Wherever you live in the country, I’m willing to bet that you’ve probably seen a ticket like the one above — your local grocery store chain probably does some sort of a “Monopoly” game where you earn pieces for shopping and can potentially win a large prize (though more commonly you might win a coupon or a few more Monopoly tickets). When you open the ticket, there is likely a prompt to “Play the online game”, along with a code you can enter on the website for a second chance at a prize. Did you know that at some stores, these “losing” codes can stack into free $5 Visa e-Gift Cards?
A user on Slickdeals uncovered an interesting tidbit in the rules governing the game at Safeway /Albertson’s / Vons / ACME and associated chains. I don’t live in an area served by these chains, but apparently when entering your codes online, a number of codes say that they are not winners but rather award a “Fandango token”. Ten Fandango tokens can be redeemed for a $5 Fandango gift card — or, as the user on Slickdeals discovered — they can be traded for a $5 Visa e-gift card. That Visa e-gift card could then be used online to buy something like an Amazon gift card. Here are the associated terms with the bold type being my emphasis:
Fandango Rewards: Collect ten (10) Fandango Reward Tokens in “My Account” on the www.playmonopoly.us website to reveal a Fandango “Redeem” button, click on this button to be automatically transferred to the Fandango redemption website. Follow the prompts necessary to redeem the prize, accept the terms and conditions to receive a $5 Fandango Reward consisting of either a Visa e-gift card, Fandango Now Money or a Fandango Certificate. Only fifteen (15) Fandango Rewards may be earned per family or household. See gift card for details, terms, conditions and (if applicable) fees. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. Product may not be available in all states. Fandango Reward Tokens nor Fandango Prizes cannot be sold, transferred or exchanged between participants. See gift card for details, terms, conditions and (if applicable) fees.
The terms cap this at 15 Fandango Rewards per family/household — meaning that a family could earn $75 in free Visa e-Gift cards with losing Monopoly tickets. That’s not a bad deal — especially when considering how easily that $75 could be consolidated through something like Amazon where you can buy small gift cards and your gift card money could be combined. And if you have a lot of Monopoly tickets, I bet you could find some friends with other households who would be happy to work out a deal with you if you put the time into redeeming the codes.
According to the rules for the chain pictured above, it sounds like game pieces stopped being given out on May 9th, but you have until May 24th to enter your codes online for a second chance to win:
- Online entries must be made by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (“PT”) on May 24, 2017.
Final Thoughts
As I don’t live near one of the stores pictured above, I have not tried this for myself and so I can’t confirm it. However, based on the terms as written, I expect that it would work just as explained here. Unfortunately, my local grocery store Monopoly game has no such option to earn gift cards — which was a disappointment as we do have a stack of unopened Monopoly pieces on the kitchen counter. While this won’t be useful if you didn’t keep your game pieces, I know that Monopoly game pieces often sit somewhere in the kitchen collecting dust long after these games have ended. So take a look — you might just have $75 in Amazon gift cards sitting on the counter.
H/T: Slickdeals
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I have a $5 win from Albertson’s monopoly 2019 (MON-12). We are retired, don’t have a smart phone, don’t have the APP, don’t want the APP … is it possible to mail my game piece to get the $5 cash reward?
Is there a way to do this for the 2018 version of the tokens
That’s what I’m trying to figure out. It only says Fandango now this year. So I’m not sure.. Has anyone tried it?
I don’t think there is any way to do this sadly.. Garbage this year!
During the last week when Vons/Albertsons in SoCal was having $10 off MCGC, they were handing me black tickets by the fistfull. I have 16 of these codes- will save one for Fandango, and cash out the rest. Cheers!
Nevermind. The 16th was text. We could only add 15 to the website.
My Fandango code does not give the option for a Visa gift card — just the Fandango code. I am using the black game pieces — not the yellow ones (which I believe are for employees only). Maybe that is the difference.
From your Code History do you see
FANDANGO Reward
Redeem Here
Anybody knows how to create an account on playmonopoly.us to upload these monoploy codes. It seems the site has an option for existing users only.
You’ll have to wait until next promotion to register and play.
Bummer — the option for new players was there the other day when I posted this (as you can see in the screen shot). Sadly, as Dani says, I guess you can’t register now if you haven’t previous done it. Not sure when they stopped letting new people register.
For Albertson’s/Safeway the redemption says the e-Visa card can only be use for digital content under $5. So how dd you get a Amazon card?
You can scan or enter the codes via the app or website. Once you hit 10 (I thinks its really 11) Go to “Code History” look for Fandango Reward Redeem Here. It takes you to a page that has three redemption options the bottom option lets you redeem for the $5 vgc. Its called “Visa Virtual Account” it has the card number, CW2 number, ex date. print out the page and your good to go. I wouldn’t call this a losing ticket, its a winning token. I pretty much play for this reason and the freebies of course 😉
Yes, this works exactly like you described. You just enter the codes, once you get 10 Fandago tokens you click on redeem and select the prize that you want. The $5 gift cards are Visas which you can then purchase $5 Amazon gift cards from the Amazon site. I was able to redeem $40. Not earth shattering, but enough to make it interesting.