The original idea was to design the car token based on the car Mr. The racecar steals its sharp looks from a 1930s roadster. The car was the seventh token added to the original game. Some might say heavy artillery doesn’t belong in real estate, anyway. Unlike most pieces, the cannon was simply dropped from the lineup without any kind of fan vote or campaign. In 1946, it changed from its original design to the long cannon style. Often called the cannon even though rumor is the piece was supposed to be called the howitzer, this piece is closely tied to the battleship.The cannon was also used in Conflict and tossed in with Monopoly as that game failed. Since then, it has also been used in the game Diplomacy as well. When that game failed, it was easy enough for the company to take the pieces and use them in Monopoly. The piece was originally used by Parker Brothers in a game called Conflict. The die-cast metal battleship token is actually somewhat of a game piece celebrity. A T-Rex, penguin, and rubber ducky replaced the thimble, wheelbarrow, and boot. It was the third and final token to be retired in 2017. Instead of changing its design with the times, the Boot has remained the same and is a symbol of both hard work and the riches that can come along with it. The iron should have seen the writing on the wall: it was the second least popular piece in a 1998 vote.Īround since the beginning, the Boot was modeled after the practical work shoe of the 30s. Perhaps saddest to see it go was Monopoly World Champion Bjorn Halvard Knappskog, who used the piece in his last championship match. The iron was another classic token that fell to the wayside.

The thimble was retired in 2017, only to make a surprise comeback in 2022. It didn’t make it far into the 21st century, though. Much like the top hat and shoe, the thimble has appeared in most versions of the game that have been released. The piece of choice of US Monopoly champion Richard Marinaccio, the thimble is one of the original pieces. Of course, when the game was introduced, he was known as Rich Uncle Pennybags, and many have speculated the character was based on J.P. The token was based on the hat the game’s lead character, Mr. Often considered the most recognizable icon of the game, the top hat is one of the things you might expect a Gilded Age railroad titan to wear.

These are the backstories of each of the major pieces. From 1950 to 1988, the pieces stayed the same. While the origin story has more than its fair share of unfair plot twists, the original version of the game itself has been consistently popular with a long line of special editions with unique pieces. He continued to get credit for Monopoly’s creation for more than half a century until people started to shed light on Magie’s true story in the 2010s. In the 1930s, Charles Darrow took credit for the idea of the game and put forth a story about using small items from around the home as playing pieces. It was about as anticapitalist a game as they come - until a greedy capitalist of another sort came through and changed that. Monopoly was created by Lizzy Magie in the early 1900s as a way to demonstrate, in game form, the greedy land grabbing that robber barons were doing in the Gilded Age. You’ve probably played more than a few games with the little racecar or thimble without ever stopping to think, “Why the hell am I a thimble?” While many board games use colorful little pegs as markers, Monopoly, the game with the unique power to unite and divide a family in the matter of an hour, has those odd tokens you’re no doubt familiar with.

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