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MacDonald’s Monopoly game ^[3] has started for 2010!

McDonald’s announced that this year’s Monopoly game ^[4] will start on October 6th and end on November 2nd. If you go now before the game starts, you can get a pre-promotion code good for one property and entry into their pre-promotion contest.

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, or gift cards, or McDonald’s products. The cash prizes range from $50 up to $1 million!

The secret to winning the game is in understanding how it works. McDonald’s sets up the game so that it controls the number of ten critical pieces. Those pieces happen to be the last property, when listed alphabetically, for each color group (except Boardwalk). If you get one of these rare pieces, you’ve basically won that prize.

2009 Game Pieces & Prizes

For 2009, the rare pieces (and the prize you can win with that color group) are:

• Mediterranean Avenue ($50 prize, 2000 prizes)
• Short Line Railroad ($500 prize, 750 prizes)
• Vermont Avenue ($1,000 prize, 125 prizes)
• Virginia Avenue ($2,000 prize, 75 prizes)
• Tennessee Avenue ($5,000 prize, 10 prizes)
• Kentucky Avenue ($10,000 prize, 6 prizes)
• Ventnor Avenue ($25,000 prize, 8 prizes)
• Pennsylvania Avenue ($50,000 prize, 4 prizes)
• Golden Avenue ($100K prize)*
• Boardwalk ($1 million dollar prize, 1 prizes)

The pieces are included on the following products:

• Angus Burgers
• Chicken McNuggets (10 or 20 piece)
• Large Fries
• Medium & Large Drinks
• Large Hot McCafe Drinks
• Hash Browns

The key is finding the rare pieces. You can take advantage of the Internet to find people willing to sell or trade rare pieces to complete a set (which is against the rules of the game). Websites like the Fatwallet Forums ^[5] are a great resource to meet other players.

Cheapest Monopoly Game Pieces

The best value item to get are the hash browns, which cost anywhere from $0.80 to $1.00 in most stores and yield two game pieces. It may be cheaper, and faster, than sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope ($0.88 for two first-class stamps) to get the free pieces (instructions) below.

The healthiest option, if you plan on consuming the product, is probably a large coffee.

Free Monopoly Game Pieces

How do you get the pieces for free? You can mail away for them by sending a “legibly handwritten, self-addressed, stamped envelope with your address (first and last name, street address, city, state, and zip or postal code) to:

2009 MONOPOLY at McDonald’s Game Piece Request
P.O. Box 49189
Strongsville, OH 44149-0189

Instant Win Prizes

In addition to the property prizes, there are a number of instant win prizes:

• 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.
• Fifty Dollars – There are 5,000 of these prizes available, you get a check for $50.
• Fifty Dollar Arch Card® ($50) – There are 200 of these prizes available.
• Xbox 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.
• $500 Shell Gift Card – There are 100 of these prizes available.
• $25,000 Dollars – Finally, there are eight $25,000 prizes available.

I don’t know how likely it is that you’ll get a rare game piece, or a really good instant win game piece, for free through the mail, but you never know!

Good luck!

(Photo: sundazed ^[6])