It only comes around once a year. Masses of fast-food customers nationwide, as if in a trance, purchase very specific food and drink items in great quantities, although they aren’t interested at all in the taste. They have been captivated by the allure of McDonald’s Monopoly, the most ticklish sweepstakes advertising promotion ever created.
Recently the Tickle City Award Committee has been scouring the country for rare pieces and devouring an outrageous amount of Big Macs, Southern Style Chicken Sandwiches, Large Fries, and Medium and Large Premium Roast Coffees (excluding Iced Coffee and Specialty Coffee Beverages) along the way.
At times the process has been frustrating. After racking up four Baltic Avenues in one trip, for example, the Committee almost gave up hope. However, an Instant win medium fries peeled from the next large drink provided renewed optimism. But this was not the end of the bumpy Monopoly ride. After placing an order at a McDonald’s in Waukesha, Wisconsin over the weekend, the Committee looked on in horror: its large fountain drink cup did not have any game pieces. An anxious conversation with the restaurant manager thankfully revealed that an employee had simply mistakenly stocked the wrong cups, and the missing game pieces were gladly given.
And the search is on for Tennessee Avenue, Water Works, Ventnor Avenue, Short Line and the other “rare” pieces. (The rare piece is always the last one alphabetically in the group, Boardwalk being the only exception as it is the last piece on the game board.)
The Tickle City Award Committee has attended numerous meetings and presentations, and has been in constant communication with its associates about hot tips and monopoly strategy. The Committee is being very careful to keep everything legal though, after learning about the 2001 scam in which Jerome Jacobson, an employee for the company in charge of distributing the game pieces for McDonald’s, was caught passing along the winning pieces to friends, a maneuver he had been doing for several years. Jacobson and associates collected $24 million salary, but landed on Go to Jail in October 2003 and they were not “just visiting.”
The Tickle City Award Committee is now planning a trip to McDonald’s for breakfast, where it will order three hash browns and a medium coffee for a very cost-effective eight game pieces.
McDonald’s Monopoly, very ticklish!