Update February 16, 2017: Voting has now concluded and Hasbro will announce the full results of the Monopoly Token Madness campaign on World Monopoly Day on March 19. For now, the company has confirmed that the modest thimble is one of the original tokens that won’t make the cut. Introduced in 1935, the thimble has been a mainstay of Monopoly for generations. Its role in the modern home has apparently diminished somewhat in that time, as Monopoly fans saw fit to replace it. We won’t know what new token has taken its place — or if any of the other classics have met similar fates — until next month.
Nothing can be said to be certain except death, taxes, and Monopoly. The classic board game from 1933 remains a staple of American living rooms and its iconic tokens have more or less endured since the original version. But as time evolves, so must Monopoly — at least if the people want it to. Beginning Tuesday, fans of the game can vote for their favorite tokens from a list of over 50, including plenty of candidates from the world of tech.
Monopoly’s first game pieces represented both mundane and extraordinary things from 1930s America, including an iron, top hat, race car, and battleship. While the official game has gone through more than 20 different tokens, today’s lineup would still be recognizable to a player from the 1930s.
If the tokens serve as a snapshot of the times, then it only makes sense that they are updated to reflect the current world we live in. Of course, longtime Monopoly players may not want to see their beloved game pieces go away, like the fan-favorite Scottie dog which has been in the game since the 1950s. This is why Hasbro is instituting the Monopoly Token Madness Vote, giving players a say in which tokens get the ax. All of the current eight tokens are on the ballot, meaning every one of them could be replaced.
Among the dozens of new choices are such stalwart symbols of modern culture as the kissy face emoji, a hashtag, a monster truck, a computer, and a cell phone (which actually looks to be from the 1980s, but that is close enough). In the vein of the top hat, new icons representative of excessive wealth are also up for vote, like a private jet and a yacht. Classic innovations, like a typewriter and sliced bread, are also included in the running.
To place your vote, head over to VoteMonopoly.com. Voting is open through January 31. For now, all eight original tokens (along with eight of the new ones) are available in Token Madness version of Monopoly.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.