The McDonald's Monopoly Scam: Operation Final Answer

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McDonald’s first started the Monopoly promotion in 1987, and its premise was simple: attach Monopoly pieces to food cartons and cups, with each piece signifying a Monopoly property or a small prize. One out of every four pieces would be a small prize, such as a medium fry or soda, and a very few of the prizes would be significantly more valuable, such as a car or, with the proper pieces, cash – up to $1 million.

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[TodayIFoundOut]

Now that we've blown the lid off the McDonald's Monopoly scam you should watch this video and learn Why the Monopoly Player Pieces (Thimble, Top Hat, Etc.) are What They Are:

[greatoverlordchikonmaster]

He stole all of the cards he wanted, except, for the get out of jail free card

[YaztromoX]

You left out what I find to be an interesting side-note to this story. Jerome Jacobson felt he had an "out", in the form of knowledge of fraud related to the Monopoly game on the part of McDonalds. McDonalds used a computer to randomly pick the restaurant where the major prize winning pieces would go. One year, the million dollar prize was randomly selected to go to a restaurant in Canada -- and McDonalds brass nixed it, and told the team to re-run the selection until they got a US city. Meanwhile, McDonalds in Canada marketed the game as if Canadians had a chance of winning the major prizes, when in truth it was rigged against them. Mr. Jacobson felt he could use this knowledge to blackmail McDonalds if they ever caught on. As we know, it didn't help him in the end.

[sofiatgarcia]

Thanks for bringing up you sponsor at the beginning and end of your video and not interrupting it in the middle.

[SnazzyZubloids]

McD’s would’ve lost a hell of a lot more than $1million if they’d refused to pay St. Jude’s, and they knew it.

[de_cre_vi]

I always knew the odds of winning any big prize was low anyway, so I just enjoyed playing it anyway as a kid, because I was a kid and collecting the pieces was fun by itself. Plus the freebies like fries or drinks were nice.

[Angryfishwknife]

For all the laws broken, I can't help but feel happy that the million was given to charity. Even though it wasn't obtained legally, McDonald's wasn't forced to pay them a dime. They instead opted to give the money to help and boost the company's image.

[thingXx]

Simon in elementary: Teacher asks a question....
Simon: *Raises hand*, "Hello, I'm Simon Whistler, and today you're about to find out...."

[davidlynch]

The whole system is a scam. I got the winning pieces for a mountain bike when I lived in Phoenix AZ. The limited print piece actually had a phone number and I think web address on it to use to claim your prize. This was back in 2005 or 2006 and I did not have internet so I used the phone number to claim my prize. Never got the confirmation letter or follow up. Never got prize. I got a whole lot of nothing. Maybe things are different now but I got burned.

[TeemarkConvair]

its ALWAYS the greed that causes the downfall

[Vasquezz]

a co-worker back in 2013 almost won $500, 000. he found the last piece in during his lunch and took off home. when he arrived home his wife, who kept telling him to stop wasting his money buying McDonald's saying he would never win anything, threw all the pieces away in the morning and the trash had been collected mid day. he came in to work the most angry and depressed we had ever seen. he quit a week later and disappeared.

[DeetsterB]

Well it just reinforces what I knew that the Monopoly game is rigged.
I get excited only if I win food because I know that’s the best I’d get.

[LeonusStawalker]

I can't believe McDonalds would allow the pieces to be distributed in a way where the guy could just swipe them. They require their employees to use a fingerprint scanner to clock in and out and a manager's approval if they're even a minute off their schedule, yet at no point did they require verification that every piece that was sent out made it to its destination.

[XxFoxMotoXxX]

When I was little, i always used to tell my friends that I had the boardwalk piece at home. I caught one of them snoping around my house trying to find it when I had them over for a sleepover.

[jamesrobinson]

McDonald's owes us all more than an apology. We've all spent money expecting a fair chance to win, which we didn't get.

[handyhippie]

i remember when they refused to pay out to a winner because one of their pieces were not from the same area as the others. the winner traveled through many states for their job, and ate at mickie d's in all of them. it seems to me they had to go to court to get their prize.

[orellaminx]

I wonder how many prizes the agents won just from eating while staking out parking lots. Director "So, how much did the monopoly operation end up costing us?" "Only about 100 grand, Agent Johnson won the million dollar prize and since he was on the clock we stole it from him."

[MrVvulf]

TIL Jacobson took a "chance" with the "community chest" but ended on "go to jail".

[anthonys]

HBO just aired a six hour marathon program to tell us what you explained more clearly and better in 7 minutes. Bravo Simon!

[josequiroz]

When I was in highschool, these two girls, who worked at mcdonalds sat in the back of class with about 200 fry bags peeling off the stickers...i knew the scam was in then.