GAMES

All About The Monopoly Game

Learning how to set up the board and how to play by the official rules will help you learn to love Monopoly!

Monopoly board game Stock Photo - 33737135

Setting Up the Game

This game can be played using up to 8 players But a group of 3-5 people is great because of the balance between fairness and enjoyment.  Also, when someone appears to be winning, there’s a lot of room for the losing players to remain in the game.

Children at the age of 8 and up can play this game. Younger Children may not enjoy the game if they don’t like to lose because this game may require some strategy to win. We need to have patience when trying to teach a young child how to play Monopoly.

How to Play the Game

Choose a banker

A banker is in charge of all the money, property, houses, and hotels.  He or She also gets to play the game and needs to make sure their own money is separate from the banks. 

young bookkeeper with suitcase of money Stock Photo - 69400766

 Setting up the board

Make sure each player has enough space to keep their money and property deeds in front of them.

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA - JANUARY 01, 2016: Monopoly is a board game that originated in the United States in 1903 and the current version was first published by Parker Brothers in 1935. Stock Photo - 54988336

Pick a game piece

Each player gets to choose a game piece to move around the board. The game has several different pieces to choose from, but you can also play with any other small objects.

Give each player $1500

Next, give each player $1500 dollars before the game starts. The banker gives everybody their starting money as shown in the paragraph below. Most players like to keep their money lined up in front of them, but you can store your money in any way you would like to as long as it’s where you have close access to it. As a player, you have the option to exchange money before the game begins.

  • US Version | UK Version
  • 2 $500s | 2 $500s
  • 2 $100s | 4 $100s
  • 2 $50s | 1 $50
  • 6 $20s | 1 $20
  • 5 $10s | 2 $10s
  • 5 $5s | 1 $5
  • 5 $1s | 5 $1s

Roll the dice to pick the first player

You then take turns rolling the dice.

Playing the Game

To begin rolling the dice and move your game piece the same amount of spaces as shown on the dice.  Depending on where you land, you can either buy the property, buy a utility or railroad unit go to jail, win some cash or whatever it else it may be.

Look at the space you landed on.

There are many different kinds of spaces. Most of them belong to property that you can buy or rent and others like Chance and Community Chest that you may need to draw then read and do what it tells you to like Go-to-Jail or pay another player some money.

Buy an unowned property when you land on it.

When you land on a Railroad or Utility space, you can buy the property for the amount printed on the board. The Banker receives the money and will give you the Title or Deed for that Property. Many players will buy as many properties as they can because if they don’t want another player to buy it. This rule is part of the official game rule but many people don’t follow it at home.

The player who declined to buy the property can still participate in the auction. The starting Bids will start out at $1 and stop when no one wants to increase their bid. If no one wants the property, it returns to the bank and the game continues.

Collecting rent. 

By landing on someones else’s property, you must pay them the rent stated on the property deed, Each property has it’s own rent even if the owner of the property has a complete color set or how many buildings have been built there

So if you own all the properties in a colored group, you have a monopoly! This is one of the main goals of the game. There’s a high chance that you can bankrupt other players easily if you have a monopoly. Those with a monopoly can charge double rent for their property on unimproved sites of that color set. The reason why the rent is so high is based upon the competition and for the lower price.

Build houses on your monopoly

If you have a set of properties with the same color you can start building houses on any of those properties. A price of the property is on the deed. You can build up to 5 houses on each property but most players start building Hotels after four houses.

When you have Buildings on your property, your rent will be much higher. For example, the first property on the board is  Mediterranean Avenue where the rent is just  $2. When you build four houses on it, you can charge $160 dollars from each player that lands on it.

You need to build evenly. There must be the same amount of houses on each property.you can’t build two houses on one property and none on the others. If you buy one building for a property, you can’t put a second one on that property until you have bought a house for each property in your monopoly.

Build a hotel after you’ve built four houses.

It is always better to build Hotels on your property. You will make a lot more money doing so. A hotel is equal to having five houses on each and you can have up to 6.  You then have to buy Hotels. Sometimes it’s better to leave the houses on each property instead of building a hotel especially if you want to create a housing shortage for other players.

Collect $200 when you pass GO.

When you land or cross over or lands on the space marked “Go,” The player gets paid a $200. This money is free and it’s a great way to earn more cash. According to the official rules, you only get $200. for passing or landing on the “GO” but there are many people who will allow you to collect more whenever you land on “Go.”

Take a Chance or Community Chest card.

If you land on a spot that says’s “Chance” or “Community Chest,” you will need to take the top card off of the corresponding deck of the space that you landed on. Each of these cards has an event where you can earn or lose money, or even move you across the track or even being sent to jail. There’s also the infamous “get out of jail free” card. 

Go to jail.

 Jail prevents you from moving around the board until you’re free. But you still can collect rent, buy houses, participate in auctions and trade with other players. There are three possible ways to go to jail.

Landing on the space marked “Go to Jail” is the most common way to end in jail. The player goes diagonally across the board to the jail space without passing GO, and their turn ends immediately.

By landing on Chance or Community Chest you read what it say’s if it says GO to jail, your turn ends immediately and you must go directly to the space marked “In jail”. If you pass GO on the way to jail, you don’t get to collect your $200.

Rolling three consecutive doubles on the same turn also sends you to jail immediately.  If you just land on the jail space by an ordinary dice roll, you can place your token on the “Just Visiting” section of the square. You are not subject to any restrictions and can take your next turn as usual.

There is Hope! You can get out of jail by paying $50 bail, using a Get Out of Jail Free card, or rolling doubles on your next turn. If you succeed in rolling a double to get out of jail, you move forward the given number of spaces but do not take another turn. You must leave jail on your third turn and immediately pay $50 if you fail to roll doubles on that turn.! Trading with other players is a key part of the strategy of any Monopoly game. This is usually how you obtain a monopoly to build houses and hotels. Many players also have house rules that allow them to grant rent immunity to another player, lend money to another player, or borrow from the bank without mortgaging property.

Do not include any house rules during your first game as including them can impact the enjoyment of the game and extend how long the game goes on for which isn’t a good thing.

Other Rules of the Game

Never award any money for landing on Free Parking. Many people use a variation of the rules to add more money to the game. Instead of putting tax money or other payments back in the bank, they put it in the center of the board and give it to anyone who lands on Free Parking. While it’s fun to win a pile of money, it actually makes the game go on for much longer! A game of Monopoly should only take about two hours

Mortgage property

Paying rent when you land on someone’s property can cause a lot of problems. What if you can’t pay the rent when you land on someone’s property, you can mortgage your property. You can also choose to mortgage property to buy other properties, houses, or hotels. To unmortgage it, you must pay 10% interest when you pay it off. If you have to pay a decimal, always round it up

Mortgages have their rewards and their consequences. The 10% interest is far better than the 50% loss from selling buildings.

Go bankrupt

However, this can cause a winning player to win even more.

If you want a faster game, try setting a timer for 1 or 2 hours. . The richest player wins the game! Should you do decide to play using a time limit, players’ strategies can differ slightly.

Set a time limit to determine the winner (optional)

History of Monopoly

The board game Monopoly has its origins in the early 20th century. The earliest known version of Monopoly, known as The Landlord’s Game, was designed by an American, Elizabeth Magie, and first patented in 1904 but existed as early as 1902.

By the 1970s, the idea that the game had been created solely by Charles Darrow had become popular folklore; 

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