Times Square Earns Coveted 'Boardwalk' Space in New Monopoly®: Here & Now™ Edition; World's Most Popular Board Game Receives a 21st Century Makeover

EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass. -- Sept. 12, 2006 -- The votes are tallied! America has elected New York City's Times Square to occupy the highest rent property space (traditionally home to Boardwalk) on the game board of the new MONOPOLY: Here & Now Edition. The Big Apple shares the coveted blue property color group with its northern neighbor Boston, which landed its Fenway ballpark on the space traditionally occupied by Park Place.

Americans cast more than 3 million online votes during Spring 2006 to shape the new edition's game board. The votes determined which landmarks from 22 cities made it onto the board, as well as the location of those landmarks on the board. The game goes on sale on Thurs., Sept. 14, 2006 at mass retail merchants nationwide for a suggested retail price of $29.99.

Mr. Monopoly revealed all 22 new properties during an unveiling event in Times Square this morning. Mr. Monopoly then threw out the first dice roll of the game and played the Edition's first official round with event attendees. Several cities represented on the board sent a local official to the event to learn first hand about their city's location on the game board.

Additional game board highlights:

-- The rest of the high-rent district (which includes the green color group) features the White House (representing Washington, D.C.), Chicago's Wrigley's Field, and the neon-glittering Las Vegas Blvd (aka "The Strip").

-- Orlando's Disney World occupies the red space traditionally known as Illinois Avenue, which has proven to be the most landed-upon property space on the board during a game.

-- Cleveland's Jacobs Field and Dallas' Texas Stadium are the most affordable properties for real estate moguls to purchase, occupying the dark purple spaces.

MONOPOLY: Here & Now Edition was designed to answer the question: "What would the most popular board game of all time look like if it were invented today instead of in 1935?" Beyond the new property landmarks, the new game has newly appraised property values and rents (players who land on Times Square with a hotel will pay $20 million), larger currency denominations, and airports replacing the railroad spaces.

Additionally, the game includes contemporary game-mover tokens. In a nod to the 21st Century, the classic race car has been replaced with an environmentally-friendly hybrid Toyota Prius, the old shoe has been given the boot in favor of a New Balance running shoe, and the hip labradoodle takes the place of the Scottish terrier. The game tokens also include McDonald's French Fries, a Motorola RAZR cell phone, an airplane, and a laptop computer.

The Chance and Community Chest cards, too, have received updated scenarios. For example, winning $10 in a beauty contest has changed to winning $100,000 in a reality TV show, and players are sent directly to jail (without passing GO) for such misdeeds as identity theft and insider trading.

"For the past 70 years, millions of Americans have tasted the thrill of 'owning it all' by playing MONOPOLY," said Matt Collins, Vice President of Marketing for Parker Brothers. "The new MONOPOLY: Here & Now Edition allows aspiring real estate tycoons to enjoy an elevated game play experience that more closely matches today's America."

The complete list of new landmarks on the game board are as follows:

BLUE
Boardwalk is now New York City's Times Square
Park Place is now Boston's Fenway Park

GREEN
Pennsylvania Ave. is now Washington's White House
North Carolina Ave. is now Chicago's Wrigley Field
Pacific Ave. is now Las Vegas' Las Vegas Blvd.

YELLOW
Marvin Gardens is now San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge
Ventnor Ave. is now Los Angeles' Hollywood
Atlantic Ave. is now New Orleans' French Quarter

RED
Illinois Ave. is now Orlando's Disney World
Indiana Ave. is now Honolulu's Waikiki Beach
Kentucky Ave. is now Phoenix' Camelback Mountain

ORANGE
New York Ave. is now Seattle's Pioneer Square
Tennessee Ave. is now Houston's Johnson Space Center
St. James Place is now Miami's South Beach

MAGENTA
Virginia Ave. is now Philadelphia's Liberty Bell
States Ave. is now Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheatre
St. Charles Place is now Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park

LIGHT BLUE
Connecticut Ave. is now Minneapolis' Mall of America
Vermont Ave. is now St. Louis' Gateway Arch
Oriental Ave. is now Nashville's Grand Ole Opry

PURPLE
Baltic Ave. is now Dallas' Texas Stadium
Mediterranean Ave. is now Cleveland's Jacobs Field

The traditional flagship MONOPOLY game, which is based on streets in Atlantic City, N.J., will continue to be on sale alongside the new MONOPOLY: Here & Now Edition.

To view the new game board, visit www.monopoly.com.

Since 1935, more than 250 million copies of MONOPOLY have been sold in 80 countries and 26 languages. More than 200 different editions of the game have been published, but the most popular continues to be the classic "Number Nine." Affectionately known by its original product number, "Number Nine" is based on the streets of Atlantic City and is nearly identical to Charles Darrow's original submission to Parker Brothers. The MONOPOLY name and logo, the distinctive design of the game board, the four corner squares, the MR. MONOPOLY name and the character, as well as each of the distinctive elements of the board and playing pieces are trademarks of Hasbro for its property trading game and game equipment. (C) 2006 Hasbro, All Rights Reserved.

Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high-tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER, and WIZARDS OF THE COAST brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play experiences in the world.