Monopoly game "old fan" Trump entered the chain game, and the crypto track made another move

Words: Zen, PANews

U.S. President Donald Trump, known for his "businessman's mindset", has worked in real estate, reality TV, vodka, mortgages, the NFL, airlines, bottled water, steak and board games. His business footprint is also spreading in the crypto industry - after successively deploying in NFT, DeFi, stablecoins, memecoins and crypto miners, Trump is now extending his tentacles into the blockchain gaming space.

According to Fortune magazine, citing two people familiar with the matter, Trump is working with business partner Bill Zink to prepare a real estate crypto game with his brand at its core, similar to Monopoly Go! 》。 For this "veteran enthusiast" who launched a similar Monopoly board game 30 years ago, the release of a digital version of Monopoly with the blessing of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is both unexpected and seems to be expected, but it does bring a wave to the long-dormant chain game track.

Real Estate Tycoon Trump: Monopoly Game "Old Fans"

In May 1989, Donald Trump teamed up with veteran 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 Milton Bradley, said the game was set against the backdrop of high-stakes gambles, trades and Trump's best-selling 1987 book, "The Art of the Deal." Trump also shot a TV commercial for the game, and said "It's not about winning or losing, it's about winning or not winning!" propaganda slogan.

In a campaign ahead of the official launch of "Trump: The Game," Trump said he would donate an undisclosed portion of the game's revenue to charities for cerebral palsy and AIDS research, as well as to help the homeless. Before the $25 board game went on sale, Trump and Milton Bradley had ambitions that it would sell 2 million copies, but the final sales were 800,000 copies, far less than expected.

On the one hand, because the game is directly named after Trump, it is easy to be regarded as a money-trapping tool for the rich, and the public does not know that part of the proceeds are used for charity; On the other hand, the misleading marketing has led it to be considered a copycat version of Monopoly. According to Trump, the main reason is that the game itself is too complex to design, with a rulebook of more than 12 pages and a lack of mass appeal. Sales of the game remained sluggish, despite a specific statement in a follow-up ad stating that "Mr. Trump's proceeds from Trump: The Game will be donated to charity." In addition, the Huffington Post reported in 2016 that Trump's previous claims that he had donated the proceeds from board games to charities could not be confirmed, and both Trump and related entities declined to comment.

In 2004, after the success of Trump's reality TV show The Apprentice, the Parker brothers re-released Trump: The Game. The new edition introduces Trump's classic mantra from The Apprentice: "You're fired!" , and typed "It takes wisdom to make millions, and Trump needs to make billions." tagline. However, even with Trump's celebrity, the game of old wine in a new bottle ended up being underwhelmed.

It should be noted that Milton Bradley was acquired by toy and entertainment giant Hasbro in 1984 and merged with Parker Brothers, another Hasbro subsidiary, in 1998, and the brand was later abandoned in 2009 in favor of the parent company name and eventually adjusted to Hasbro Games, so the IP of this Trump-licensed board game should be owned by Hasbro.

"I've always thought Monopoly is a great game and a lot of people are interested in it." In 2006, Monopoly game "True Love fan" Trump attempted to launch a prime-time reality show based on Monopoly. Trump will star with documentary filmmaker R.J. Cutler, and Hasbro will be a partner in the program. However, the project eventually died quietly during the development phase, not being bought by any television network, and no official program titles or episodes were announced.

After more than 30 years, based on encryption technology, it has returned to the game of Monopoly

Now, Trump is back in the Monopoly chess game, only this time he has brought it to the chain.

According to Fortune, multiple sources have revealed that Trump is working with his business confidant Bill Zonker (Bill Zanker) to develop a crypto-based real estate-themed game that is expected to go live by the end of April this year. THE GAME IS A PLAY ON MONOPOLYGO! (Monopoly Go! Players earn in-game currency by moving pieces around a virtual Monopoly board and building buildings in a digital city.

Zanker is the driving force behind the chain game project and had originally planned to launch it before the inauguration of the 47th president, according to people familiar with the matter. Zanker has been the "guide" of Trump's entry into the cryptocurrency industry, and Trump's NFT project was made possible by his repeated suggestions.

According to Zanker's recollection, when he suggested that Trump launch NFTs in early 2022, while Trump was interested in "NFTs of former presidents' artistic images," he was reluctant to use the term "NFT," preferring to call them "digital trading cards on computers." At the end of the same year, Zanker pushed the matter again, and Trump readily agreed: "A lot of friends say I shouldn't do it, but I like it, let's do it."

Zanker also plays an important role in Trump's memecoin project, TRUMP. 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 LLC, accounting for 80% of the total supply. In the registration documents of "Fight Fight Fight LLC", Zanker is listed as the primary contact.

Regarding the specifics of the crypto gaming project, Zanker spokesperson Kevin Mercuri only revealed that they are working on a "game". Mercuri has denied any similarities between the game and Monopoly Go, saying that the news is all "hearsay". Previously, DTTM Operations, the entity responsible for Trump's trademark, filed to expand Trump's name to a variety of virtual products and NFT-related services. But whether the trademark applications are directly related to the project, and how blockchain functionality will be integrated into the gameplay, Mercuri declined to disclose.

In addition, it is doubtful whether the upcoming chain game will be based on Trump: The Game, which has been in operation for more than 30 years.

According to sources, in May last year, Zanker approached Hasbro to buy back the IP of Trump: The Game. But Hasbro told Zanker that it no longer owns the rights to the game, which is more than 30 years old. However, according to Fortune, a spokesperson for Hasbro, the original developer of the Monopoly board game, said that the company did not license the Monopoly IP to Trump-owned organizations for cryptocurrency investments.