This Retired Monopoly Piece Is Finally Coming Back to the Game Again

In terms of board games, there are few as legendary and with as much cultural relevance as Monopoly. The real estate–centric board game has captivated millions of players across generations with its seemingly endless renditions of the classic formula and has somehow always managed to remain new each time.

However, Monopoly has changed in different ways over the years, namely in the token pieces used by players of the game. With that being said, what Monopoly pieces have been retired? Are the game's creators planning on bringing any of them back? Keep reading to find out!

Monopoly's token pieces have become legends of their own over the years. According to Monopoly Fandom, the original game included a battleship, boot, cannon, thimble, top hat, and iron as its token pieces. In 1935, the race car and money bag were added to round out the eight tokens that are largely considered to be its original lineup.

There are a lot of iconic elements to a Monopoly board, and we mean a lot. Whether it be the classic muted green and red color scheme, the colorful toy money, or the metallic token pieces, there really isn't anything else out there like the classic Atlantic City–based real estate game. But when you've been around as long as Monopoly has, there's bound to be at least a few small changes made.

In 2017, Monopoly decided to controversially retire the thimble, the wheelbarrow, and the boot from its lineup after decades of service. In their places, the penguin, T-Rex, and rubber ducky were added. Overall, the list of retired original pieces includes the thimble, the boot, the iron, and the money bag. On top of those, the wheelbarrow, and horse and rider, which were all added to the game at later dates, have since been retired as well.

Continuing the constant ebb and flow of token pieces from Monopoly, Hasbro, the game's parent company, announced on social media on May 31, 2022, that they are going to bring back the thimble as a token in new Monopoly sets. However, it comes at the expense of a different token being taken out of the game.

"The thimble is making a comeback! I repeat, the thimble is making a comeback! And we are sew happy about it," the game's official page wrote on Instagram before announcing which piece is on the chopping block for the thimble's return.

"And just like that, the players have made the T-Rex token extinct," the caption concluded. "Pick up your copy of Monopoly with the current token line up (including the T-Rex) today before that giant meteor comes crashing down…"

Per WPRI, Hasbro started voting in April 2022 to allow fans to select one token from its retired lineup to bring back as well as one current token that they'd like to see retired. And now, the thimble is in and the T-Rex is out.

Monopoly fans can expect the newest edition of the game (with the thimble included) to hit shelves sometime during fall 2022 in the U.S., and then a later global release around spring 2023.