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Playing Monopoly – Rules and Tips for Classic Game

Playing the Classic Game of Monopoly - Rules & Tips

The Monopoly game’s origin in 1935, started out when Charles Darrow drew a game board on a round piece of oilcloth that he had in his closet.

His friends and family enjoyed the game, so he began to sell copies of the game for $4.00 each – a bit expensive for those days.

When Charles was eventually getting up to 10 orders a day (all the games were hand-made), his life ended up revolving around collecting games.

When he first presented it to Parker Brothers, they complained that the game took way too long and there were 52 errors reported. Eventually they accepted, however, and Charles would receive a royalty for every game sold.

Parker Brothers did re-write the rules for added clarity and change the board to the modern square shape, and eventually also added Monopoly mascot Mr. Monopoly.  

Now, the Monopoly game includes the new speed die, a partially newly-designed board, a few new tokens, and even more features to make the game very exciting!

Rules for Monopoly Classic Version Board Game
The rules are often argued upon, so here are the distinct features and rules of the game.
  1. Decide one player to be banker. This player shall be in charge of all money, property, houses and hotels still belonging to the bank. Remember that the chosen banker may also be a player in the game, but he must keep his assets as a player separate from that of the bank’s.
  2. Choose a token. Each player will get a mover to represent themselves as they move around the board.
  3. Start with $1500. Each player will begin the game with $1500 divided as follows:
  • Two $500s
  • Four $100s
  • One $50
  • One $20
  • Two $10s
  • One $5
  • Five $1s 
To decide who goes first – have each player roll the dice. Whoever rolls the highest number goes first, and play then continues clockwise around the board. If you roll doubles during the game, that is, the same number shown on both of the dice, you may take your turn as normal then take another turn.
  1.  Buy property. If you land on a spot with a colored stripe across the top, a railroad or a utility (Electric Company/Water Works), you may buy the property for the amount printed on the board. The banker in turn gives the player the title deed for that property.
  2. Collect rent. Players who own property may collect rent when another player lands on a property that someone else owns. If you land on someone else’s property, you must pay them the rent printed on the title deed card for that property.
    1. Get a Monopoly – If you own all the properties in a colored group, you may charge double the rent for those properties.
    2. Build houses and hotels.  If you have a Monopoly, you may start to build houses on any of those properties to charge more rent. (The price to build houses and the extra rent that must be charged are printed on the title deed for that property.) Once you’ve built four houses on one property, you may replace the four houses with a hotel that you buy to raise even more money when someone lands on that property.

Remember to build evenly. This means that if you build a house on one of the properties in your color group, you must build one house on every property in that color group until you’re allowed to buy a second house on any of those properties. You must then make sure to have two houses on all the properties in that group until you are allowed to build a third house on any of those properties.

  1. Pass GO – Every time a player lands on or passes over the corner space marked “GO”, they earn a $200 salary.
  2.  Take a Chance or Community Chest card. These cards may make you pay or collect money, or make you move to another space. If you land on a spot marked “Chance” or “Community Chest”, take the top card off of the corresponding deck of the space that you landed on. When you’re done reading the card, return it to the bottom of the corresponding deck.
  3.  Go to jail.

There are three possible ways to go to jail:

  • Roll doubles three times in a row – In this case, do not proceed to take your normal turn after rolling a third double in a row – your turn ends immediately and you must go directly to the space marked “In jail”. Even if you would have passed GO, you do not collect $200.
  • Pick a card that reads “Go directly to jail” – If you pick a “Chance” or “Community Chest” card that reads this, your turn ends immediately and you must go directly to the space marked “In jail”. Even if you would have passed GO, you do not collect $200.
  • Land on the corner space marked “Go to jail” – Move your token directly to the space marked “In jail”. Even though you pass GO, you do not collect $200.
  1.  Get out of jail by doing one of the following:
  • Pay $50. On your next turn – that is, your next turn after you went to jail, you may pay $50 bail to get out of jail. Now that you’re out, on your next turn – that is, your second turn after being sentenced to jail, you may roll the dice and proceed to take a turn.
  • Roll doubles. If you do not want to pay the $50 bail, you may try to roll doubles to get out of jail. Starting on your next turn – that is, your next turn after you’d been sentenced to jail, you may roll the dice instead of paying the $50. If you fail to roll doubles, you must stay in jail. If you proceed to fail roll doubles for the third time, you must pay $50 immediately after failing to roll doubles the third time – you may then immediately proceed to take your turn, using the roll that was your third fail to get out of jail.
  • Use a “Get out of jail free” card. There is one each of “Chance” and one “Community Chest” cards marked “Get out of jail free”. If you pick this card, instead of returning it to the bottom of the deck, you may keep it with you until you get in jail. Once you get in jail, you may choose to use this card to get out of jail, free. To do this, on your next turn – that is, your next turn after you’d been sent to jail, declare that you’re using the card and then return it to the bottom of the corresponding deck.
  1.  At any time, two players can trade money or property, if both players agree to the trade.
  2.  Mortgage property – If at some stage a person has to pay rent of more money than they own they can mortgage their houses and get the money from the bank. When a house is mortgaged, not rent can be collected. To un-mortgage a house you must pay 10% interest when you pay it off.
  3.  Go bankrupt – If you owe more money than you and your assets can afford, you’re declared bankrupt and are out of the game. Last player standing wins!

Tips

  • If you do not have enough money to pay a rent, you may offer to pay the owner one of your properties instead of cash, if both players agree.
  • You cannot mortgage properties until the property is clear of all buildings (houses and hotels). Remember, just as in building the properties, you must sell buildings evenly. Selling buildings gets you half the amount you bought them for when you first purchased them.
  • You may not borrow money from other players.
 Don’t forget to pay interest when you pay off mortgages.
  • According to Parker Brothers, a Monopoly game played strictly according to the rules should last about two hours.
  • To keep the game from getting too long, avoid common rule variations like awarding tax money collected to whomever lands on “Free Parking”, or giving immunity as part of a sale of property.
  • The rules were written to prevent the game from running on indefinitely. People have often added their own rules. It only puts more cash in the game, making it harder for players to go bankrupt, and making the game take longer. Sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes it isn’t.
  • In the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition, the game is made shorter by using the One Ring throughout the game as an option. One of the die is marked with “The Eye”, and each time it shows when the dice are rolled, the One Ring moves a space. This can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to play the game, while still having plenty of time to enjoy it.

Monopoly is a game that is known for taking a while, but it is also fine to play over several sittings as long as you remember who has what!

There are so many versions of Monopoly that you can have several variations with your favorite movie and TV characters!

Many of the different versions have slightly different rules – all based on your favorite characters from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars and Scooby Doo!

See More Versions Here!

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