Monopoly

1 Game Overview

Monopoly is one of the world's best-known board games, published by Hasbro. Players move around the board buying and trading properties, building houses and hotels, and collecting rent from other players who land on their spaces. The goal is to bankrupt everyone else.

The standard board has 40 spaces: 28 properties (grouped into color sets), 4 railroads, 2 utilities, and various special squares like Go, Jail, Free Parking, and Luxury Tax. Each player starts with $1,500 in Monopoly money.

2 What's in the Box

• 1 game board
• 8 tokens (top hat, car, iron, dog, battleship, thimble, wheelbarrow, boot)
• 28 title deed cards
• 16 Chance cards
• 16 Community Chest cards
• 2 dice
• 32 houses (green)
• 12 hotels (red)
• Paper money in denominations: $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500

3 Setup

1. Unfold the board and place it in the center of the table.
2. Each player selects a token and places it on Go.
3. One player becomes the Banker. The Banker distributes starting money: 2 x $500, 4 x $100, 1 x $50, 1 x $20, 2 x $10, 1 x $5, 5 x $1 (total: $1,500 per player).
4. Shuffle the Chance and Community Chest cards separately and place them face-down on their board spaces.
5. The youngest player goes first. Play proceeds clockwise.

4 How to Play

On your turn:

1. Roll both dice and move your token that many spaces clockwise.
2. Take the action for whatever space you land on:

• Unowned property: Buy it at the listed price, or it goes to auction (all players can bid).
• Owned property: Pay rent to the owner. Rent increases if the owner has all properties of that color, has houses, or has a hotel.
• Chance/Community Chest: Draw a card and follow its instructions.
• Go: Collect $200.
• Income Tax: Pay $200 to the Bank.
• Luxury Tax: Pay $100 to the Bank.
• Go to Jail: Move directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
• Just Visiting: No effect if you land here normally.

Jail

You go to Jail when: you land on Go to Jail, draw a Go to Jail card, or roll doubles three times in a row. In Jail, you cannot collect rent but you still own your properties. To get out: pay $50 bail before rolling, use a Get Out of Jail Free card, or roll doubles on your turn (you still get 3 turns to try).

Building Houses and Hotels

Once you own all properties in a color group, you can buy houses ($25-$200 each depending on color). You must build evenly across all properties in the group. When all 4 houses are on a property, you can upgrade to a hotel (return the 4 houses, pay the hotel price). Hotels collect the highest rent.

Trading

Players can trade properties, money, and Get Out of Jail Free cards with each other at any time. No trades can include promises of future money or favors.

5 Winning

The last player remaining after all others have gone bankrupt wins the game. A player is bankrupt when they cannot pay a debt (rent, tax, or card penalty) even after mortgaging all properties and selling all buildings. Bankrupt players give everything they own to the creditor.

6 Strategy Tips

• Buy everything you can afford early. Property is the engine of Monopoly. The more you own, the more rent flows to you. Don't pass on properties hoping for a better deal.
• Orange and red properties are premium. They're landed on most often (especially orange: New York, Tennessee, St. James). If you can get a full set here, build fast.
• Build to 3 houses quickly. The rent jump from 2 to 3 houses is the biggest percentage increase in the game. Get to 3 houses on your monopoly before chasing hotels.
• Watch the housing shortage. There are only 32 houses. If you buy all 32 and won't sell, no one else can build. This is a legitimate strategy.
• Trade to complete sets. A partial monopoly is worth very little. Make deals to complete color groups - even giving up value is often worth it to get building rights.
• Never pay to get out of Jail late game. Once lots of properties have houses/hotels, staying in Jail (still collecting rent, not moving) can be very advantageous.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions