McNopoly

[Paradox]

I hardly ever eat fast food. Even when I do eat fast food, I hardly ever visit McDonalds; however, they're doing that Monopoly game again. I always loved playing it as kid. My father and I would always put the pieces on the board and never win a damned thing except small fries and maybe a milkshake every once in a while. This year's version has a dual game. You can win with the pieces; furthermore, each piece has a code on it that you can enter online to play in a virtual monopoly sweepstakes. Two ways to win for the win!

So is anyone else playing this year?

Has anyone ever won something from it?

[Will]

I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid.  Is that a weird thing to be nostalgic about? *shrugs*

It seems like one would have to eat a lot of McDonald's to win, and I can't bring myself to do that.  We never did win anything substantial back then, either, and god knows we tried!  So, no, I'm probably not going to play this year.

[Paradox]

I think it's fine to be nostalgic about! I always enjoyed playing it, even if no prizes resulted. It's the possibility of winning that makes it fun.

[Ashleebabe]

I work at McDonald's and we all hate the game. Since I work there, we are not allowed to play nor our families. We are monitored when picking and distrubuting the products with Monopoly pieces on them. It does not matter for me about waiting for someone to get it because I am a manager but its a pain in general. Then people come in demanded that all of their coupons be redeemed at once and its only one at a time. So they order twice making it difficult on the order taker.

However there are like twelve McDonald's where I live so all the free stuff we may find on the tables or we purchase we can use them there. Its wonderful when we can do that.

Any questions about the game or anything else about McD's let me know.

[Oniya]

A friend of mine works there, and told me of this person who had just started working there, and tried to walk off with a carton of the tagged drink cups, by taking them straight from the truck to his car.  Fired on the spot.

[Paradox]

As well he should have been, friggin cheater! I bought a medium coffee yesterday for that exact reason.

Ashlee-- Not allowing your family to play is a bit unfair! I'd be angry if I was a family member of someone who worked at McDonalds, and they wouldn't allow me to play because of it. I can see why they don't allow it, but it still sucks.

[Oniya]

As well he should have been, friggin cheater! I bought a medium coffee yesterday for that exact reason.

We had a laugh about it because he was so clumsy about it.  Like he didn't think they'd notice an entire box shortage.

[Ashleebabe]

We have our cameras all over the stores so its not hard to figure it out

[Oniya]

This didn't even take a camera.  My friend was part of the group receiving the merchandise from the truck.  They turned around, said 'Weren't there three boxes of cups?' and then checked the parking lot.  Then they cam in, told the shift manager they'd found the cups in a ___ ___ car.

The manager announced that said car had its lights on or something, the driver (and thief) stepped forward, and got canned.  He'd been working there for 2 or 3 days, and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had the 'plan' in mind when he hired on.

[Caity]

I knew someone who had two of the yellow pieces, though the game had ended and threw them out.  Game hadn't ended, and they got the third yellow piece.  :P  I think it was worth like.. 25K? 

I think McNopoly is just a sinister plan to make us all a little fatter.   ::)

[Paradox]

Haha good point Caity, but I usually just give the food to friends or bums and keep the pieces for myself.

[Caity]

!  Cruelty to bums.  Isn't there a law against that?

[Paradox]

Oh come on. I've been homeless before; trust me, I wouldn't mistreat any bums. Giving them food is a kindness. They don't mind the fact that I took the monopoly pieces off. They're more concerned about making it through the day without starving again.

[Caity]

Even if it's McDonald's?   ;)

And I was kidding, by the way.   :P

[Paradox]

Haha, I know, don't worry.

[Mathim]

Due to my school schedule I am forced to rely on McDonalds' 99 Cent menu at times and once in a while, I get a shake instead of just water, and I got a free fries and a piece of one of the yellow properties. I use that little thing as a bookmark for the time being and I haven't been back to McDonald's since. I doubt I'd get the other three exact pieces I need even if I did go back once a week, so I won't bother. Their food is awful anyway, that's the worst fast food place to go.

But if anyone needs a piece of the yellow property in order to get all four and win, PM me and I'll go find it and give you the code. I really don't care about winning, since they're going to tax you like 40% of whatever you win anyway.

[Paradox]

No offense Ashlee, since you work there, but I agree with Mathim about the food. Even the famous "McNuggets" are a steaming pile of breaded crap. If I'm going to eat nuggets, they'd better be from Wendy's!

Which piece of the yellow property are you talking about anyway?

[Ashleebabe]

I mean I understand where you guys are coming from but if our food was so horrible then why does it sell so quickly and with such ferverence. I think it is drugged to be honest. But I am not here to endorse it but to give a tip in the game. All Mcdonald's are give a certain amount og product. Mathim is right, don't go back the same week. You have to wait a week and then bounce around to different McDonald's

[Mathim]

I mean I understand where you guys are coming from but if our food was so horrible then why does it sell so quickly and with such ferverence. I think it is drugged to be honest. But I am not here to endorse it but to give a tip in the game. All Mcdonald's are give a certain amount og product. Mathim is right, don't go back the same week. You have to wait a week and then bounce around to different McDonald's

If you didn't invent McDonald's then you don't need to take offense at criticism of the food. It's like the army-we all hate that we attacked Iraq but we don't hate the soldiers. Anyway, I don't know why McDonald's is so popular, but probably the fact that they have cheap ice cream treats and their value meals and such are among the cheapest of fast food chains, coupled with the fact that there are just more McDonald's than any other place, that might have something to do with it (almost a MONOPOLY, if you think about it.) And the proximity of McDonalds' to most schools is probably more common than other fast food places.

I could tell some real horror stories about McDonald's I've heard from friends and co-workers but that might belong in a different thread.

And by 'yellow property', you know how the first two properties are purple, and then Boardwalk and Park Place are navy blue? Yellow property, I believe, is the property right before the 'Go to Jail' square on the board. On that piece I have, it says I need four other adjacent pieces of yellow property. I don't know the name, but it's one of the properties that are in the yellow zone of the Monopoly board. So if anyone has those other three (or at least two out of three) then PM me and I'll give you the code so you can use it without actually needing the physical piece that I have. Unlikely as that is, just thought I'd throw it out there.

And didn't Taco Bell do this same kind of thing a couple of years ago? I don't know what the occasion was but I and my neighbors combined our pieces and nearly won, but they lost one of the pieces and we couldn't collect.

[Ashleebabe]

That could be it too. I don't know. Like you said, I did not invent it so I have no room to really talk about their politcs or their menus. I am also not going to comment about half the stuff you said because its not my place to put my opinion as the right one whe it is far from it. All I am going to say is good luck to everyone who plays and have an awesome day

[Mathim]

If you work at fast food, do you get free food or just discounted? I heard in recent years they'd started charging employees for it when they used to give it to them for free.

Anyway, I also had to ask, is it just the drinks that have the tickets on them, or is it fries too? I remember back when I used to go to McDonald's more often, they had the Monopoly things on the cardboard fry holders and drinks, but I got a free medium fries from one ticket recently and there weren't more tickets on the holder. Did they stop putting them on the fry holders, or is it just for the large fry holders?

[Ashleebabe]

Okay here is the list as far as I can remember since I am not at work:

Medium and Large drinks
Large fries
The premium chicken sandwixhes, the Club, the Classic, and the BLT

[Mathim]

Aw, those cheap bastards. Oh well, they can't really afford to give away too much. Especially in this economy.

[Paradox]

Mathim- The physical piece and the code on it are two entirely unrelated things. The code just allows you to roll the dice in the online game. You would have to physically send it to someone in order for them to use it in conjunction with the other two.

Ashlee- I wasn't insulting McDonalds all that harshly  :P. It's good for a quick bite to eat when you're on the run. I was just saying that as far as fast-food cuisine goes, I like to go to other places. To each his own.


By the way, they offer the pieces on breakfast items as well. The hashbrowns have two pieces on the package for a measly dollar!

Ashlee- When you said they rotate the pieces every week, what did you mean? Which day do they rotate them?

[Ashleebabe]

Its fine Para, I like In and Out myself. As for the pieces, each week there are different pieces on the food items

[Caity]

I like Wendy's....... or Subway.   :P

[Oniya]

I'd imagine no matter where you work in the food industry, you'd end up preferring to eat somewhere else.  After all, there's only so many times you can eat at a given place before you're sick of it.

[Paradox]

Yeah Ashlee, but I meant when does the new week start? Sunday, Monday?

[Ashleebabe]

I wish I could tell you but each McDonald's has their delivery truck days different.

[Paradox]

Oh okay. I was merely curious. Thanks!

[Ashleebabe]

No problem

[Caity]

I bet they have these pieces on eBay.  You can get anything on eBay.  :P

[Caity]

Ha.. there are.  :P  Pretty pricey too. 

[Paradox]

Ehh....that kind of ruins the fun of it for me. I enjoy the element of chance and surprise. It's not about the winning, though that is my ultimate goal; besides, I could probably just buy a crapload of fries and obtain the piece that way for the same price that they're selling it for on E-bay.

[Mathim]

It's kind of pointless to go into McDonald's trying to win the prizes. That's like injecting trans fat into your heart while purchasing a lottery ticket. I just happened to get a ticket and a free medium fries when I went there out of convenience a few weeks ago. I'd never go there and get something hoping to win anything.

[Paradox]

Funny you should say that, considering I just bought four bucks worth of lottery tickets.

Either way, I could eat McDonalds all day long and still be alright. I work my ass off on a daily basis. Anything I eat is quickly transformed into energy to fuel that work; even so, I still try to avoid fast food. My girlfriend enjoys the hash browns, and I enjoy the McNopolgy, so it's a win-win situation.

On the other hand, I should probably buy something besides hash browns and coffee next time I visit. I have three Baltic Avenues, two Marvin Gardens, and two Arch Avenues (a fictitious monopoly location created for the game), all from the hash brown packages. I have a number of other pieces as well.

Hey Ashlee, did y'all recently change the price of hash browns? I used to receive two for a dollar; whereas today, I only received one per dollar.

[Ashleebabe]

Well we did in my town. They are like 1.62 for two

[Moondazed]

You people need to read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlesser ;)

*high tailing it*

[Paradox]

I have read it, Moonypoo! I did a report on it for a Sociology class last year.

I still enjoy McDonalds for the nostalgia of my childhood that eating there brings me.

[Paradox]

I went to McDonalds this morning and entered the drive-through. I ordered two hash browns and a medium coffee for a total of $2.55. (Ashlee- apparently this particular location hasn't raised their price on hash browns yet; they were still two for a dollar!). I drove around, gave the lady exact change, drove forward to the second window where another girl handed me a bag with my delicious hash browns (not burnt to a crisp like yesterdays), and a medium coffee. I started to pull off, then noticed that my coffee cup was missing its monopoly pieces. It was one of the old cups that never had them to begin with. I put the car in reverse and backed up to the window, where I asked the lady "YOU TRYIN' TO SLACK ME ON MY PIECES, AIN'T YOU BITCH!?", "Pardon me mam, but do you have any cups with the monopoly pieces on them?" She responded with "Uh yeah, the medium and large coffees and medium and large fountain drinks", to which I replied "Well I ordered a medium coffee, but the cup doesn't have any pieces on it." She seemed flustered, apologized, and dug around to hand me an empty, beat-up looking coffee cup with the pieces I deserved on it.

Ten bucks says she was trying to keep that cup for herself by giving me the bare cup instead.

[Paradox]

Oh! On a related note, I received a Park Place from the hash browns!!

I'll be buying McDonalds every damned day now in the (probably vain) hope that I'll find Boardwalk and win that fresh million dollars.

[Oniya]

Many years ago, Mad Magazine did a piece on the use of * in advertising.  One that I remember involved a 'Collect and Win' style of contest, where the fine print on the fictitious product announced:

'The five "E" pieces will be shipped to Tibet.  To avoid the chance of anyone visiting Tibet and finding one, they will also be sent third-class, so as to arrive three years after the contest is over.'

[Paradox]

Hahaha, I used to love reading Mad Magazine. I have a huge archive of the issues, but I don't remember ever seeing that one. I'll have to go back and look.

[Oniya]

I'm pretty sure it was Mad.  There's a slim possibility that it might have been Cracked, but we didn't get as many of that one.  It's also probable that it dates back into the 70's, when my older siblings were collecting more avidly, or that it's in one of the actual book collections.

[Inkidu]

I can see Paradox adding a few pounds in the future, or feeding homeless people. You wouldn't trow away good food would you? By good I don't really mean good, but edible and life giving. :D

[Paradox]

Shame on you for not reading the whole thread, Inkidu! I already said that I work off any McDonalds that I eat, and I give the rest to homeless folks.

[Inkidu]

Shame on you for not reading the whole thread, Inkidu! I already said that I work off any McDonalds that I eat, and I give the rest to homeless folks.

Well good... What's with the name change?

[Paradox]

It's 2009, and McDonalds' Monopoly is back!

Who is planning on playing this time around?

[Serephino]

My boyfriend works at McDonalds so I can't.  I'm not supposed to eat at McDonalds period, but I do once in a while anyway.  There are 3 different stores in the area so I just go to a different one than the the one he works at.  He doesn't like giving them their money back.

And no, they don't get free food, or they're technically not supposed to anyway.  They get a 50% discount.  However, most managers he works with don't care if you make yourself a sandwich for lunch or something as long as you don't go overboard.   

[Ashleebabe]

I wonder where he works because I used to be a manager at McDonalds and we always got a free meal with our shift. No matter what. Anywho, since I no longer work htere, I'm playing and I know the cheats from before. LOL

[Serephino]

Maybe it's a store owner policy, but yeah, he could get fired for stealing if he so much as eats a chicken nugget, that's if the manager working cares of course.  Most of them don't. 

[Paradox]

I just bought a Large Fountain Drink in order to get two of the little pieces; however, they had sold out of the cups with the pieces on them, so I only got a normal cup.

Since you (Ashlee) used to work there and your boyfriend (Chaotic) works there, do y'all know if I could get a refund? I really didn't care about the drink...just the pieces >.>

[Serephino]

No, probably not.   

[The Dandy]

You know, for me it is a serious turn off when someone eats an excessive amount of fast food (Which is close to any for me) even if that person appears to be very fit.

Is this common or am I just strange?

[Serephino]

I find it a turnoff too, but our deffinitions of excessive are probably different. 

[Will]

Then it's a good thing I'm not trying to impress you, Dandy.

Where's mah Boardwalk?!?! XD

[Paradox]

My god man, I just looked up the calorie count on a large order of fries-- it's over 9000 500!

I've been trying to purchase different items in search of different pieces. The cheapest way to get pieces is from the hash-browns, but the pieces often seem to be of poor quality, like Baltic Avenue.

Ket was nice enough to give me two of her pieces since she's not playing this year. I have to admit that being a custodian has it's benefits-- people unwittingly throw out their McDonalds containers without realizing that they have monopoly pieces on them, so I reap the benefits of their ignorance  ;D

[Ket]

I have two more for you.  Rushing out the door to the races yesterday I caved and ate mcnasty for breakfast.  Okay, so the mcgriddle is actually decent, but even my dogs refused to eat the hashbrowns.

[Paradox]

Are you serious? Just slather them suckers in Texas Pete!

[Ket]

Texas Pete does not negate the copious amounts of pure fat that drip off those things in the form of hot grease. 


Ew.

[Paradox]

Yeah; each one is loaded with nine delicious grams of fat.  ;D

[Moonhare]

Ok, I admit it. I love playing this game. Since Friday, I have well over twenty pieces, have won a burger, and two McFlurries.

I am down to needing just one on many of the prizes, like last year. I need Boardwalk, which is a given. I wouldn't be surprised if they track that one. I need Pennsylvania Ave., Kentucky Ave., Tennessee Ave., and all other are two or more.

I have noticed that some of the stores have a few items that are different that have the pieces, then at all of them. Hashbrowns, 10 and 20 piece nuggets, large fries, and the Angus burger seem standard. (I wish it was the chicken sandwich, but nuggets will do.) I have also gotten them on the McSkillet and I have seen a few items different when I look for the board with the list of items.

Also, the stores have tried to switch the containers on me, so I don't get all the pieces. I have waited there, holding up the drive through for my pieces. ^_^ I paid for food I wouldn't normally eat, just for the pieces, then I want my pieces. lol

And I have passed on the items I wasn't going to eat to a homeless man that was out in the rain on Saturday. I gave him something extra as well. Not much, as I am not wealthy, but enough to get a warm drink.

[Will]

I love it too, Moon.  (I'm lovin' it? Gah. *shoots self*)

I have a lot of memories of playing it when I was little, when the pieces were sticky and there was an actual game board that they stuck on.  Now that was fun.  It's the main reason I like it now, I suppose. 

That's probably a strange thing to recall so fondly from childhood, a fast food promotional contest, but... yeah.  Good times.  Oh, and I've been playing the online game, too.  It's just like playing real Monopoly; I keep landing on spaces I already own. *frowns*

[Paradox]

Yeah Will; the nostalgia you mentioned a year ago and again today is main reason that I get suckered into the game every year. Collecting the pieces and putting them on the board with my pops was great; I wish they still had an actual game board. I took a few years off, so I had forgotten about it until my girlfriend mentioned the poor quality of that little thing they now give out.

Here's a breakdown of just how many of the "rare" pieces are actually floating around out there--



They messed up with Mediterranean; it's supposed to brown.

As for the online game, it's not randomized. The company sets certain times of the day at which prizes will be given out, so you'll only land on a rare property if you happen to enter a code at that particular time. I always land on spaces I own, or friggin Waterworks/Electric company. I even went to jail today  >:( (on the bright side, at least there is no negative consequence for landing on jail).

[Will]

Ah, that blows about the non-randomized "dice rolls."  And yeah, I just went back and perused the thread, and remembered that I said almost exactly the same thing then.  Btw, you misspelled the name of the thread. XD

I was wondering what would happen if one ended up in jail!  That would really suck nuts if they made you roll three times, etc, etc.

[Paradox]

My goodness, I did indeed misspell it. Good call.

[RubySlippers]

I like McD's better than Burger King. And I hated Supersize Me the person didn't take the healthier options. I like their fruit salad, egg mcmuffins, oj, salads with my own topping lemon juice and on a rare occasion a cinnemon roll if I feel especially naughty. And naturally diet soda or something like that not sugary, drinks. Like anything its about reading labels and being careful.

As for the game I don't care about that save when I get a freebie, the only time I'll get something naughty like a quarterpounder with cheese or something. As a very special treat I normally wouldn't get.

[Ebb]

Paradox's chart is right on - there is one rare piece in each set, and that's what's controlled by McDonalds. All of the other property pieces are essentially garbage.

In case you don't happen to have the chart with you when you get your pieces, there's an easy way to remember. In each set, the property that is the last one alphabetically is the valuable one. For example, in the Red group Kentucky comes after Illinois and Indiana, so Kentucky is the one that you want. The only exception is Boardwalk - in that group, Boardwalk is rare and Park Place is not.

[Paradox]

That's interesting, Ebb. I had never noticed the alphabetical connection before. Thanks!

[Serephino]

I've also been told that they send different pieces to different districts.  They make it practically impossible to win so that you spend tons of money trying.  It's pretty much a set up like those claw machine things.  By law they have to send out the winning pieces every so often or they could get nailed for false advertising, but they try not to do it often.  This came from the mouth of my boyfriends boss but shhh... it's a secret....

[Candybot]

wow, I don't believe it!

:-\

[Paradox]

wow, I don't believe it!

:-\

You don't believe what?

[Will]

That a pumpkin would eat it's own kind?