Original Title: "Monopoly Game 'Old Fan' Trump Enters Chain Games, Another Move in the Crypto Arena"
Original Author: Zen, PANews
Known for his "businessman mindset," U.S. President Donald Trump has ventured into various fields throughout his career, including real estate, reality TV, vodka, mortgages, the NFL, aviation, bottled water, steak, and even board games. His business empire is also expanding in the cryptocurrency industry—after making moves in NFT, DeFi, stablecoins, memecoins, and crypto mining, Trump is now extending his reach into the realm of chain games.
According to a report by Fortune magazine citing two informed sources, Trump is collaborating with business partner Bill Zanker to prepare a real estate-themed crypto game centered around his brand, with gameplay similar to "Monopoly Go!" For this "veteran enthusiast" who launched a similar Monopoly board game thirty years ago, releasing a digital version of Monopoly with the backing of blockchain and cryptocurrency is both unexpected and yet seems to be anticipated, indeed bringing a wave of excitement to the long-dormant chain game sector.
Real Estate Tycoon Trump: Monopoly Game "Old Fan"
In May 1989, Donald Trump collaborated with the classic board game company Milton Bradley to launch the board game "Trump: The Game," inspired by Monopoly and Trump's own career as a real estate mogul. Milton Bradley, then president of the company, stated that the game was set against a backdrop of high-stakes gambling, trading, and Trump's bestselling book "The Art of the Deal," released in 1987. Trump also filmed television commercials for the game, promoting the slogan, "What's important is not winning or losing, but whether you win!"
Before the official release of "Trump: The Game," Trump announced at a promotional event that he would donate an undisclosed portion of the game's revenue to charity for research on cerebral palsy and AIDS, as well as to help the homeless. The game, priced at $25, was ambitiously expected by Trump and Milton Bradley to sell 2 million copies, but ultimately only sold 800,000, far below expectations.
The reasons for this are twofold: on one hand, the game was directly named after Trump, making it easy to be seen as a money-making tool for the wealthy, with the public unaware that part of the proceeds were for charity; on the other hand, misleading marketing led it to be perceived as a knockoff of Monopoly. Trump believed the main reason was that the game's design was overly complex, with a rulebook exceeding 12 pages, lacking mass appeal.
Despite subsequent advertisements stating, "Mr. Trump will donate the proceeds from 'Trump: The Game' to charity," game sales remained sluggish. Additionally, a 2016 report by The Huffington Post stated that Trump's previous claims of donating game revenue to charity could not be verified, and Trump and related entities declined to comment.
In 2004, after the success of Trump's reality show "The Apprentice," Parker Brothers re-released "Trump: The Game." The new version introduced Trump's classic catchphrase from "The Apprentice": "You're fired!" and featured the slogan, "It takes smarts to make a million, but it takes Trump to make billions." However, even with Trump's celebrity effect, this rehashed game ultimately received a lukewarm response.
It is worth noting that Milton Bradley was acquired by toy and entertainment giant Hasbro in 1984 and merged with another Hasbro subsidiary, Parker Brothers, in 1998. The brand was later abandoned in 2009 in favor of the parent company's name, ultimately rebranded as Hasbro Gaming, meaning the IP for this Trump-licensed board game should belong to Hasbro.
"I have always thought Monopoly is a great game, and many people are interested in it." In 2006, Monopoly game "true fan" Trump attempted to launch a primetime reality show based on Monopoly. Trump was set to collaborate with documentary producer RJ Cutler, with Hasbro as a partner in the plan. However, the project quietly fell through during the development stage, with no television network buying it, and no official program name or episode count announced.
After More Than Thirty Years, Returning to the Monopoly Board Based on Crypto Technology
Now, Trump is back on the Monopoly board, but this time he is bringing it to the blockchain.
According to Fortune, multiple sources revealed that Trump is working with his business confidant Bill Zanker to develop a crypto-based real estate-themed game, expected to launch at the end of April this year. The game is an adaptation of "MONOPOLYGO!" where players move pieces on a virtual Monopoly board and build buildings in a digital city to earn game currency.
Informed sources indicated that Zanker is the driving force behind this chain game project and initially planned to launch it before the inauguration of the 47th president. Zanker is considered Trump's "guide" into the cryptocurrency industry, as Trump's NFT project was facilitated by his repeated suggestions.
According to Zanker, when he suggested to Trump to launch NFTs in early 2022, although Trump was quite interested in "former president art image NFTs," he was reluctant to use the term "NFT," preferring to call it "digital trading cards on the computer." By the end of that year, Zanker pushed the matter again, and Trump readily agreed, saying, "Many friends say I shouldn't do it, but I like it, so let's do it."
In Trump's memecoin project TRUMP, Zanker also plays an important role. According to the memecoin's website, the remaining tokens after the ICO of the TRUMP token are held by CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, accounting for 80% of the total supply. Zanker is listed as the primary contact in the registration documents for "Fight Fight Fight LLC."
Regarding the specific details of the crypto game project, Zanker's spokesperson Kevin Mercuri only revealed that they are developing a "game." Mercuri denied claims that this game would have any similarities to "Monopoly Go," stating that the related news is merely "rumors." Previously, the entity responsible for Trump's trademarks, DTTM Operations, applied to extend Trump's name to various virtual products and NFT-related services. However, Mercuri refused to disclose whether these trademark applications are directly related to the project or how blockchain functionality will be integrated into the gameplay.
Additionally, whether the upcoming chain game will be based on the more than 30-year-old "Trump: The Game" remains shrouded in uncertainty.
According to sources, last May, Zanker contacted Hasbro, hoping to repurchase the IP for "Trump: The Game." However, Hasbro informed Zanker that it no longer owned the copyright to the game, which has been around for over 30 years. Nevertheless, according to Fortune, a spokesperson for Hasbro, the original developer of the Monopoly board game, stated that the company has not licensed the Monopoly IP to any organization under Trump for cryptocurrency investment.
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