Special Editions - 1991 to 1997 (USA)
1991
In 1991, Hasbro took over Kenner who owned Parker Bros, and before the end of the year, they closed the original Salem, MA plant. To commemorate the company going out of business, the President, Mr. John Moore had a limited edition of 650 Monopoly games made for only his employees.
He personally signed each one and presented the games to his employees as a parting gift upon their arrival to the going away party. It says on the box "Last edition Published in Salem, Massachusetts" which sets it apart from all the other games. What the box doesn't say is that this whole game was assembled by management. Some parts are different from the regular monopoly game.
John Tanzella was an employee at the Salem-MA factory when it closed in 1991. His interesting story follows here under:
As Parker Brothers was bought by Hasbro the factory in Salem-MA was closed and moved to East Longmeadow-MA. We printed an edition that was only given to each of the 650 employees. Special in this issue is:
Along the top front of the standard box with ref.nr.0009 it reads Last Edition Published in Salem, Massachusetts.
The board has all the signatures of each employee as a printed font on it.
There is a gold Uncle Pennybags token inside.
The hotels and houses are blue and grey.
There is a gold seal on the box stating: MONOPOLY - Limited Edition - November 1, 1991.
Signature of John Moore, the President.
So this issue was never for sale and since there are but 650 copies it will be a very special collector's item.
1991 brought about a re-release of the #7 but with a white border instead of dark blue.
This one is a lot rarer than the blue edged version.
Franklin Mint
In 1991 The Franklin Mint got together with Parker Brothers and produced Monopoly, The Collector's Edition. This is easily the highest priced mass produced Monopoly game at the time. From $500 in 1991 to $600 more than 10 years later when production finally ceased, this edition had it all. Silver plated houses, gold plated hotels and reproduction tokens were just the beginning. A painted, raised wooden track shows all the classic Atlantic City street names. Inside this, a recessed playing surface is covered with felt. The components are stored in a drawer inside the cabinet.
In 2009, Franklin Mint produced another collector's edition. This one looks very similar to the original, with the only apparent change being the colour of the track on the board. The original had the spaces painted on dark wood, the new version has the classic greenish track. This set was finally released in 2009.
1994
Franklin Mint Players
Dimensions of the table: 7.5 x 52.5 x 52.5 cm
Franklin Mint began producing Monopoly games in the 80’s with the release of the Player’s edition. This edition was designed to store and protect the playing pieces safely while presenting a distinctive and handsome playing board that could be displayed when a game was not in progress. The playing board is hard-wood framed and lifts off a matched oak-stained base to reveal fitted compartments to protect and store all the playing pieces. All the pieces from the original game were included with polished pewter playing tokens.
It is a poorer issue, shown by:
The set consists of a wooden bottom section, for the storage of the accessories and a wooden top section, being the game board of this edition.
Although the picture gives the impression the play-field to be green felt-lined, it is not! The surface is but plastic with printed text.
The 10 tokens are of simple pewter. They are: ship, cannon, iron, lantern, shoe, purse, race car, rocking horse, thimble and top hat. These are re-creations of the original 1935 edition "charms".
The houses and hotels do have the special Franklin Mint designed shapes but they are made of red and blue green plastic.
On the other hand:
The Chance and Community Chest cards are as nice as those of the Collector's edition and have therefore all funny illustrations with Uncle Pennybags.
The banknotes have a design typical for this edition.
The property deeds are the same, although without a "Real Estate Portfolio".
This copy is without a pedestal, nor a glass cover or Millionaire's chairs.
1995
60th Anniversary
1995 marked the 60th anniversary and Parker Brothers celebrated by putting out a beautiful gold foil 60th Anniversary Edition. The game board had the look of aged parchment, the money was redesigned and larger, a top hat dice cup was included, and 8 large antique brass tokens reminiscent of tokens found in the 1936 Gold and Deluxe editions.
Deluxe
Dimensions of the box: 25.7 x 51 x 7.8 cm
Code: 00011
1995 also saw the release of the #11 Deluxe Edition. This set had a nicer board than the #9, Deluxe Edition double supply of money, a Title Deed carousel, a removable plastic banker’s tray, eleven gold tone tokens, and came in a foil covered box. In 1998 this box was also shortened, the board became a quad fold, and the moneybag token was added bringing the total to twelve tokens.
Toys 'R' Us 50th Anniversary
Also, there was a special release of the #11 Deluxe Edition. Same as the #11 Deluxe it also includes a pewter medallion as well as other pewter tokens. These are meant to represent 50 years of classic games and toys as this was made for Toys'R'Us 50 years.
1997
Heirloom
Dimensions of the box: 27 x 27 x 11 cm
In 1997 the most expensive Parker Brothers Monopoly game to date was released, the Toys "R" Us exclusive, $100 heirloom edition. This set came in a beautiful wood box and had a luxurious board, money that almost looked real, wooden houses and hotels, a wooden banker’s tray, a Title Deed carousel, and a coin for each denomination of money.
Everything about this game oozes quality. This set comes in a mahogany stained solid wood cabinet (in a darkgreen outer cardboard box) with a hinged lid and a lift-out tray inside, all felt-lined. There is a solid brass medallion inlaid into the top of the box.
There is a game log to record your games in. However, this is a bit silly as it is only one single sheet of paper in a folder. A little book would have been much better! A special velvet bag is to hold the dice and 11 &q#gold" tokens including an exclusive piggy bank token.
A felt-lined banker's tray contains 7 compartments for the money, and separate compartments for the wooden houses and hotels. The very nice banknotes have all the same colour and the Heirloom emblem in the centre. Lift out the wooden banker's tray and the bottom layer contains the coloured Chance and Community Chest cards, the Title Deed cards, the money and the cards carousel. All the cards are specially printed, and have a shiny finish. Underneath the Title Deed carousel are 7 gold coins of different sizes. One coin for each money value.
The board folds into 4 and has a much better and thicker appearance than the standard board. The centre shows the very special gold Heirloom emblem. The back of the board is darkgreen. It is an exact fit in the top of the banker's tray.
Underneath the board is a special copy of the rules, which is darkgreen with the gold emblem on the outside. The rules are printed in colour, with lots of coloured cartoons.
The set also contained a form for a brass plate with your name on it, to stick to the lid of the box.