Stop me if this sounds familiar.
Your family has decided to try playing a friendly game of Monopoly together. So far everything is going fairly well — you've lost most of your money and you didn't buy up the good properties fast enough. But otherwise, it's a pretty fun game.
Except you can't help but notice your brother, Mister Banker, seems to have an endless supply of money. No matter what he splurges on, there's always a steady flow of cash in his hands. Curious.
Ever noticed how the person in charge of dolling out the paper money seems to almost always be the winner? Yeah, that's definitely not a funny little coincidence.
That's the result of putting your faith (and the game's stash of cash) in the wrong hands. But what if there was a way to eliminate the banker's role and prevent anyone from cheating ever again?
According to LADBible, this new version takes the responsibility of handling money away from the players entirely and gives it over to a single AI banker, located in the middle of the board.
And this thing is quite literally incapable of cheating. It's as honest a banker as they come, and it's here to keep every player in line and painfully honest about their earnings.
Now all transactions are made through the single robotic top hat, which the product description explains is "an interactive Mr. Monopoly banking unit."
"The iconic Monopoly top hat is voice-activated and the personality of Mr. Monopoly really shines as he handles all of the transactions," the description reads. "He keeps tabs on players' money and properties so there's no cash or cards to think about. Talk to Mr. Monopoly and he responds."
When you're making a purchase, you press the hat's button and tell it what you want to do. For instance, if you're feeling like a high-roller and are snagging Boardwalk like the absolute boss of a property tycoon you are, you simply hit your specific token's button on the top hat and say, "Buy Boardwalk."
The hat will keep track of each specific player's money this way, and everyone will know you just bought yourself the most expensive property on the board. So they'll definitely be impressed. Or annoyed. Either/or.
It's currently available for pre-order through Walmart for $29.92, and it's up for grabs on Amazon but you'll have to wait for the product to be restocked.
Although the banking aspect of the game has been taken out of the players' hands, you can rest assured knowing you're still free to throw tokens, flip the game board, and storm out of the room in a furious huff if you lose. That's an honor still entirely up to the players.
