Don't lose out on your McDonald's Monopoly prizes!

If you were to visit the McDonald's 2007 Monopoly online official rules page, you probably won't notice this sentence buried near the middle of the page:

PARTICIPANTS SHOULD NOT SHOW OR GIVE ANY OTHER POTENTIAL INSTANT WIN GAME STAMP OR ANY POTENTIAL WINNING COMBINATION TO ANY MCDONALD'S, TOYS"R"US OR FOOT LOCKER EMPLOYEE.

This is one of the only sentences on the page written in all-caps. They are shouting at you and I hope you hear them loud and clear.

Should you find yourself in possession of a winning food game piece, you should redeem it at your local McDonald's. However, if you think you've won an actual game prize, either by collecting a series of board properties of the same color, or by an instant-win single stamp piece, do NOT bring it to the counter staff. You'll probably be excited to realize you've won, but the best thing to do would be to secure the game piece or pieces somewhere in your purse or wallet, and head for home.

Because the counter crew at your local McDonald's is responsible for redeeming the food prizes, they have been trained to know what those winning game pieces look like. As a side effect, they also will have a good idea as to what the winning game pieces for high-value prizes will look like. If you think your game piece says you've won $25,000 cash, and ask an employee for confirmation, they likely will know for sure if you've won or not. However, in fast-food game piece promotions like this in the past, some employees have taken this opportunity to scam the winners.

I've had two people tell me almost the same story in the past year, and these incidents didn't occur at McDonald's. It may be best if I don't tell you exactly where these happened, because I don't believe those restaurants were responsible for what happened -- the blame rests squarely on the employees. In one case, the woman handed her game piece to the counter staff, who then said he needed better light to read her game piece. He went to the back of the store (where the better light was?), then came back to tell her it wasn't a winner. When she asked for the game piece back, she was told he already threw it away because it was worthless. Some nastiness ensued, but she never did get her game piece back. She was pretty sure she won a prize worth about $50, and that the employee pocketed it.

In the other case, the counter staff confirmed the person I spoke to was a winner, and had her wait for someone to find a claim form. She was eventually given a form, she dutifully filled it out, then handed it back to the counter help along with the game piece. The employee stapled the game piece to the form, told her she'd forward it as necessary, and she'd get her prize in a few weeks. After a few months went by with no prize shipment, she contacted the restaurant. It turned out the employees were supposed to provide her with the claim form, and it was her responsibility to mail it back with the game piece via certified mail. We both agreed it was highly likely the employee unstapled her game piece after she left, and gave the game piece to a friend who was eligible to win prizes in the promotion. Normally, when a company holds promotions like these, employees and their immediate family are ineligible to win prizes. As I recall, this was a good prize too, worth approximately $250.

So please know this: If you win something in the McDonald's Monopoly game that's better than a food prize, please keep it as a secret to yourself until you get home from the store. At home, please visit the McDonald's 2007 Monopoly online official rules page again. Sections 9b and 9c say that these game piece prizes can be redeemed via text messaging, by calling a toll-free telephone number, or by visiting an official game redemption web site.

I hope this long essay of mine doesn't scare you away from playing the game. Good luck!