The Value of Monopoly Money

These days we often hear comparisons of the U.S. dollar to the money used in the Monopoly board game (Monopoly Money). Particularly when someone is talking about over-printing of the dollar or the possibility of hyper-inflation. Heck, even the colors added to the most recently redesigned currency notes match their equivalent Monopoly money denomination.

Speculating about the future lack of value of the dollar is always interesting, but has anyone speculated on the true value of Monopoly Money? What is Monopoly Money worth today? Compared to the U.S. dollar (USD), has it inflated over time? Who better manages their currency, the Federal Reserve or Hasbro? Let’s try to find out.

So, how do we find the value of Monopoly Money (MM)? For simplicity, we’ll ignore the many variations of the game and focus on the standard game that comes with 15,140MM. At the Walmart and Target websites, I found the game listed for $11.99. So there we have it, a very simplified exchange rate. You can exchange $11.99 and receive 15,140MM in return, which comes to 1,263MM per U.S. dollar. Wonderful!

How has this value changed over time? According to a Monopoly Wikipedia page, in 1936 prices for various versions of the game were as low as $2. Assuming that was for the standard version, the conversion rate at that time would’ve been 7,570MM per U.S. dollar. So essentially, we can say that the U.S. dollar has last lost 74% of it’s value to Monopoly Money since 1936. It appears that Hasbro has been far better managers of their currency than the Federal Reserve, or at least Monopoly Money has been a better store of value.

Now, I know what some of you may be wondering… So, to answer your question, it would take about 726,225MM to purchase one bitcoin (currently trading at around $575). On the flip side, Monopoly Money could be more valuable that dogecoin as 1MM could theoretically purchase 3.64 dogecoin.

Obviously these prices aren’t based on a true market, which would be a far better means of price discovery. But unless someone wants to build an official Monopoly Money exchange, I feel this may be the best means I have to find the value of Monopoly Money.

Follow A.C. Cripteau on Twitter: @acCripteau