The Lion King isn’t just getting a remake in theaters this year. It’s also getting a Monopoly board game.
Hasbro is releasing a version of its property trading game based on Disney’s beloved Oscar-winning movie The Lion King.
The Lion King has previously been featured in Monopoly’s Disney Animation edition of the game, but not like this.
We know fans love pop culture integrations with their favorite games and with the 25th anniversary of the original motion picture and the release of the live-action film in July, fans will be clamoring for ways to celebrate the classic movie,” senior director of global brand strategy and marketing at Hasbro, Jen Boswinkel, told INSIDER of how this edition came about.
As far as Monopoly editions go, this is a pretty nice addition for any diehard Disney fan for its attention to detail in the quotes and artwork used throughout the game and its finally crafted tokens.
From the moment you open the box, it feels like you’re reliving the opening moments from the 1994 movie.
Properties are a mix of landmarks and moments from The Lion King
While you can buy a few landmarks from the Disney animated feature like Pride Rock, The Lion King edition of Monopoly focuses more on reliving Simba’s journey to becoming King of the Pride Lands.
The properties for purchase are a mixture of moments and locations from The Lion King. There’s the Elephant Graveyard Simba and Nala sneak inside to concepts like “The Circle of Life” and “Remember Who You Are.”
You can play as one of six characters from the movie.
Mufasa, Scar, Simba, and his friends, Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa are the six tokens that will come with the board game. These are finely crafted weighted tokens. Each one has its own unique place to go back inside the box.
The board and cards consist of real concept art from the animated movie
Hasbro confirmed to INSIDER all of the artwork seen on cards and on the board is conceptual and developmental art straight from the Disney Animation Library.
There are a few other differences with this version of the game.
The Lion King edition doesn’t come with Chance and Community Chest cards. Instead, both are replaced by 32 Destiny cards.
If you’re a big fan of the animated movie, each Destiny card recalls a scene from the film and will probably make you a bit nostalgic for the classic. For example, a card with Scar’s line “Life’s Not Fair, Is It?” requires players to pay 50 Monopoly dollars to the banker. Harsh.
Here’s an example of 10 of the cards:
Hotels and houses are replaced by plastic beetles and grubs and the railroads consist of four animal herds: the Rhino, Elephant, Antelope, and Wildebeest.
And instead of the two utility spaces, players can land on “Advisor” properties with Rafiki or Zazu on them. The properties are the same in nature.
It comes with a mini version of Pride Rock that plays music from the movie.
The coolest addition to the Lion King edition is a compact rendition of Pride Rock, which holds the game’s Destiny cards. When you press a button on the miniature, it plays the opening seconds of “The Circle of Life,” which means “Here comes a lion, father” in Zulu.
The mini Pride Rock requires two AAA batteries, which are included with the game.
Monopoly’s The Lion King Edition is available HERE for $39.99 for ages eight and up.