Mr. Monopoly is returning to McDonald’s for the first time in nearly 10 years, perhaps after being paroled from jail by rolling doubles during one of his turns.
On Monday, McDonald’s announced that its once-popular Monopoly Game promotion is returning for the first time since 2016, giving players the chance to win prizes ranging from free fries and McMuffins to overseas vacations and $1 million in cash.
This time, however, the Monopoly Game at McDonald’s won’t utilize a physical game board (i.e., the paper slips that customers previously affixed their tickets to), but rather a digital game board on the McDonald’s app.
“Our fans have been clamoring for the return of Monopoly at McDonald’s, and we’re thrilled to bring it back with a modern, digital spin,” Alyssa Buetikofer, the senior vice president and chief marketing officer at McDonald’s USA, was quoted as saying in a press release. “This game is a core memory for so many customers, and we’re excited that those memories can now be shared across generations.”
The Big Mac nearly had an entirely different name
Customers wishing to play the McDonald’s Monopoly Game can earn either digital or physical game pieces by making purchases in the McDonald’s app or in-store. Some of these game pieces can be earned digitally “when you order in the app or use your Reward code,” according to McDonald’s. The physical game pieces, meanwhile, will be affixed to food packaging.
Even then, customers are instructed to scan their physical game pieces to reveal prizes or track their collection of “digital property” in the McDonald’s app.
Lower-tier prizes include free food and McDonald’s Rewards points, while the more “epic” prizes include Samsung TVs, 1,000,000 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles, a trip to the FIFA World Cup, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a vacation in one of 11 major cities across the globe, and $1,000,000 in cash, among others.
This time around, there’s also a “bonus play” feature in addition to the more straightforward collect-and-win model, which players can find in the McDonald’s app.
Don’t love McDonald’s? No sweat. Players can also participate in the McDonald’s Monopoly Game with no purchase necessary. More information is available on the official rules page, or at the company’s alternate method of entry (AMOE) site.
Why is the country’s largest In-N-Out restaurant in ‘the middle of nowhere’?
A representative for McDonald’s was not immediately available to discuss why the game took a hiatus between 2016 and 2025. But the game has been paused in the U.S. before, in the early 2000s after a security officer at a marketing company was accused of stealing game pieces and providing them to third-parties in exchange for a portion of their winnings.
The security officer, Jerome P. Jacobson, was ultimately sentenced to 37 months in prison, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. There was no mention of early parole if he somehow managed to earn a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.
