Monopoly Token Vote Replaces Iron Game Piece With Cat, New Version Release Date Projected For This Fall [PHOTO]

The contest was conducted via Monopoly's Facebook page, where voters were allowed to choose which piece they most wanted to preserve -- the car, thimble, boot, Scottie dog, battleship, hat, iron or wheelbarrow – and which piece they wanted to bring in – a robot, diamond ring, cat, helicopter, or guitar.

Participants had until midnight Tuesday to vote, and according to polls on the page, the election got pretty tight. As of 6:30 p.m., each held eight percent of the total votes.

"It's been an exciting campaign and a lot of Monopoly fans around the world have gotten involved," Jonathan Berkowitz, vice president of marketing for Hasbro Gaming, said.

With only so much room in the 80-year-old board game box, the Hasbro spokesman said the company will immediately cease production of the iron, to accommodate the cat.

Hasbro announced the "Save Your Token" contest in early January. “Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) will be changing the Monopoly game forever by removing one of the classic tokens from the game and replacing it with a token that reflects the interests of today's Monopoly players,” it said.

Fans and even businesses were allowed to get in on the fun by creating their own campaigns that sought to save their favorite token.

"We're going to keep listening to our fans," Berkowitz said. "We're going to make sure we keep Monopoly current and exciting, as we're doing with the token vote."

Hasbro said it plans to release on Feb. 15 an exclusive version of the game that includes all the old token pieces, along with all the new candidates. The new version of the board game, in which the iron will be replaced with the cat, will be released in the fall, Berkowitz said.