This was the first time I played Monopoly in 10 years. It astonishzed all of us that we played the game so seriously as kids — it’s incredibly complex and capitalistic as far as boards games go. I wonder how popular the game is outside of America … is this game fun or comprehensible for children in socialist societies?
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Great photo! Most people don’t like Monopoly even in the U.S. because they have no attention spans and claim it takes too long. But it takes too long because of their own house rules imposed to make it easier.
How to make Monopoly NOT take forever: Don’t artificially inflate the amount of money in the game. Play by the official rules — and that’s it. People go bankrupt sooner, so the game ends quickly.
Most people don’t actually know the official rules, so here’s some reminders:
- Free Parking does nothing. You don’t get $500. Nothing contributes to a pile of “free parking” money in the middle.
- If you land exactly on GO, you don’t get $400. You get $200 like everyone else.
- You continue to collect rent and can build houses and hotels while in Jail. Jail only restricts your movement.
- If you land on an unowned property but don’t want to buy it, it goes up for immediate auction to any players (including you).
A few helpful unofficial tournament rules:
- Deals can only involve money and property available at that moment. You can’t make deals for the future, like “I’ll never charge you rent on these.”
- Owed rent must be paid, even if the property owner didn’t notice.
And some strategies to win quickly:
- Buy everything you land on. If it’s the second or third time around the board and you still have a lot of cash, you’re losing.
- Buy the oranges. Hotel them as soon as you can afford to.
- It’s not worth building fewer than 3 houses on each property.
- Don’t bother with the greens.
- Only bother with Boardwalk and Park Place if you acquire them cheaply and you have no other monopolies to develop.
- Use auctions. If you’re the only one in the game with at least $400, and you land on Boardwalk, put it up for auction, outbid everyone, and get it for less.
- If you ever have to sell housing back to the bank, you’ve lost.
(nerd level: 105%)
— marco
DAMN! He totally called out most of our House Rules! The only one we don’t use is ”if you land ON Go, you collect $400” (which we will now be using). He’s right though - this is the only way for Monopoly NOT to take forever. But if we play “the right way” there are way fewer heated or cunning business transactions and THAT is what quality family time is all about. haha
