A New York woman says she went to McDonald's to play Monopoly. Only, her order devoid of game pieces. Here's what viewers think.
A New York woman went to McDonald’s for one reason—to participate in the franchise’s current Monopoly promotion. She felt let down when she looked inside her bag, because she didn’t get any game pieces with her meal.
Carla Maria (@the.carla.marie) posted a video that received more than 43,000 views. In it, she films herself arriving at McDonald’s. She orders food and picks up her meal, but she doesn’t get any stickers.
In a follow-up, she records herself going to a sister location, where she does find some Monopoly stickers. But it led to some debate regarding “the Game” and its availability for certain consumers.
How Does McDonald’s Monopoly Work?
From Oct. 6, 2026, to Nov. 1, 2026, consumers can participate in the Monopoly game at McDonald’s. The way it works is simple.
When a person purchases an eligible menu item, they receive a “game piece,” which they can scan in the McDonald’s app. Players can get additional “chance” game pieces by making orders through the McDonald’s mobile app and registering to play.
Customers can use the game pieces they collect to unlock prizes in the McDonald’s app, such as instant food or reward points. On top of that, McDonald’s is offering some participants bigger prizes. Some of the larger incentives include a Carnival Cruise trip, a 2027 Jeep Cherokee, or a Polaris.
Why The Delay?
A few commenters tried to guess why Carla Marie didn’t get a McDonald’s Monopoly sticker with her order. Some, for instance, said that the promotion had just started when she recorded her video. It was possible that the McDonald’s she visited genuinely didn’t have the stickers yet.
“They probably didn’t have the stickers yet cause it’s the first day,” one commenter said.
Another replied, “Don’t matter it’s been in the works for a while they should have new packaging inventory ready to go a week in advance.”
Other viewers, however, had different problems when it came to acquiring game pieces.
“The day before they couldn’t give me a large because the cups had the game pieces on it, and the next day they gave me a large with no game piece,” one viewer said.
It’s unclear why Carla Maria’s location didn’t have the game pieces. The content creator didn’t provide any additional information about the McDonald’s she visited in her video.
Is There Another Way To Get Game Pieces?
Outside of purchasing items in-store, McDonald’s also has another, lesser-known option to get game pieces.
A commenter spelled out the method, sharing, “So I’m gonna tell you, what you do [is] request free McDonald’s game pieces by mailing a [self-addressed] stamped envelope to the official promotion address … They will send you game pieces for free.”
What they’re saying is accurate. The McDonald’s Monopoly game has to provide a mail-in option because of certain sweepstakes laws, which require that lotteries have free-to-play options. According to ABC News, any person can get one game piece via the mail-in option.
Prior to that, consumers had the option to fill out online forms to get free in-app game pieces, per ABC News. But mailing in appears to be the only current free-to-play option.
However, many customers enjoy collecting game pieces from McDonald’s orders. Not having them attached to eligible items, then, can be incredibly disappointing.
@the.carla.marie @McDonald’s porqueeee 🥀#mcdonalds #mcdonaldsmonopoly #noprize #CityTasteTest #fypシ
BroBible reached out to Carla Maria via TikTok direct message and to McDonald’s via email for comment.