In This Newest Game, It’s Only How You Spend : Businesses Discover a New Way to Advertise

NEW YORK —  A new game called “It’s Only Money” carries a price tag of $30 for people who want to play it and $30,000 for companies that want their name on it.

The game, patterned like a shopping trip, is the latest in a line of games testing financial acumen. However, in “It’s Only Money,” the aim is not to become a real estate magnate or Wall Street whiz kid, but to spend.

Players visit storefronts on the board and try to accumulate goods without being bankrupted by an unforeseen credit card check or sudden price rises.

But for the 25 companies with goods or services listed on the board, the object is to make money, real money, by popularizing their product.

They have each paid $30,000 for the privilege of owning a storefront on the board. The idea is that through playing the game people become familiar with product lines or services and may be tempted to buy them in real life.

‘Worth Every Cent’

Gitano Group Inc., a clothing company among the sponsors, thinks it has gotten a bargain.

“It was worth every cent,” said Gitano spokesman Ken Petti. He said it would cost much more to run an advertisement in a consumer magazine, about $50,000 for a month.

“The game represents the ultimate fantasy fulfillment of the 1990s,” Petti said.

Among the goods featured on the board are Courvoisier cognac, Seagram whiskey, Business Week magazine and Nissan vans. There are also storefronts for casinos and hotel complexes.

Both the game’s originator and the sponsors, which include MasterCard and Continental Airlines, are banking on brisk sales when “It’s Only Money” hits retail outlets this spring.

Sales are expected to reach 250,000 by the end of the year, according to Eric Medney, who devised the game and heads the company marketing it.

As an added incentive to buyers, the game comes with an entry form for a competition in which the prizes are a $300,000 condominium in Miami and $100,000 cash to spend in a real-life, 24-hour shopping spree.

Unusual Medium

Medney says his product offers players a fun time and gives sponsors an unusual advertising medium--the “coffee table billboard.”

Critics of the game, which the box says is for anyone age 12 and up, say it can promote unbridled materialism, introduce alcohol and gambling to minors and undermine efforts to teach the value of money.

The box carries this description of the contents: “It’s Only Money--where shopping becomes a frenzied challenge, a showdown of strategy, savvy and spending!”

According to Medney, president of ESM Marketing Group Inc., the game is meant to be played by adults in a family environment. “It’s a game of strategy, not a game where you just spend, spend, spend. You have to make your purchases wisely,” he said.

Paul Richard, a teacher of personal finance management, disagreed. He told Reuters he was worried that games like “It’s Only Money” foster irresponsible attitudes to money.