McDonald's Monopoly Best Chance 2.0 game -- with Best Buy Bucks! (1 Viewer)

[MarkDude]

McDonald's is launching their 2004 monopoly game on October 12, and there will be Best Buy Bucks again (you're guaranteed at least a $1 Best Buy Buck with every large fry or chicken selects strips purchase). Last year, using BB Bucks didn't affect your Reward Zone points (i.e. Buying something with $20 in BB Bucks still netted you 2,000 points). So, people who go to McDonald's a lot might be able to even out the 2,500 point-per-reward increase a little bit.

--Mark--

 

[Ken Chui]

Am I the only one who's planning to play this game through the mail, i.e. requesting game pieces via SASE? After watching "Super Size Me", I couldn't bring myself to enter, much less eat, at a McDonalds ever again.

 

[MarkDude]

Yeah, actually I got $160 in BB Bucks from mailing in SASE requests during last year's game, and I plan to get even more this year -- I just didn't feel like getting into that in my original message.

--Mark--

 

[John Berggren]

How does that work? Do you get one game piece per SASE? Therefore netting $0.26 per request in BB bucks? Or is there a better, more effective method?

 

[MarkDude]

Nope, that's it -- unless you live in VT, in which case you may omit return postage. But 26¢ profit per 74¢ can add up quickly.

--Mark--

 

[Wade K]

I am a little upset about a rule in the "game board" which is new from last lear...

"$3 Best Buy Buck limit on CDs and DVDs. Additional restrictions apply."

I bought several DVDs last year completely with the game pieces, but it looks as if they're trying to stop that. I'm thinking of buying gift cards (haven't seen any rules/limits against that) and using the cards to buy DVDs

 

[Jimmy M]

That's probably an additional restriction which will apply.

Jimmy!

 

[Carl Walker]

Since they are imposing a $3 limit toward DVD's, I'll just stick with the large stack of Madden 20% off DVD coupons that I was able to grab from several Best Buys in the area. Those don't expire until the end of the year and generally net a better deal than BB Bucks.

Of course, if these are like last year's promotion, you should be able to pull the ol' online/in-store double-dip with them and that would probably make it worth your while...

 

[MarkDude]

Since it's come up here, here's a nice list of Best Buy Buck exclusions:

EXCLUSIONS FOR BOTH IN-STORE AND ONLINE:
-$3 limit on individual CD or DVD purchases
-Purchase total must be more than the amount of BB Bucks redeemed
-BB Bucks are not good toward gift card purchases
-BB Bucks are not good toward video game hardware
-BB Bucks are not good toward Maytag Neptune washers & dryers (what's with these appliances? They're restricted from everything, even Reward Zone certificates)
-BB Bucks are not good toward Gemini ranges
-BB Bucks are not good toward paying off your BB credit card

EXCLUSIONS ONLY APPLICABLE IN-STORE:
-$300 BB Buck limit total on any purchase

EXCLUSIONS ONLY APPLICABLE ONLINE:
-40 code limit on any purchase (not necessarily $40 because you could have $5 or $10 BB Bucks)
-You need to enter a credit card even if your purchase is completely covered by BB Bucks
-BB Bucks are not good toward PSP plans
-BB Bucks are not good toward several other items (BOSE products, installation fees, special order & clearance items, and various big-ticket appliances)
-Gift cards (if your Best Buy Chance piece is an instant-win Best Buy gift card and not a Best Buy Buck) are not redeemable online

I'm not too upset about the $3 CD/DVD limit. I've got plenty of Christmas presents I can buy that are not under the CD or DVD category.

--Mark--

 

[Jason_B_]

h**p://mcdonalds.promotions.com/premonopoly/page.do?page=rules.html
This is found under
4. HOW TO REDEEM.
c. Best Buy Chance Component – Best Buy Bucks & Best Buy Gift Cards.
i. Best Buy Bucks™:
3. General Best Buy Terms & Conditions

That was the only reference I found. I remember last year all you had to do is give the Best Buy bucks to the cashier and he/she counted them and put them in a bag (without scanning them or even looking at the code).
If I would use them both online and in the store I don’t see any rule I would be breaking. They are obviously intended only to be used once by the fact that the rules says "Best Buy Bucks are valid for one time use only". They are not being truthful by saying this because if you can use them online and in the store then they are valid twice.

Is there anything wrong with using them online then in the store?
Is it our fault if they don’t enter the coupon numbers in before they accept them at Best Buy?
Is there a chance they would charge your credit card for the Bestbuy.com purchase if they found out you did this (this would mean them scanning them later and since there is over 78,000,000 BB Buck out there I think this is unlikely)?
What does everyone else think?

Thanks for you input,

Jason

 

[MarkDude]

No one knows if they're going to up their "security" on Best Buy Bucks this year. If you're worried about being caught, I would suggest making a small purchase at your Best Buy store and use just a couple BB Bucks. If they scan them or enter the codes or whatnot, then I would suggest not trying to "double-dip" (as Carl called it). But if the procedure in-store is similar to that of last year, you would be probably be just fine.

--Mark--

 

[Carl Walker]

I can tell you that it did indeed work last time. I placed an online order using the unique codes found on the BB Bucks.

Then, I took those same BB Bucks into the store and made a purchase.

The codes are unique to each BB Buck and are for online use. However, the BAR code is the same on each BB Buck and that is what is scanned at the checkouts.

Worked like a charm! Frankly, I'm surprised that they allowed such a large flaw in the system to happen so easily...

 

[Dustin Owens]

I use to work at bb last year we had to scan only one because all the barcodes were the same. I don't work there now but I'll talk to some friends and get back with ya

 

[Dustin Owens]

does sase have a website or any info on how to get the game pieces

 

[Mike~Sileck]

I'm with Dustin here, what is the method for recieving these pieces via SASE?? How do you go about doing this?

Mike

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

What if I used these Best buy bucks to purchase Super Size Me? Would the universe collapse on itself?

 

[Mike Frezon]

 

[Jeremy K]

I found this here about getting the game pieces by mail:



cheril.com/mcdonald/2004_bestchance_monopoly/rules/obtain_pieces.htm



2. HOW TO OBTAIN GAME MATERIALS. Obtain an Official Game Board ("Game Board") for the Monopoly Component of the Game, while supplies last, at: (a) any participating McDonald's Restaurant within the Territory, (b) any participating Best Buy retail store within the United States, (c) online at www.mcdonalds.com and/or (d) online at www.BestBuy.com. Official Monopoly Game pieces (each a "Game Piece") and Best Buy Chance Pieces can be obtained as follows, while distribution supplies last.



a. In Restaurant. At participating McDonald's Restaurants:

i. One (1) Monopoly Game Piece, consisting of two Monopoly game stamps (each a "Game Stamp"), is attached to 21 oz. Medium and 32 oz. Large Drink Cups (sizes may vary by market and ounce designation refers to average contents) and Hash Brown Bags in the Territory.



ii. One (1) Best Buy Chance Piece (consisting of two Monopoly Game Stamps plus one Best Buy Chance Piece) is attached to 6 oz. Large Fry Cartons (sizes may vary by market and ounce designation refers to average contents) and 3-,5- and 10-piece Chicken Selects boxes in the United States. Best Buy Chance Pieces are not available in the Non-Domestic Market or at any McDonald's Restaurant located in a Wal-Mart®.





b. Mail In. Game Pieces and Best Buy Chance Pieces may be obtained without a McDonald's purchase by mailing, postage prepaid, a self-addressed, stamped envelope ("SASE"), with your name, address, city, state and zip code legibly hand-printed in blue ink to: Monopoly Best Chance Game 2.0 at McDonald's, Game Piece Request, P.O. Box 1497, Young America, MN 55594-1497. Return postage may be omitted on requests that are mailed to a return address located in Vermont. DO NOT SEND POTENTIAL WINNING GAME STAMPS OR ANY OTHER GAME MATERIALS, COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS TO THIS ADDRESS. Participants may submit as many requests as they desire, but only one request (SASE) per outer envelope mailed separately will be fulfilled. Requests that are sent in business reply envelopes will NOT be honored. Photocopied or mechanically reproduced requests will not be honored. One (1) Game Piece (consisting of two Monopoly Game Stamps) plus (for requests being mailed to an address in the United States) one (1) Best Buy Chance Piece (consisting of two Monopoly Game Stamps and one Best Buy Chance Piece) will be mailed in response to each mail-in request that is received in accordance with the foregoing instructions, while supplies last. Non-Domestic Markets will receive (2) Monopoly Game Pieces (each consisting of two Monopoly Game Stamps). Mail-in requests will not be accepted at the P.O. Box until Game begins on October 12, 2004. Mail-in requests must be postmarked no later than November 8, 2004, and received no later than November 15, 2004. In the event in-store distribution of Game Pieces extends beyond November 8, 2004, under Rule 9 of these Official Rules, these dates are subject to a corresponding extension.

 

[Thomas D]

When I went in on Saturday, I had a confused cashier who called over his supervisor. The procedure according to the supervisor was to scan in the bar code on just one of the BBBucks, then total up the amount and apply it as a $ off coupon.

 

[MarkDude]

Thomas, I hope that's how they'll do it for me. A coupon doesn't technically reduce your purchase amount (meaning you don't have to worry about missing out on rebates, plus you get RZ points for your BB Bucks).


One part about your post I know I can count on is that the cashier I have when I use them will have no idea what he or she is doing.


--Mark--