Subheading
Known for his “business mindset,” U.S. President Donald Trump has ventured into various fields throughout his career, including real estate, reality television, vodka, mortgages, the NFL, aviation, bottled water, steaks, and even board games. His business empire is also expanding into the cryptocurrency industry—after establishing a presence in NFT, DeFi, stablecoins, memecoins, and crypto mining, Trump is now extending his reach into the blockchain gaming sector.
According to Fortune magazine, citing two informed sources, Trump is collaborating with business partner Bill Zanker to develop a real estate-themed crypto game centered around his brand, with gameplay resembling that of Monopoly Go!. For this “seasoned enthusiast,” who launched a similar Monopoly board game thirty years ago, releasing a digital version of Monopoly with the support of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is both surprising and seemingly expected, but it certainly brings a wave of excitement to the long-quiet blockchain gaming space.
Real Estate Tycoon Trump: A “Longtime Fan” of Monopoly
In May 1989, Donald Trump partnered with the classic board game company Milton Bradley to launch the board game Trump: The Game, inspired by both Monopoly and Trump’s career as a real estate mogul. Milton Bradley’s then-president stated that the game was set against a backdrop of high-risk betting, trading, and Trump’s bestselling book The Art of the Deal, published in 1987. Trump even filmed a television commercial for the game, promoting the slogan, “It’s not whether you win or lose, but whether you win!”
At a promotional event prior to the official release of Trump: The Game, Trump announced that he would donate an undisclosed portion of the game’s revenue to charities for research on cerebral palsy and AIDS, as well as for helping the homeless. The board game, priced at $25, was ambitiously projected by Trump and Milton Bradley to sell 2 million copies before its official launch, but it ultimately sold only 800,000 copies, far below expectations.
The reasons for this shortfall included the perception that the game, named directly after Trump, was merely a tool for wealthy individuals to make money, with the public unaware that a portion of the proceeds was designated for charity. Additionally, misleading marketing led many to view it as a knockoff of Monopoly. Trump believed the primary issue stemmed from the game’s overly complex design, with a rulebook exceeding 12 pages, lacking mass appeal.
Despite later advertisements specifically stating, “Mr. Trump will donate the proceeds from Trump: The Game to charity,” sales remained sluggish. Furthermore, a 2016 report by The Huffington Post indicated that Trump’s prior claims of donating game revenue to charity could not be substantiated, and both Trump and related entities declined to comment.
In 2004, after the tremendous success of Trump’s reality show The Apprentice, Parker Brothers re-released Trump: The Game. The new version featured Trump’s iconic catchphrase from The Apprentice: “You’re fired!” and touted the slogan, “It takes smarts to make millions, but it takes Trump to make billions.” However, even with Trump’s celebrity endorsement, this revamped game received a lukewarm reception.
It should be noted that Milton Bradley was acquired by toy and entertainment giant Hasbro in 1984 and merged with another Hasbro subsidiary, Parker Brothers, in 1998. The brand was later phased out in 2009 in favor of the parent company’s name, ultimately transitioning to Hasbro Gaming; thus, the intellectual property of this Trump-licensed board game likely belongs to Hasbro.
“I’ve always thought Monopoly was a fantastic game, and many people are interested in it,” Trump, a “true fan” of the game, attempted to launch a prime-time reality show based on Monopoly in 2006. Trump was set to collaborate with documentary producer RJ Cutler, with Hasbro as the partner for the project. However, this plan ultimately fizzled out during development, with no network buying the show, nor any official title or episode count announced.
Revisiting Monopoly with Blockchain Technology After Over Thirty Years
Now, Trump is returning to the Monopoly board once again, but this time he is taking it online. According to Fortune, multiple sources have revealed that Trump is working with his business confidant Bill Zanker to develop a crypto-based real estate-themed game, expected to launch by the end of April this year. This game is an adaptation of MONOPOLYGO!, where players earn game currency by moving pieces on a virtual Monopoly board and building structures in digital cities.
Insiders indicate that Zanker is the driving force behind this blockchain gaming project and had initially planned to launch it before the inauguration of the 47th president. Zanker is considered Trump’s “guide” into the cryptocurrency industry; Trump’s NFT project was facilitated after Zanker persistently advocated for it.
According to Zanker, when he suggested Trump launch NFTs in early 2022, Trump was intrigued by the “former president art NFTs” but was reluctant to use the term “NFT,” preferring to refer to them as “digital trading cards on the computer.” By the end of the same year, Zanker pushed the idea again, and Trump agreed enthusiastically, stating, “Many friends say I shouldn’t do it, but I like it, so let’s go for it.”
In Trump’s memecoin project TRUMP, Zanker also plays a crucial role. According to the memecoin’s website, the remaining tokens after the TRUMP token ICO are held by CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, accounting for 80% of the total supply. Furthermore, Zanker is listed as the primary contact in the registration documents for Fight Fight Fight LLC.
Regarding the specific details of the crypto gaming project, Zanker’s spokesperson Kevin Mercuri only disclosed that they are developing a “game.” Mercuri denied claims that the game would have any similarities to Monopoly Go, stating that related information is merely “speculation.” Previously, the entity responsible for Trump’s trademarks, DTTM Operations, applied to expand Trump’s name to various virtual products and NFT-related services. However, Mercuri declined to reveal whether these trademark applications were directly related to the project, or how blockchain functionalities would be integrated into the gameplay.
Additionally, whether the upcoming blockchain game will be based on the over thirty-year-old Trump: The Game remains uncertain. Sources revealed that last May, Zanker approached Hasbro to inquire about repurchasing the IP for Trump: The Game, but Hasbro informed Zanker that it no longer owned the rights to the game, which has been around for over thirty years. However, according to Fortune, a spokesperson for Hasbro, the original developer of the Monopoly board game, stated that the company had not licensed the Monopoly IP to any organizations associated with Trump for cryptocurrency investments.