Monopoly money


Monopoly money is a type of play money used in the board game Monopoly. It is different from most currencies, including the American currency or British currency upon which it is based, in that it is smaller, one-sided, and does not have different imagery for each denomination.

Format

Many variations of Monopoly exist, with many types of money representing various currencies. In the more "standard" versions of the game, Monopoly money consists entirely of notes. Monopoly notes come in the following colors:
  • 1 – white
  • 2 – yellow
  • 3 – blue
  • 4 – green
  • 5 – pink
  • 10 – yellow or blue
  • 20 – green
  • 50 – blue or purple
  • 100 – red or beige
  • 500 – gold or orange
  • 1,000 – purple or yellow
The modern Monopoly game has its Monopoly money denominated in 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000, with all but the last two paralleling the denominations in circulation in the United States.. Monopoly does not include a two-dollar bill; however, Monopoly Junior did include the two in addition to three and four denominations for many years.
Fans have designed unofficial 1,000 Monopoly bills for longer games and made them available online.
Special editions and spinoffs may use larger denominations.
Since 2008, Monopoly games have used a Monopoly-specific currency symbol "" of a double struck-through capital letter M, similar to the won sign flipped upside-down.

As a phrase

Monopoly money is also a derisive term used in multiple senses. The most common is by countries that have traditionally had monochromatic currency banknotes to refer to countries that have colorful banknotes. This has been used in places such as the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Canadian Idiot".
It can also be used as a derisive term to refer to money not really worth anything, or at least not being used as if it is worth anything.