Monopoly

Overview

Two to six players move around a board buying property, charging rent and bankrupting each other. The last player still solvent wins.

This entry is checked against Hasbro's current rules for the classic game, item C1009 (©1935, 2016), quoted where the wording matters. Older sets and the many themed editions differ in places, and several rules people remember as official are not in this sheet. The sheet ends with this advice:

To keep games short and sweet, don't use house rules!

1. Setup

Two to six players. The current set has eight tokens, but the box and the sheet both say 2–6. Older printings said up to eight.

1. Choose a Banker, who runs the bank's money, the houses and hotels, the Title Deed cards and all auctions. The Banker may also play, but must keep their own money separate.

2. Give each player $1,500:

   Note	Count
   $500	2
   $100	4
   $50	1
   $20	1
   $10	2
   $5	1
   $1	5

3. Shuffle the Chance and Community Chest cards and place them face down.

4. Everyone places a token on GO.

5. Each player rolls both dice. Highest roll starts, and play moves to the left.

The set contains 32 houses and 12 hotels, and that supply is a real limit (section 5).

2. A turn

1. Roll both dice and move that many spaces.
2. Deal with the space you land on.
3. If you rolled a double, roll again and take another turn.

Three doubles in a row sends you straight to jail.

Passing or landing on GO collects $200. Landing exactly on GO does not pay $400; that is a house rule.

3. Buying property, and the auction rule

Land on an unowned Street, Railroad or Utility and you may buy it at the printed price. If you don't want it:

Then the Banker must auction it. Bids start at $10. All players can bid.

This is the most commonly skipped rule in Monopoly, and skipping it is the main reason games drag. The details:

• Bidding opens at $10, and anyone may raise by as little as $1.
• Everyone can bid, including the Banker and the player who just declined to buy at full price.
• If nobody bids, nobody pays and the property stays unowned.

Auctions let properties sell well below face value, so the board is bought out within a few laps.

4. Rent

The owner must ask you for rent before the next player rolls the dice. If they don't ask, you don't have to pay!

• Streets: the rent on the Title Deed. Own the whole colour set and the rent on each unbuilt Street doubles.
• Railroads: $25, $50, $100 or $200 for one to four owned.
• Utilities: roll the dice again and multiply. The current sheet is explicit: the rent is not based on the roll that brought you there. It is 4× the new roll if the owner has one utility, 10× if they have both.

No rent is due on a mortgaged property. The owner can still charge the increased colour-set rent on the unmortgaged Streets in that set, and the same applies to railroads and utilities.

5. Houses and hotels

Once you own a complete colour set you may buy houses at the price on the Title Deed, at any time. The sheet says "you don't have to wait for your turn".

• Build evenly. You can't put a second house on a Street until every Street in the set has one. The same applies when selling.
• Four houses maximum on a Street.
• No building on a set with a mortgaged Street. You cannot build on any Street if any Street in its colour set is mortgaged.
• A hotel needs four houses on every Street in the set, not just the one being upgraded. Pay the hotel price, return that Street's four houses to the bank, and place the hotel. One hotel per Street, and no more houses on it after that.

Running out of buildings

The 32 houses and 12 hotels are all there is.

If multiple players want the last House or Hotel, the Banker must auction it. Bids start at $10.

When none are left, nobody can build until someone sells some back. Buying up houses so opponents can't build is legal, and it is a strong strategy.

6. Jail

You go to jail by landing on Go To Jail, by drawing a card that sends you there, or by rolling three doubles in a row. Move straight to the In Jail space and don't collect $200 for passing GO.

To get out, at the start of your next turn you can:

1. Pay $50, then roll and move as normal, or
2. Use a Get Out of Jail Free card (or buy one from another player), then roll and move, or
3. Roll for a double. If you get one you're free, and you move by that roll, but that's the end of your turn. The double that frees you doesn't earn another roll.

You get three turns to roll a double. If the third fails, pay $50 and move by that last roll.

Being in jail doesn't stop you playing the market. The sheet says you can still collect rent, bid in auctions, buy houses and hotels, mortgage and trade while In Jail. Late in the game it is often the safest place on the board.

7. Selling, mortgaging and trading

Selling buildings. Houses sell back to the bank for half their cost, evenly across the set. A hotel sells for half its cost and is swapped for four houses.

Mortgaging. First sell every building in the property's colour set, then turn the Title Deed face down and take the mortgage value from the bank. To lift the mortgage, pay back the mortgage value plus 10%.

Trading. Players can buy, sell and swap property at any time, for cash, other property or Get Out of Jail Free cards, at whatever price they agree. Two limits:

• Buildings can't be traded or sold to another player. Sell every building on a colour set to the bank before trading any Street in it.
• A mortgaged property carries a cost. Whoever takes it on must immediately either repay the mortgage, or pay the bank 10% of the mortgage value and keep it mortgaged. If they later lift the mortgage, they pay the full value plus 10% as normal.

8. Bankruptcy

If you owe more than you can raise by selling buildings and mortgaging, you're bankrupt and out of the game.

• If you owe another player, the sheet says to give them your Get Out of Jail Free cards and "all your mortgaged properties". By then everything should be mortgaged, because mortgaging is how you try to raise the money. For each mortgaged property the new owner must repay the mortgage or pay the 10% straight away.
• If you owe the bank, all your properties go back to it, the mortgages are cancelled, and every property is auctioned immediately. Get Out of Jail Free cards go to the bottom of their piles.

Play continues until one player is left.

Commonly argued

• Free Parking pays nothing. The sheet says: "Relax! Nothing happens." Among its tips for short games: "Never put cash in the center of the board."
• Declining to buy starts an auction. Bidding opens at $10, and the player who declined may bid.
• If nobody bids, the property stays unowned and nobody pays.
• Utility rent uses a fresh roll, not the roll that brought the player there.
• A hotel needs four houses on every Street in the set.
• You can't build anywhere in a set with a mortgaged Street.
• Rolling a double to leave jail ends your turn. You don't roll again.
• Rent must be claimed before the next player rolls.
• Landing on GO pays $200, not $400.
• Loans and "no rent" deals aren't in the rules. The sheet advises: "Never loan money to other players or make deals not to charge each other rent."
• The current game is for 2–6 players.

Where this comes from

Hasbro's instructions for Monopoly, item C1009, the classic edition in print today, downloaded from Hasbro's own instructions site. This copy is Hasbro's New Zealand English download. It uses the US board's street names. The US and UK downloads would not open when checked, so they have not been compared with it.

Hasbro publishes separate rules for every themed and special edition, and some of those differ. Where this entry and your box disagree, your box wins. Tell us.