Monopoly’s thimble goes the way of the dodo

Monopoly is ditching a classic piece this spring: the thimble. Following millions of votes cast to preserve other favorite pieces in manufacturer Hasbro’s recent “Token Madness” campaign, the thimble came in dead last in the popularity poll.

A replacement will be announced March 19, with an updated version of Monopoly hitting shelves sometime thereafter. Among the possible new tokens that fans weighed in on earlier this year are a penguin, TV and the most contemporary revision of all, a Mr. Monopoly emoji-style piece.

Monopoly has long been one of the more polarizing board games on the market, thanks to its capitalist campaign and seemingly endless runtime. It’s also one of the older games still on the market; it’s more than 80 years old. These elements make it a tough sell for younger players, and the use of old-school tokens like the wheelbarrow, battleship and the newly deceased thimble don’t much help the game’s archaic image.

Hasbro first showed a willingness to take players’ feedback on how to modernize the game back in 2013, when the company introduced the “Save the Token” promotion. The similar social media campaign had Facebook users vote on which tokens they wanted to keep and add, and that time the iron, of all things, was kicked out. (A cat token was voted in as its replacement.)

While irons still remain in widespread use in this day and age, the same can’t quite be said about the thimble. While the piece had a unique, endearing cylindrical design, it seems like Monopoly fans overall decided they’d rather play as something they actually understand the purpose for.