# Let's Join Up To Win At McDonald's Monopoly Game **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 20, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306 "2004-10-20T23:35:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/21 "2004-10-22T20:16:01Z")
> [@Iceland\_Blue](#): > > There was an incident when Smarties ran a promotion offering prizes to anyone who could make their name out of the letters inside the cap. As you can imagine the vowels were in extremely short supply. This didn’t bother a Mr Vlk who won a considerable quantity of prizes before Smarties got annoyed with him… > > goes citehunting… What is a Smartie over there? Over here they’re [these](http://www.oldtimecandy.com/smarties.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/22 "2004-10-22T20:32:20Z")
In addition to the ones listed above, I have **New York Ave.** and **Marvin Gardens**. I plugged three of mine into the online game, and I won three times! A CBS Sportsline fantasy basketball team, CBS Sportsline fantasy exclusive subscription, and some downloadable golf game. Anybody else have any luck with it? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/23 "2004-10-22T20:48:19Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > What is a Smartie over there? Over here they’re [these](http://www.oldtimecandy.com/smarties.htm). I’m not sure where “over there” is for **Iceland\_Blue** , but outside of the U.S., “Smarties” is a Nestle trademark for a candy somewhat similar to M&Ms in America. Here’s a [Canadian site](http://www.nestle.ca/en/Products/Browse_by_Category/Chocolates/smarties.htm) about Smarties, but be aware that Canada is one of the few places in the world where Smarties come in boxes rather than tubes. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/24 "2013-07-16T19:35:00Z")
> [@Nekosoft](#): > > Here’s the ones a person should hold onto: > > Mediterranean Ave > Vermont Avenue > Virginia Ave > Tennessee Ave > Kentucky Ave > Ventnor Avenue > Pennsylvania Ave > Boardwalk > Short Line > > Everything else is easy to find. Yes, it’s a nine-year bump, but they just started the game again, and for (at least) the 10th year in a row, the “rare” pieces are the same. I guess it’s done that way so they don’t have to worry about too many people mixing common pieces from different years and trying to cheat. Note that, for the first time, McDonald’s has actually confirmed in its rules that these are the rare pieces. (It also helps that every rare piece has a phone number on it; you are supposed to call the number when you get the complete set of that color.) I like to tell people that if they find a rare piece, what they need to do is to go to as many McDonald’s as possible, buy as many 20-piece McNuggets and large fries (that’s 8 stamps) as you can, then get their friends together to eat the food while they look through the stamps for the ones you need. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/25 "2013-07-16T19:40:08Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > …and for (at least) the 10th year in a row, the “rare” pieces are the same… ISTR that one year they made Park Place the rare piece and Boardwalk the easy one. Or maybe I threw away several million bucks. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/26 "2013-07-16T20:46:12Z")
I grew up in a small town with several less-than-brilliant citizens. The Kroger (grocery chain) would run a game “collect game pieces (each with a letter) to spell our name and win big bucks”. The newspaper classifieds promptly started to fill with the identical ad: “Have all Kroger pieces except ‘E’ - will trade any piece you need for a (sic) ‘E’!” After the 20th or so identical “want “E”” ad, they tapered off. And they wondered why the kids all grew up and left and never returned… ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/27 "2013-07-16T22:43:38Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > ISTR that one year they made Park Place the rare piece and Boardwalk the easy one. Or maybe I threw away several million bucks. No - they have made other changes (I remember when Marvin Gardens was the rare yellow property), but Boardwalk has always been the rare piece for that section. > [@usedtobe](#): > > I grew up in a small town with several less-than-brilliant citizens. > The Kroger (grocery chain) would run a game “collect game pieces (each with a letter) to spell our name and win big bucks”. > The newspaper classifieds promptly started to fill with the identical ad: “Have all Kroger pieces except ‘E’ - will trade any piece you need for a (sic) ‘E’!” > > After the 20th or so identical “want “E”” ad, they tapered off. Nothing “small town” about that - I remember the San Francisco Chronicle’s personals having similar ads. It even caught columnist Herb Caen’s attention when somebody told him that they had thrown away the winning piece (IIRC, it was “only” for $5000 - it was a regional contest before McDonald’s started its national Monopoly one). ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/28 "2013-07-17T00:26:26Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Yes, it’s a nine-year bump, but they just started the game again, and for (at least) the 10th year in a row, the “rare” pieces are the same. I guess it’s done that way so they don’t have to worry about too many people mixing common pieces from different years and trying to cheat. > > Note that, for the first time, McDonald’s has actually confirmed in its rules that these are the rare pieces. (It also helps that every rare piece has a phone number on it; you are supposed to call the number when you get the complete set of that color.) > > I like to tell people that if they find a rare piece, what they need to do is to go to as many McDonald’s as possible, buy as many 20-piece McNuggets and large fries (that’s 8 stamps) as you can, then get their friends together to eat the food while they look through the stamps for the ones you need. Those rare pieces are really rare. I have to admit that when I was in high school I worked in McDonald’s one summer when they had this contest. I collected the pieces that customers would leave behind, and I’d give them to friends and family. Yes, it was against the rules, but it was more than 30 years ago. So I collected hundreds of those pieces. I still never got any of the rare ones. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/29 "2013-07-17T04:12:23Z")
I liked the year McD had an Olympic thing- you got a piece with an event on it and if the U.S. got a medal, you won a drink, fries or sandwich. Unfortunately for McD, the USSR and other communist countries boycotted that year. I got a lot of free eats that year. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/30 "2013-07-17T10:09:30Z")
It’s back? And I was telling myself THIS is the year I’m getting in shape… But I was wondering about this: can the winning pieces come out at any time? It seems they’d prefer them to come out towards the end, otherwise people will lose interest once someone else’s won. So aren’t you more likely to win if you start later? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/31 "2013-07-17T12:29:15Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Those rare pieces are really rare. I have to admit that when I was in high school I worked in McDonald’s one summer when they had this contest. I collected the pieces that customers would leave behind, and I’d give them to friends and family. Yes, it was against the rules, but it was more than 30 years ago. So I collected hundreds of those pieces. I still never got any of the rare ones. Me too. The pieces were loose then. Now they’re attached to the packaging of certain menu items. My daughter works at McD’s now (she’s a real chip off the old block), and she says employees at her store were told that if they got food using any of the Monopoly containers, it was grounds for instant termination. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306/32 "2013-07-17T15:32:47Z")
Way back in the day, a friend of mine who worked at McD’s brought home an entire bag full of playing pieces (they were loose back then, not attached to any packaging.) He, I, and some of our other friends spent a night taking them apart and looking for winners. Literally hundreds of pieces, possibly as many as a thousand; I know we didn’t bother counting them. LOTS of free food. Not one single cash prize, or anything else. But a LOT of free small fries, small drinks, single hamburgers, that sort of thing. And I too could swear I once had a Boardwalk piece; by the simple fact that I had one I was able to deduce that this was not a valuable piece, since I never win that kind of thing. I threw it away. And no, I don’t worry that I threw away millions of dollars. Like I said… I never win that kind of thing! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-join-up-to-win-at-mcdonalds-monopoly-game/270306.md?page=1)