WoTC actively recruits new players into the hobby by working to get D&D into the mass market stores as well as taking steps to increase brand awareness.

Parker Brothers does the same thing with Monopoly. Copies of Monopoly can be found damn near everywhere in the US due to PBs work at getting into the mass market. PB also aggressively promotes Monopoly. The annual McDonald's contest and the limited editions of the game are two examples.

How popular would Monopoly be if people could only buy it in specialty stores?

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