Richie Rich has become synonymous with youthful optimism about capitalism thrills. When McDonald's released its version of the Monopoly (Parker Brothers) game, offering customers a change to collect valuable sets of real estate totems from the board game for big money, people felt better about fast food and consumerism. This is the sort of optimism that gave Richie Rich his mantle.

Richie Rich (Harvey Comics) has been adapted into a popular children's animated television series and a full-length feature film starring the great Macaulay Culkin ("Home Alone" - 1990).

Well then, why not devise a head-to-head consumerism game between the affable rich-boy hero Richie Rich and the iconic Monopoly board game cartooned spokesman-mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags (aka, Mr. Monopoly)?

Incidentally, I'd like to see a movie adaptation of Monopoly, perhaps with Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek fame) portraying Rich Uncle Pennybags.

Both Rich and Uncle represent gamesmanship with wealth and an inherent appreciation of consumerism and toys.

So let's see who can serve as the better marketing spokesman for water-guns. Water-guns are consumerism symbols and toys that represent anti-violence marketing and children's play-space art.

Let's track sales charts of water-guns in the USA from Toys 'R Us stores from 1980-1990 and record TV ratings for the Richie Rich cartoon (1980s) and sales of the Monopoly board game (1980s). Using these statistics, we can make claims if these markets actually helped each other.

Such a chart would at least bring more due attention to Richie Rich and Rich Uncle Pennybags, two American symbols of consumerism wisdom.

Richie Rich is a kid, so he seems like the more obvious spokesperson for water-guns, but Rich Uncle Pennybags has the ability to invest in manufacturing/production, so he could be a spokesperson for educational leadership (since water-guns promote anti-violence).

Richie Rich

Rich Uncle Pennybags (Monopoly)

Water Fight

Command: Illinois-Pennsylvania Ave {Realty Rivalry}!

In fact, we can use the property cards from the Monopoly (Parker Brothers) board game to create philosophy-rich imaginarium realty contests between Richie Rich and Mr. Monopoly, to add improvisational flavor to this hypothetical art rivalry.

====

RICHIE RICH: I like buying the Illinois Avenue stretch (reds) first.
MR. MONOPOLY: I prefer saving up to buy the Pennsylvania Avenue (greens) stretch first.
RICHIE RICH: The Illinois Avenue stretch is a great short-term investment.
MR. MONOPOLY: The Pennsylvania Avenue stretch is a better long-term trophy.

====