The Pokemon media franchise is one of the most successful such endeavors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It is no surprise that Hasbro, makers of Monopoly, would license a Pokemon-themed version of Monopoly, the largest-selling board game of all time. Like so many other special edition Monopoly sets, the Pokemon edition's release was carefully timed. The Pokemon edition Monopoly bears an early copyright date of 1995, also the height of Pokemon fascination.