Hasbro Gives In on #WheresRey Controversy

The "Star Wars" version of Monopoly will add a game piece based on the female character Rey after an 8-year-old girl wrote to game maker Hasbro complaining about the omission. Carrie Goldman, of Evanston, Illinois, posted a letter on Twitter this week written by her daughter, Annie Rose, asking why Hasbro left out Rey when she is the heroine of the latest movie in the series, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. "Without her THERE IS NO FORCE AWAKENS! It awakens in her! And without her, the bad guys would have won! Besides, boys and girls need to see that women can be as strong as men!" she wrote. "Girls matter!"

The original game includes just four pieces, all modeled on male characters: Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Finn, and Kylo Ren. The decision to exclude Rey led to a social media debate, with many fans tweeting under the hashtag #WheresRey. Hasbro responded to Annie in a tweet of its own two days later. "We love your passion for Rey and are happy to share that we are including her in the Monopoly: Star Wars game, available later this year," it said. Here's why Rey was excluded in the first place. (More Hasbro stories.)