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Ghettopoly

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Ghettopoly
DesignersDavid Chang
Players2–8
Setup time5–15 minutes
Playing timeabout 3 hours
ChanceMedium
SkillsSimple mathematics (such as counting, finding percentages and multiplication);
Social skills;
Negotiation

Ghettopoly is a Monopoly parody released in 2003. Invented by David Chang, it uses Monopoly-like mechanics in the atmosphere of a caricaturized United States ghetto.

Game

The four railroad properties are replaced by liquor stores. Other properties include a massage parlour, a peep show and a pawn shop. The Community Chest and Chance squares become Ghetto Stash and Hustle squares, while taxation squares are replaced by police shakedown and carjacking squares. Instead of building houses and hotels, property owners can build crack houses and projects. The seven game pieces include: a pimp, a ho, a 40 oz, a machine gun, a marijuana leaf, a crack rock, and a basketball.[1]

Controversy

Some thought the game was "tasteless" and "offensive" due to its racial overtones; for example, the name of Malcolm X was intentionally misspelled as "Malcum x".

Supporters have argued that the board game is scarcely more racist in its portrayal of America's minority ghettos than some more accepted elements of popular culture, such as popular hip hop music. Some have even classified the game as social criticism. That a game in the Monopoly family should function as social rhetoric is not unusual. The ancestor of Monopoly, The Landlord's Game, provided harsh critique of the land-renting elite, while its enormously popular descendant encouraged capitalism (and was banned in many Communist countries for that reason). Some have said that Ghettopoly also qualifies not as racist mockery, but Monopoly within the sort of dark, self-deprecating social criticism characteristic of the rap generation.

The game was pulled by Urban Outfitters, its retailer. Chang still marketed the game without their support, and created a sequel known as Redneckopoly. According to Chang's now-defunct website, further such games were planned, including Hoodopoly, Hiphopopoly, and Thugopoly. In October 2003, Hasbro sued David Chang over the game's similarities to Monopoly. In January 2006, Chang was found in contempt of court for failure to produce documents. The court thus entered a "default judgment" for Hasbro's continued use of "Monopoly" as a trademark, and dismissed Chang's counterclaims, which were to revoke trademark status on "Monopoly"[citation needed] In May, 2006, the court estimated that Chang generated US$879,000 in profits from the sale of Ghettopoly, and that damages of $400,000 were reasonable.[citation needed] In June 2006, the court issued a judgment for Hasbro and against Chang for $4,000 in fees and permanently enjoined Chang from using the Ghettopoly name or selling any games by that name, or any other "opoly" forms that might cause confusion as to the source of the games, including Redneckopoly, Hiphopopoly, Hoodopoly, Thugopoly, and Latinopoly.[citation needed]

Since no longer produced and being banned in the USA, the scarcity and limited production of Ghettopoly has skyrocketed the price of a new game as the public increasingly becomes aware of its significant value as a collector's item.

Words are both symptoms of Cultural Poisoning and the means of transmitting the dis-ease. Cultural Poisoning can be found in words, Maps, pictures, songs, and music videos. Ghettopoly and its follow on's are some of the earliest known twenty first century examples of cultural poisoning in a modern board game.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ghettopoly official site (US) cache from the Internet Archive
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