodge viper |
In 2004, McDonald's introduced an online counterpart to its traditional game. In addition to the traditional "sticker" game, participants can play online. Each game piece (aside from the Toys R Us, Foot Locker, and Best Buy coupon pieces) lists a code which can be entered online. Each code entered grants the user one roll on a virtual Monopoly game board, identical to the board game's board. Rolling "doubles" (two dice sharing the same number), as with the real board game, allows the user to move again. Whenever the user lands on a property space (with the exception of the utilities, Electric Co. and Water Works, which do nothing at all), the user will "collect" that property. When all properties of a colored set are collected, the user wins a prize, with prize values similar to those of the sticker game.
In addition to collecting property sets, users can also win by landing on certain "instant win" spaces, including Free Parking. Certain spaces, such as Community Chest, can also allow the user to win a free digital download of the computer game Monopoly: Here and Now Edition.
The values of the dice are not random. As stated in the contest rules, one property in each set is "rare," similar to the sticker game. These rare properties will only be landed on when the game server "seeds" a winning roll. Winning rolls are seeded at specific times on specific dates, and the first user to roll the dice once a win has been seeded will land on a winning piece. This allows McDonald's to declare the odds of winning certain prizes, a legal requirement for contests in most jurisdictions.
While the contest is essentially identical in each country where it is available, game pieces collected in one country cannot be used in the others. For example, game pieces collected in the United States cannot be used to play the online game in Canada, or vice versa.
Like many merchants, McDonald's offered prize money contests to draw customers into its restaurants. State lottery rules generally forbid a company from administering its own contests, in order to prevent fraud and to ensure that all the offered prize money is paid out. McDonald's had a long standing relationship with Simon Worldwide Inc., which was responsible for the distribution of the contest pieces and the payment of major prizes.
McDonald's contests were almost all based on a "collection" basis, in which more than one contest piece had to be collected to win a prize (although some contest pieces were "instant winners"). Contests of this sort generally make one or more contest pieces rare, so that it is difficult to find, printed in very small quantities under secure conditions and then mixed with the more common pieces to ensure they are randomly distributed to the customers.
In 2001, the U.S. promotion was halted after fraud was uncovered. A subcontracting company called Simon Marketing (a then-subsidiary of Cyrk), which was hired by McDonald's to organize and promote the game, failed to recognize a flaw in its procedures, and the chief of security, Jerome P. Jacobson,[1] was able to remove the "most expensive" game pieces, which he then passed to associates who would redeem them and share the proceeds. It turned out that almost all of the grand prize and top prize winners over several years, including contests McDonald's held that did not have the Monopoly theme, had been participants in the scheme, netting more than $24 million. The scheme was eventually uncovered when one of the participants informed on its ringleaders to the FBI. While the fraud was perpetrated without McDonald's knowledge, the McDonald's Corporation voluntarily attempted to rectify the situation by issuing payouts to new (legitimate) contest-winners, awarding five $1 million prizes and fifty $100,000 prizes over a five-day period.[1]
While the fraud appeared to have been perpetuated by only one key employee of the promotion company, and not by the company's management, eight people were originally arrested, eventually leading to a total of 51 indicted individuals.[2] The relationship between McDonald's and Simon Marketing broke down in a pair of lawsuits over breach of contract, eventually settled out of court, with McDonald's claim being thrown out and Simon receiving $16.6 million.[3] Although McDonald's was not involved in the fraud, it came under a great deal of criticism for what appeared to be lax oversight of the promotion company.[citation needed]
In 2003, McDonald's resumed its Monopoly games in the U.S. with new precautions. Game tokens are provided on selected food items and through the mail by sending a self addressed stamped envelope.
In May 2005, the widow of Stanley Warwick, one of the persons indicted in the scheme, sued McDonald's to continue the twenty annual payments of $50,000 Warwick allegedly won in 1999. These payments were discontinued in 2001 when Warwick was indicted for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The charges were never brought to trial before Warwick's death in 2003.
In the 2006 U.S. version, guaranteed win pieces guaranteed either $1 or $5 in Best Buy credit.
In 2007, the pieces have small cent symbols (¢) printed on them in various patterns that are only visible under ultraviolet light.
In 1995, St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee received an anonymous letter postmarked Dallas, Texas, containing a $1 million winning game piece. Although game rules prohibited the transfer of prizes, McDonald's waived the rule and has made the annual $50,000 installments.[4]
- ^ a b FBI arrests 8 in fraud scheme targeting McDonald's game
- ^ Twenty-one indicted in McDonald's scam
- ^ McDonald's to Pay Simon $16.6 Million Settlement
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E6DD1F39F93BA35751C1A963958260
- Official rules
- Official American McDonald's Monopoly site
- Official Canadian McDonald's Monopoly site
- Statistical analysis and 2006 game hints
- List of Rare Pieces for 2007
- List of Rare Pieces for 2007 (UK Game)
- Canadian Monopoly Game 2006 Information
- Games back on menu at McDonald's
- Four convicted in McDonald's scam
- Convictions erased for four men in McDonald's scam
