Now you’ll really be able to pay with Monopoly money in shops

Sadly, you won’t get any for free by passing Go (Picture: The Royal Mint Limited)

Putting hotels on Bond Street, Oxford Street, and Regent Street may have made you a Monopology mogul, but sadly that stash of paper notes never helped much in Tesco.

Now, we’ll finally get the chance to hand over money stamped with the man in a top hat, and insist, ‘That’s legal tender!’

The Royal Mint has released a set of collectible 50p coins themed around Monopoly, the first time a board game has been honoured on a UK coin.

It celebrates nine decades of the world’s most famous property trading game, which was released in 1935.

If you have one, you’d probably do better to keep it at home rather than try to spend it, given it is worth significantly more than its face value: the basic version costs £15.

But it’s good to know that the option is there (although, technically, shops and banks are not obliged to take commemorative coins. You could definitely use them to settle a debt in court though).

How can I get the Monopoly coin?

Mr Monopoly is now a nonogenarian (Picture: Royal Mint)

It won’t be in general circulation, so you’ll have to buy one, unless you’re very lucky and happen to find one that happened to be spent.

The commemorative coin is now available to purchase from The Royal Mint’s website. Their Brilliant Uncirculated edition costs £15, while other more expensive versions of the coin are available in silver and gold.

If you visit the Royal Mint Experience in South Wales, you can also strike a simplified version there yourself.

There is also the very rare chance you might be the one who finds a solid gold version, worth £1,730, hidden behind the Christmas Eve door of their Monopoly advent calendar.

Monopoly superfan Neil Scallan holds up one of the newly minted coins (Picture: The Royal Mint Limited)

‘The holy grail for Monopoly enthusiasts’

Rebecca Morgan, commemorative coin director at The Royal Mint, said: ‘For nearly 90 years, families have been trading millions in Monopoly currency around kitchen tables, and now we’re celebrating that beloved tradition with this collectible coin.

‘We anticipate collectors, whether passionate about Monopoly or coins, will treasure this as a unique addition to their collections.’

Neil Scallan, the record holder for the world’s largest Monopoly memorabilia collection, said: It’s like finding a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card, that celebrates the game we all grew up loving. This represents the holy grail for any serious Monopoly enthusiast!’

If you get one though, just make sure you store it somewhere safe, given that some Monopoly bankers seem to mysteriously end up with extra cash.

Or, you coud just play McDonald’s Monopoly, now back for 2025.

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