How To Win McDonald’s Monopoly Game

MacDonald’s Monopoly game for 2010 has started!

McDonald’s announced that this year’s Monopoly game will start on October 5, 2010 and end on November 1, 2010 (official rules)

Every year McDonald’s runs its very popular Monopoly game where you get a Monopoly property sticker/game piece with selected items. If you get all the properties in a color group, you get to win that cash prize. In addition to these properties, you can get instant win stickers as well for free Wi-Fi time, Wal-Mart gift cards, McDonald’s food, and even a 2011 Shelby. The cash prizes range from $5 up to $1 million!

The secret to winning a prize in the McDonald’s Monopoly Game is to understand how the game works. McDonald’s is pretty savvy about how they setup the game. You win prizes when you collect all the properties in a particular color group. They control the number of prizes by limiting one of the properties, usually the last property listed alphabetically, and the key is to find those “rare” pieces.

For 2010, the rare pieces are:

Mediterranean Avenue ($50 prize, 5000 prizes)Vermont Avenue ($100 prize, 1500 prizes)Virginia Avenue ($200 SpaWish® Gift Certificate, 250 prizes)Tennessee Avenue ($1,000 prize, 250 prizes)Kentucky Avenue (Beaches Resorts – The Luxury Included® 4 Day/3 Night Family Vacation for two adults & two children 15 years or under, 122 prizes)Short Line Railroad (EA SPORTS Trip, 8 prizes)Ventnor Avenue ($25,000 prize, 5 prizes)Pennsylvania Avenue ($50,000 prize, 4 prizes)Boardwalk ($1 million dollar prize, 2 prizes)

If you’re curious, the $1 million top prize isn’t lump sum. It’s a $50,000 annual payment for 20 years.

The pieces (which include two “stamps”) are included on the following products: Medium Fountain Drinks; Medium and Large Hot McCafés; Medium and Large Cold McCafé including Smoothies and Frappés (excludes McCafé Shakes); Hash Browns; Big Mac; 10-piece Chicken McNuggets®, McGriddles, and Filet-O-Fish. Individuals who purchase 20-piece Chicken McNuggets® or Large Fries specially-marked packaging will receive two (2) Game Pieces (4 stamps).

As always, you can always do a little horsetrading to get the pieces that you need. Remember, if you get a rare piece, you’re pretty much set. People will try to negotiate using common pieces (Park Place is pretty much worthless, since you need the uber-rare Boardwalk piece… if you have that, you can easily negotiate down someone with Park Place since it’s worthless without you). If you need a place to trade, I’ve always suggested a place like Fatwallet Forums.

The cheapest item on the menu that offers game pieces are the hash browns. For an average of a dollar, you get two game pieces and it is slightly cheaper, and faster, than mailing in a self-addressed, stamped envelope ($0.88 for two stamps). Some people have had success just buying the game pieces without the food… since you probably don’t want to be eating a stack of has browns as a breakfast.

As for the healthiest option, I’d go with a cup of coffee or any one of their other coffee-like products.

As I alluded to before, you can always get game pieces for free. Send a “legibly handwritten, self-addressed, stamped envelope with your address (first and last name, street address, city, state, and zip or postal code) to:

2010 MONOPOLY Game at McDonald’s Game Piece Request
P.O. Box 49229
Strongsville, OH 44149-0229

In addition to the awesome property prizes, there are a number of instant win prizes. Some of these I wasn’t really a big fan of, they seem more like trial subscriptions than a “prize” that you’ve won. I’ll let you decide:

Food Prizes – Medium French Fries, any Large Beef Sandwich, any Breakfast Extra Value Meal®, Small McFlurry® or Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait, Small Soft Drink or Small Hot Premium Roast Coffee (excluding McCafe®), and any Breakfast Sandwich.Three (3)-Month Pogo.com™ Subscription – EA SPORTS™ video gameTwenty Snapfish® Photo Prints – With 4,000,000 of these prizes, this prize is the second most common prize.Wal-Mart Gift Card – Several prizes are Wal-Mart gift cards ranging in value from $5 (966k winners) to $5,000 (10 winners).Free RedBox Rental – There are 1,350,000 of these and this is the third most common instant win prize, with your chances at 1 in 405.Fifty Dollars – There are 4,000 of these prizes available, you get a check for $50.Five hundred Dollars – There are 500 of these prizes available, you get a check for $500.EA SPORTS Ultimate Game RoomXbox 360 Game System – There are 3,000 of these prizes available, but you will only get these off an order of large fries or Angus burger.$10,000 Dollars – Four $10,000 prizes available.$25,000 Dollars – Four $25,000 prizes available.2011 Shelby GT500 – Last but not least, there are two cars.

It doesn’t hurt to try and I don’t know how likely it is that you’ll snag a Shelby through the mail… but good luck!

(Photo: sundazed)

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