Monopoly (game)

Early history

The history of Monopoly can be traced back to 1903, when American anti-monopolist Elizabeth (Lizzie) J. Magie Phillips created a game through which she hoped to be able to explain the single tax theory of Henry George. It was intended as an educational tool to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies. Magie took out a patent in 1904. Her game, The Landlord's Game, was self-published, beginning in 1906. A series of variant board games based on her concept was developed from 1906 through the 1930s that involved the buying and selling of land and the development of that land. Cardboard houses were added and rents were increased as they were added. Magie again patented the game in 1923.

According to an advertisement placed in The Christian Science Monitor, Charles Todd of Philadelphia recalled the day in 1932 when his childhood friend, Esther Jones, later married to Charles Darrow, came to their house with her husband for dinner. After the meal, the Darrows played The Landlord's Game several times with them, a game that was entirely new to the Darrows, and before he left, Darrow asked for a written set of the rules. After Darrow brought his own Monopoly game out, the Todds never spoke to the Darrows again. But see below (under Board > U.S. versions) for a version in which the Todds shared their own Monopoly-like game with the Darrows.

Origin

By 1933, a variation on "The Landlord's Game" called Monopoly was the basis of the board game sold by Parker Brothers, beginning on February 6, 1935. Several people, mostly in the midwestern United States and near the East Coast, contributed to the game's design and evolution, and this is when the game's design took on the 4×10 space-to-a-side layout and familiar cards were produced. The original version of the game in this format was based on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey. By the 1970s, the false notion that the game had been created solely by Charles Darrow had become popular folklore: it was printed in the game's instructions.

1936–1970

In 1936, Parker Brothers began licensing the game for sale outside the United States. In 1941, the British Secret Intelligence Service had John Waddington Ltd., the licensed manufacturer of the game in the United Kingdom, create a special edition for World War II prisoners of war held by the Nazis. Hidden inside these games were maps, compasses, real money, and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by British secret service-created fake charity groups.

1970s–80s

Economics professor Ralph Anspach published a game Anti-Monopoly in 1973, and was sued for trademark infringement by Parker Brothers in 1974. The case went to trial in 1976. Anspach won on appeals in 1979, as the 9th Circuit Court determined that the trademark Monopoly was generic, and therefore unenforceable. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case, allowing the appellate court ruling to stand. This decision was overturned by the passage of Public Law 98-620 in 1984. With that law in place, Parker Brothers and its parent company, Hasbro, continue to hold valid trademarks for the game Monopoly. However, Anti-Monopoly was exempted from the law and Anspach later reached a settlement with Hasbro and markets his game under license from them.

The research that Dr. Anspach conducted during the course of the litigation was what helped to bring the game's history before Charles Darrow into the spotlight.

Hasbro ownership

In 1991, Hasbro acquired Parker Bros. thus Monopoly. Prior to the Hasbro acquisition, Parker Bros. only acted as a publisher only issuing two versions at a time, a regular and deluxe. Thus Hasbro move to create and license other versions and involve the public in varying the game. A new wave of licensed products began in 1994, when Hasbro granted a license to USAopoly to begin publishing a San Diego Edition of Monopoly, which has since been followed by over 100 more Other licensees include Winning Moves Games (since 1995) and Winning Solutions, Inc. (since 2000) in the United States.

In 2003, the company held a national tournament on a chartered train going from Chicago to Atlantic City. Also in 2003, Hasbro sued the maker of Ghetto-opoly and won. While in February, the company sued RAD Games over Super Add On accessory board game that fit in the center of the board. In January 2017, Hasbro had placed the line of tokens up in the regular edition up for a vote with this new regular edition to be issued in March. As of January 2017, there have been 300 different versions.

Board

The Monopoly game-board consists of forty spaces containing twenty-eight properties: (twenty-two streets (grouped into eight color groups), four railway stations and two utilities), three Chance spaces, three Community Chest spaces, a Luxury Tax space, an Income Tax space, and the four corner squares: GO, (In) Jail/Just Visiting, Free Parking, and Go to Jail.

U.S. versions

There have been some changes to the board since the original. Not all of the Chance and Community Chest cards as printed in the 1935 patent were used in editions from 1936/1937 onwards, and graphics with the Mr. Monopoly character (then known as "Rich Uncle Pennybags") were added in that same time-frame. A graphic of a chest containing coins was added to the Community Chest spaces, as were the flat purchase prices of all of the properties. Traditionally, the Community Chest cards were yellow (although they sometimes were printed on blue stock) with no decoration or text on the back, and the Chance cards were orange, likewise with no text or decoration on the back.

Hasbro commissioned a major redesign to the U.S. Standard Edition of the game in 2008. Among the changes: the colors of Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues (which changed from purple to brown), the colors of the GO square (which changed from red to black), the adoption of a flat $200 Income Tax (formerly the player's choice of $200 or 10% of their total holdings, which they may not calculate until after making their final decision); originally the amount was $300 but changed a year after the game's debut, and increased $100 Luxury Tax amount (upped from $75). There were also changes to the Chance and Community Chest cards; for example, the "poor tax" and "grand opera opening" cards became "speeding fine" and "it is your birthday", respectively; though their effects remained the same, and the player must pay only $50 instead of $150 for the school tax. In addition, a player now gets $50 instead of $45 for sale of stock, and the Advance to Illinois Avenue card now has the added text regarding a player collecting $200 should they pass Go on the way there.

All of the Chance and Community Chest cards received a graphic upgrade in 2008 as part of the graphic refresh of the game. Mr. Monopoly's classic line illustration was also now usually replaced by renderings of a 3D Mr. Monopoly model. The backs of the cards have their respective symbols, with Community Chest cards in blue, and Chance cards in orange.

In the U.S. versions shown below, the properties are named after locations in (or near) Atlantic City, New Jersey. Atlantic City's Illinois Avenue was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in the 1980s. St. Charles Place no longer exists, as the now-defunct Showboat Casino Hotel was developed where it once ran.

There are different versions that have since been then created based on various current consumer interests such as: Dogopoly, Catopoly, Bugopoly, and various TV/movie versions among others.

Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was introduced by Charles and Olive Todd, who taught the game to Charles Darrow, and passed on when their homemade Monopoly board was copied by Darrow and thence to Parker Brothers. The Todds also changed the Atlantic City Quakers' Arctic Avenue to Mediterranean, and shortened the Shore Fast Line to the Short Line. It was not until 1995 that Parker Brothers acknowledged the misspelling of Marvin Gardens, formally apologizing to the residents of Marven Gardens.

Short Line refers to the Shore Fast Line, a streetcar line that served Atlantic City. The B&O Railroad did not serve Atlantic City. A booklet included with the reprinted 1935 edition states that the four railroads that served Atlantic City in the mid-1930s were the Jersey Central, the Seashore Lines, the Reading Railroad, and the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The Baltimore & Ohio (now part of CSX) was the parent of the Reading. There is a tunnel in Philadelphia where track to the south was B. & O. and track to the north is Reading. The Central of N.J. did not have track to Atlantic City but was the daughter of the Reading (and granddaughter of the B. & O.) Their track ran from the New York City area to Delaware Bay and some trains ran on the Reading-controlled track to Atlantic City.

The actual "Electric Company" and "Water Works" serving the city are respectively Atlantic City Electric Company (a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings) and the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority.

U.K. version

In the 1930s, John Waddington Ltd. (Waddingtons) was a firm of printers from Leeds that had begun to branch out into packaging and the production of playing cards. Waddingtons had sent the card game Lexicon to Parker Brothers hoping to interest them in publishing the game in the United States. In a similar fashion, Parker Brothers sent over a copy of Monopoly to Waddingtons early in 1935 before the game had been put into production in the United States.

The managing director of Waddingtons, Victor Watson, gave the game to his son Norman (who was head of the card games division) to test over the weekend. Norman was impressed by the game and persuaded his father to call Parker Brothers on Monday morning – transatlantic calls then being almost unheard of. This call resulted in Waddingtons obtaining a license to produce and market the game outside of the United States. Watson felt that for the game to be a success in the United Kingdom, the American locations would have to be replaced, so Victor and his secretary, Marjory Phillips, went to London to scout out locations. The Angel, Islington is not a street in London but a building (and the name of the road intersection where it is located). It had been a coaching inn that stood on the Great North Road. By the 1930s, the inn had become a J. Lyons and Co. tea room (it is now a Co-operative Bank). Some accounts say that Marjory and Victor met at the Angel to discuss the selection and celebrated the fact by including it on the Monopoly board. In 2003, a plaque commemorating the naming was unveiled at the site by Victor Watson's grandson, who is also named Victor.

During World War II, the British Secret Service contacted Waddington (who could also print on silk) to make Monopoly sets that included escape maps, money, a compass and file, all hidden in copies of the game sent by Red Cross packages to prisoners of war.

The standard British board, produced by Waddingtons, was for many years the version most familiar to people in countries in the Commonwealth (except Canada, where the U.S. edition with Atlantic City-area names was reprinted), although local variants of the board are now also found in several of these countries.

In 1998, Winning Moves procured the Monopoly license from Hasbro and created new U.K. city and regional editions with sponsored squares. Initially, in December 1998, the game was sold in just a few W H Smith stores, but demand was high, with almost fifty thousand games shipped in the four weeks leading to Christmas. Winning Moves still produces new city and regional editions annually.

The original income tax choice from the 1930s U.S. board is replaced by a flat rate on the U.K. board, and the $75 Luxury Tax space is replaced with the £100 Super Tax space, the same as the current German board. In 2008, the U.S. Edition was changed to match the U.K. and various European editions, including a flat $200 Income Tax value and an increased $100 Luxury Tax amount.

In cases wherein the game was produced under license by a national company, the £ (pound) was replaced by a $ (dollar) sign, but the place names were unchanged.

Post-2005 variations

Starting in the U.K. in 2005, a revised version of the game, titled Monopoly Here and Now, was produced, replacing game scenarios, properties, and tokens with newer equivalents. Similar boards were produced for Germany and France. Variants of these first editions appeared with Visa-branded debit cards taking the place of cash – the later U.S. "Electronic Banking" edition has unbranded debit cards.

The success of the first Here and Now editions caused Hasbro U.S. to allow on-line voting for twenty-six landmark properties across the United States to take their places along the game-board. The popularity of this voting, in turn, caused the creation of similar web-sites, and secondary game-boards per popular vote to be created in the U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and other nations.

In 2006, Winning Moves Games released the Mega Edition, with a 30% larger game-board and revised game play. Other streets from Atlantic City (eight, one per color group) were included, along with a third "utility", the Gas Company. In addition, $1,000 denomination notes (first seen in Winning Moves' Monopoly: The Card Game) are included. Game play is further changed with bus tickets (allowing non-dice-roll movement along one side of the board), a speed die (itself adopted into variants of the Atlantic City standard edition; see below), skyscrapers (after houses and hotels), and train depots that can be placed on the Railroad spaces.

This edition was adapted for the U.K. market in 2007, and is sold by Winning Moves U.K. After the initial U.S. release, critiques of some of the rules caused the company to issue revisions and clarifications on their website.

Monopoly Here and Now

In September 2006, the U.S. edition of Monopoly Here and Now was released. This edition features top landmarks across the U.S. The properties were decided by votes over the Internet in the spring of 2006.

Monetary values are multiplied by 10,000 (e.g., one collects $2,000,000 instead of $200 for passing GO and pays that much for Income Tax (or 10% of their total, as this edition was launched prior to 2008), each player starts with $15,000,000 instead of $1,500, etc.). Also, the Chance and Community Chest cards are updated, the Railroads are replaced by Airports (Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles International, New York City's JFK, and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson), and the Utilities (Electric Company and Water Works) are replaced by Service Providers (Internet Service Provider and Cell Phone Service Provider). The houses and hotels are blue and silver, not green and red as in most editions of Monopoly. The board uses the traditional U.S. layout; the cheapest properties are purple, not brown, and "Interest on Credit Card Debt" replaces "Luxury Tax". Despite the updated Luxury Tax space, and the Income Tax space no longer using the 10% option, this edition uses paper Monopoly money, and not an electronic banking unit like the Here and Now World Edition. However, a similar edition of Monopoly, the Electronic Banking edition, does feature an electronic banking unit and bank cards, as well as a different set of tokens. Both Here and Now and Electronic Banking feature an updated set of tokens from the Atlantic City edition.

It is also notable that three states (California, Florida and Texas) are represented by two cities each (Los Angeles and San Francisco, Miami and Orlando, and Dallas and Houston respectively). No other state is represented by more than one city (not including the airports). One landmark, Texas Stadium, has been demolished and no longer exists. Another landmark, Jacobs Field, still exists, but was renamed Progressive Field in 2008.

In 2015, in honor of the game's 80th birthday, Hasbro held an online vote in order to determine which cities would make it into an updated version of the Here and Now edition of the game. This second edition is more a spin-off as the winning condition has changed to completing your passport instead of bankrupting your opponents. Community Chest is replaced with Here and Now cards while the Here and Now space replaced the railroads. Houses and hotels have been removed.

Hasbro released a World edition with the top voted cities from all around the world, as well as at least a Here & Now edition with the voted-on U.S. cities.

Equipment

All property deeds, houses, and hotels are held by the bank until bought by the players. A standard set of Monopoly pieces includes:

Cards

A deck of thirty-two Chance and Community Chest cards (sixteen Chance and sixteen Community Chest) which players draw when they land on the corresponding squares of the track, and follow the instructions printed on them.

Deeds

A title deed for each property is given to a player to signify ownership, and specifies purchase price, mortgage value, the cost of building houses and hotels on that property, and the various rent prices depending on how developed the property is. Properties include:

Twenty-two streets, divided into eight color groups of two or three streets; a player must own all of a color group in order to build houses or hotels. Once achieved, color group properties must be improved or "broken down" evenly. See the section on Rules.

Four railroads, players collect $25 rent if they own one station; $50 for two; $100 for three; $200 for all four. These are usually replaced by railroad stations in non-U.S. editions of Monopoly.

Two utilities, rent is four times the dice value if one utility is owned, but ten times if both are owned. Hotels and houses cannot be built on utilities or stations. Some country editions have a fixed rent for utilities; for example, the Italian editions has a L. 2,000 ($20) rent if one utility is owned, or L. 10,000 ($100) if both are owned.

The purchase prices for the various properties vary from $60 to $400 on a U.S. Standard Edition set.

Dice

A pair of six-sided dice. (In 2007, a third "Speed Die" was added for variation.) The 1999 Millennium Edition featured two jewel-like dice which were the subject of a lawsuit from Michael Bowling, owner of dice maker Crystal Caste. Hasbro lost the suit in 2008 and had to pay $446,182 in royalties. Subsequent printings of the game reverted to normal six-sided dice.

Houses and hotels

32 houses and 12 hotels made of wood or plastic (the original and current Deluxe Edition have wooden houses and hotels; the current "base set" uses plastic buildings). Unlike money, houses and hotels have a finite supply. If no more are available, no substitute is allowed. In most editions, houses are green and hotels red.

Money

Older U.S. standard editions of the game included a total of $15,140 in the following denominations:

20 $500 bills (orange)

20 $100 bills (beige)

30 $50 bills (blue)

50 $20 bills (green)

40 $10 bills (yellow)

40 $5 bills (pink)

40 $1 bills (white)

Newer (September 2008 and later) U.S. editions instead provide a total of $20,580–30 of each denomination. The colors of some of the bills are also changed: $10s are now colored blue instead of yellow, $20s are a brighter color green than before, and $50s are now colored purple instead of blue. Each player begins the game with his or her token on the Go square, and $1,500 (or 1,500 of a localized currency) in play money (2,500 with the Speed Die). Prior to September 2008, the money was divided with greater numbers of 20 and 10 dollar bills. Since then, the U.S. version has taken on the British version's initial cash distributions.

Although the U.S. version is indicated as allowing eight players, the above cash distribution is not possible with all eight players since it requires 32 $100 bills and 40 $1 bills. However, the amount of cash contained in the game is enough for eight players with a slight alteration of bill distribution.

International currencies

Pre-Euro German editions of the game started with 30,000 "Spielmark" in eight denominations (abbreviated as "M."), and later used seven denominations of the "Deutsche Mark" ("DM."). In the classic Italian game, each player received L. 350,000 ($3500) in a two-player game, but L. 50,000 ($500) less for each player more than two. Only in a six-player game does a player receive the equivalent of $1,500. The classic Italian games were played with only four denominations of currency. Both Spanish editions (the Barcelona and Madrid editions) started the game with 150,000 in play money, with a breakdown identical to that of the American version.

Extra currency

Monopoly money is theoretically unlimited; if the bank runs out of money the players must make do with other markers, or calculate on paper. Additional paper money can be bought at certain locations, notably game and hobby stores, or downloaded from various websites and printed and cut by hand. One such site has created a $1,000 bill; while a $1,000 bill can be found in Monopoly: The Mega Edition and Monopoly: The Card Game, both published by Winning Moves Games, this note is not a standard denomination for "classic" versions of Monopoly.

Tokens

Each player is represented by a small metal or plastic token that is moved around the edge of the board according to the roll of two six-sided dice. The number of tokens (and the tokens themselves) have changed over the history of the game, with many appearing in special editions only, and some available with non-game purchases. After prints with wood tokens in 1937, an set of eight tokens was introduced: Two more were added in late 1937, tokens changed again in 1942. During World War II, the game tokens were switched back to wood.

Special Tokens:

Steam Locomotive (Only in Deluxe Editions)

Golden Token Edition

Robot (Lost to the Cat in the 2013 vote to replace the iron)

Guitar

Helicopter

Ring

Director's Chair (In limited edition copies of Under the Boardwalk: The MONOPOLY Story)

Many of the early tokens were created by companies such as Dowst Miniature Toy Company, which made metal charms and tokens designed to be used on charm bracelets. The battleship and cannon were also used briefly in the Parker Brothers war game Conflict (released in 1940), but after the game failed on the market, the premade pieces were recycled into Monopoly usage. Hasbro recently adopted the battleship and cannon for Diplomacy.

Early localized editions of the standard edition (including some Canadian editions, which used the U.S. board layout) did not include pewter tokens but instead had generic wooden pawns identical to those in Sorry!. Parker Brothers also acquired Sorry! in the 1930s.

In 1998, a Hasbro advertising campaign asked the public to vote on a new playing piece to be added to the set, resulting in a "bag of money" token being added to the U.S. edition in 1999. The bag won (51 percent) over bi-plane (29%) and a piggy bank (20%). This piece was retired in 2007. A campaign poll to the 1998 new token vote was for people's favorite token. The most popular was the Race Car at 18% followed by the Dog (16%), Cannon (14%) and Top Hat (10%). The least favorite in the poll was the Wheelbarrow at 3% followed by Thimble (7%) and the Iron (7%).

In 2013, a similar promotional campaign was launched encouraging the public to vote on one of several possible new tokens to replace an existing one. The choices were a guitar, a diamond ring, a helicopter, a robot, and a cat. Unlike in 1998, this Save Your Token Campaign had one piece being retired, in this case the iron, and replaced by a new token, the cat. Both were chosen by a vote that ran on Facebook from January 8 to February 5, 2013 in which the cat received the top spot with 29% of the vote. Shortly after the Facebook voting campaign, a limited-edition Golden Token set was released exclusively at various national retailers, such as Target in the U.S. and Tesco in the U.K. This set contained the 2008–2013 tokens as listed above, and also contained all five of the iron's potential replacements: the cat, the guitar, the diamond ring, the helicopter, and the robot.

In January 2017, Hasbro placed the line of tokens in the regular edition up for a vote. The eight current tokens are options among the 64 total options. All options would be available in the Monopoly Signature Token Collection limited edition released in the second quarter 2017. The new regular edition is to be issued in March with the top eight tokens. By February 2017, Hasbro confirmed that the thimble will be retired, while the new line up for the eight tokens as selected by the voting will be announced on March 19, 2017, what the company is calling "World Monopoly Day".

Official rules

Abridged from Monopoly official rules

Players take turns in order, with the initial player determined by chance before the game. A typical turn begins with the rolling of the dice and advancing their piece clockwise around the board the corresponding number of squares. If a player rolls doubles, they roll again after completing their turn. If a player rolls three consecutive sets of doubles on one turn, the player has been "caught speeding", and the player is immediately sent to jail instead of moving the amount shown on the dice for the third roll, ending the player's turn.

A player who lands on or passes the Go space collects $200 from the bank. However, when the optional Speed Die is used, a player who rolls a triple and chooses to move to "Go to Jail" does not collect if the move would normally take them past Go.

Players who land on either Income Tax or Luxury Tax pay the indicated amount to the bank. In older editions of the game, two options were given for Income Tax: either pay a flat fee of $200 or 10% of the player's total worth (including the current values of all the properties and buildings owned). Players must choose which option before calculating their total worth, and cannot change their mind if it turns out that the $200 was actually less; in 2008, the 10% option was removed. Luxury Tax was originally $75; in 2008, it was increased to $100. No reward or penalty is given for landing on Free Parking.

Properties can only be developed once a player owns all the properties in that color group, and then must be developed equally. A house must be built on each property of that color before a second can be built. Each property within a group must be within one house level of all of the others within that group.

Chance/Community Chest

If a player lands on a Chance or Community Chest space, they draw the top card from the respective deck and follow its instructions. This may include collecting or paying money to the bank or another player, or moving to a different space on the board. Two types of cards that involve jail, "Go to Jail" and "Get Out of Jail Free", are explained below.

Jail

A player is sent to jail for doing any of the following:

Landing directly on "Go to Jail"

Throwing three consecutive doubles on one turn

If using the optional speed die, rolling a triple and choosing to move to "Go to Jail"

If using the optional speed die, rolling a bus and using a combination of the other two dice that results in landing on "Go to Jail"

Drawing the "Go to Jail" card from either the Community Chest or Chance deck

When a player is sent to jail, they move directly to the Jail space and their turn ends ("Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200."). If an ordinary dice roll (not one of the above events) ends with the player's token on the Jail corner, they are "Just Visiting" and can move ahead on their next turn without incurring any penalty.

If a player is in jail, they do not take a normal turn and must either pay a fine of $50 to be released, use a Chance or Community Chest Get Out of Jail Free card, or attempt to roll doubles on the dice. If a player fails to roll doubles, they lose their turn. Failing to roll doubles three times requires the player to either pay the $50 fine or use a Get Out of Jail Free card, after which they move ahead according to the total rolled. Players in jail may not buy properties directly from the bank, due to being unable to move, but can engage all other transactions, such as mortgaging properties, selling/trading properties to other players, buying/selling houses and hotels, collecting rent, and bidding on property auctions. A player who rolls doubles to leave jail does not roll again; however, if the player pays the fine or uses a card to get out and then rolls doubles, they do take another turn.

Properties

If the player lands on an unowned property, whether street, railroad, or utility, they can buy the property for its listed purchase price. If they decline this purchase, the property is auctioned off by the bank to the highest bidder, including the player who declined to buy. If the property landed on is already owned and unmortgaged, they must pay the owner a given rent, the price dependent on whether the property is part of a set or its level of development.

When a player owns all of the properties in a color group and none of them are mortgaged, they may develop them during their turn or in between other player's turns. Development involves buying miniature houses or hotels from the bank and placing them on the property spaces, and must be done uniformly across the group. That is, a second house cannot be built on any property within a group until all of them have one house. Once the player owns an entire group, they can collect double rent for any undeveloped properties within it. Although houses and hotels cannot be built on railroads or utilities, the given rent also increases if a player owns more than one of either type. If there is more demand for houses to be built than what remains in the bank, then a housing auction is conducted to determine who will get to purchase each house.

Mortgaging

Properties can also be mortgaged, although all developments on a monopoly must be sold before any property of that color can be mortgaged or traded. The player receives money from the bank for each mortgaged property (half of the purchase price), which must be repaid with 10% interest to unmortgage. Houses and hotels can be sold back to the bank for half their purchase price. Players cannot collect rent on mortgaged properties and may not give improved property away to others; however, trading mortgaged properties is allowed. The player receiving the mortgaged property must immediately unmortgage it for the mortgage price plus 10%, or pay the bank just the 10% amount and keep the property mortgaged; if the player chooses the latter, they must still pay the 10% again if the property is later unmortgaged.

Bankruptcy

A player who cannot pay what they owe is bankrupt and eliminated from the game. If the bankrupt player owes the bank, they must turn all of their assets over to the bank, who then auctions off their properties (if they have any), except buildings. If the debt is instead to another player, all the assets are instead given to that opponent, but the new owner must still pay the bank to un-mortgage any such properties received. The winner is the remaining player left after all the others have gone bankrupt.

If a player runs out of money but still has assets that can be converted to cash, they can do so by selling buildings, mortgaging properties, or trading with other players. To avoid bankruptcy the player must be able to raise enough cash in order to pay the full amount owed.

Rule modifications

From 1936, the rules booklet included with each Monopoly set contained a short section at the end providing rules for making the game shorter, either by setting a time limit, or by ending the game after the second player goes bankrupt. A later version of the rules included this variant, along with the time limit game, in the main rules booklet, omitting the second bankruptcy method as a third short game.

House rules

Many house rules have emerged for the game since its creation. A popular one is the "Free Parking jackpot rule", where money paid in fines and taxes is stockpiled on the Free Parking space instead of being returned to the bank. Many people add $500 to start each pile of Free Parking money, guaranteeing a much better and more average (all closer to the average amount) pay-out. When a player lands on that square, they may take the money. Another rule is that if a player lands directly on Go, they collect double the amount, or $400, instead of $200. House rules that slow or prevent money being returned to the bank in this way have a side-effect of increasing the time it takes for players to become bankrupt, lengthening the game considerably, as well as decreasing the effects of strategy and prudent investment.

Video game and computer game versions of Monopoly have options where popular house rules can be used. In 2014, Hasbro determined five popular house rules by public Facebook vote, and released a "House Rules edition" of the board game. Rules selected include collecting paid fines on Free Parking, forcing players to traverse the board once before buying properties, and awarding money for players rolling a double-1 on the dice.

Strategy

According to Jim Slater in The Mayfair Set, the Orange property group is the best to own because players land on them more often, as a result of the Chance cards Go to Jail, Advance to St. Charles Place (Pall Mall), Advance to Reading Railroad (Kings Cross Station) and Go Back Three Spaces.

In all, during game play, Illinois Avenue (Trafalgar Square), New York Avenue (Vine Street), B&O Railroad (Fenchurch Street Station), and Reading Railroad (Kings Cross Station) are the most frequently landed-upon properties. Mediterranean Avenue (Old Kent Road), Baltic Avenue (Whitechapel Road), Park Place (Park Lane), and Oriental Avenue (The Angel Islington) are the least-landed-upon properties. Among the property groups, the Railroads are most frequently landed upon, as no other group has four properties; Orange has the next highest frequency, followed by Red.

End game

One common criticism of Monopoly is that although it has carefully defined termination conditions, it may take an unlimited amount of time to reach them. Edward P. Parker, a former president of Parker Brothers, is quoted as saying, "We always felt that forty-five minutes was about the right length for a game, but Monopoly could go on for hours. Also, a game was supposed to have a definite end somewhere. In Monopoly you kept going around and around."

Hasbro states that the longest game of Monopoly ever played lasted 1,680 hours (70 days or 10 weeks or 2 ¹⁄₃ months).

Add-ons

Numerous add-ons have been made for Monopoly, sold independently from the game both before its commercialization and after, with three official ones discussed below:

Stock Exchange

The original Stock Exchange add-on was published by Capitol Novelty Co. of Rensselaer, New York in early 1936. It was marketed as an add-on for Monopoly, Finance, or Easy Money games. Shortly after Capitol Novelty introduced Stock Exchange, Parker Brothers bought it from them then marketed their own, slightly redesigned, version as an add-on specifically for their "new" Monopoly game; the Parker Brothers version was available in June 1936. The Free Parking square is covered over by a new Stock Exchange space and the add-on included three Chance and three Community Chest cards directing the player to "Advance to Stock Exchange". The Stock Exchange add-on was later redesigned and rereleased in 1992 under license by Chessex, this time including a larger number of new Chance and Community Chest cards. This version included ten new Chance cards (five "Advance to Stock Exchange" and five other related cards) and eleven new Community Chest cards (five "Advance to Stock Exchange" and six other related cards; the regular Community Chest card "From sale of stock you get $45" is removed from play when using these cards). Many of the original rules applied to this new version (in fact, one optional play choice allows for playing in the original form by only adding the "Advance to Stock Exchange" cards to each deck).

A Monopoly Stock Exchange Edition was released in 2001 (although not in the U.S.), this time adding an electronic calculator-like device to keep track of the complex stock figures. This was a full edition, not just an add-on, that came with its own board, money and playing pieces. Properties on the board were replaced by companies on which shares could be floated, and offices and home offices (instead of houses and hotels) could be built.

Playmaster

Playmaster, another official add-on, released in 1982, is an electronic device that keeps track of all player movement and dice rolls as well as what properties are still available. It then uses this information to call random auctions and mortgages making it easier to free up cards of a color group. It also plays eight short tunes when key game functions occur; for example when a player lands on a railroad it plays "I've Been Working on the Railroad", and a police car's siren sounds when a player goes to Jail.

Get Out of Jail and Free Parking Minigames

In 2009, Hasbro released two minigames that can be played as stand-alone games or combined with the Monopoly game. In Get Out of Jail, the goal is to manipulate a spade under a jail cell in an attempt to flick out various colored prisoners. The game can be used as an alternative to rolling doubles to get out of jail. In Free Parking, players attempt to balance taxis on a wobbly board. The Free Parking add-on can also be used with the Monopoly game. When a player lands on the Free Parking, the player can take the Taxi Challenge, and if successful, can move to any space on the board.

Speed Die

Unlike the three add-ons above, which have always been sold separately, the Speed Die was introduced in-game in 2006. In 2007, Parker Brothers began releasing its standard version (also called the Speed Die Edition) of Monopoly with the same die (originally in blue, later in red). First included in Winning Moves' Monopoly: The Mega Edition variant, this third, six-sided die is rolled with the other two, and accelerates game-play when in use. Its faces are: 1, 2, 3, two "Mr. Monopoly" sides, and a bus. The numbers behave as normal, adding to the other two dice, unless a "triple" is rolled, in which case the player can move to any space on the board. If "Mr. Monopoly" is rolled while there are unowned properties, the player advances forward to the nearest one. Otherwise, the player advances to the nearest property on which rent is owed. In the Mega Edition, rolling the bus allows you take the regular dice move then either take a bus ticket or move to the nearest draw card space. Mega rules specifies that triples do not count as doubles for going to jail as you do not roll again. Used in a regular edition, the bus (properly "get off the bus") allows the player to use only one of the two numbered dice or the sum of both, thus a roll of 1, 5, and bus would let the player choose between moving 1, 5, or 6 spaces. The Speed Die is used throughout the game in the "Mega Edition", while in the "Regular Edition" it is used by any player who has passed GO at least once. In these editions it remains optional, although use of the Speed Die was made mandatory for use in the 2009 U.S. & World Monopoly Championship, as well as the 2015 World Championship.

Spin-offs

Parker Brothers and its licensees have also sold several spin-offs of Monopoly. These are not add-ons, as they do not function as an addition to the Monopoly game, but are simply additional games in the flavor of Monopoly:

Advance to Boardwalk board game (1985): Focusing mainly on building the most hotels along the Boardwalk.

Don't Go to Jail: Dice game originally released by Parker Brothers; roll combinations of dice to create color groups for points before rolling the words "GO" "TO" and "JAIL" (which forfeits all earned points for the turn).

Monopoly Express: A deluxe, travel edition re-release of Don't Go To Jail, replacing the word dice with "Officer Jones" dice and adding an eleventh die, Houses & Hotels, and a self-contained game container/dice roller & keeper.

Express Monopoly card game (1994 U.S., 1995 U.K.): Released by Hasbro/Parker Brothers and Waddingtons in the U.K., now out of print. Basically a rummy-style card game based on scoring points by completing color group sections of the game-board.

Free Parking card game (1988) A more complex card game released by Parker Brothers, with several similarities to the card game Mille Bornes. Uses cards to either add time to parking meters, or spend the time doing activities to earn points. Includes a deck of Second Chance cards that further alter game-play. Two editions were made; minor differences in card art and Second Chance cards in each edition.

Monopoly: The Card Game (2000) an updated card game released by Winning Moves Games under license from Hasbro. Similar, but decidedly more complex, game-play to the Express Monopoly card game.

Monopoly City: Game-play retains similar flavor but has been made significantly more complex in this version. The traditional properties are replaced by "districts" mapped to the previously underutilized real estate in the centre of the board.

Monopoly Deal: The most recent card game version of Monopoly. Players attempt to complete three property groups by playing property, cash & event cards.

Monopoly Empire (2013 / 2014) A variation where brands are purchased and owned instead of properties. Games are designed to finish in thirty minutes. The 2013 edition featured seven gold tokens, 2014 edition has six new silver tokens.

Monopoly Express Casino: A gambling-themed version of the above game, that adds wagering to the game-play.

Monopoly Here & Now Electronic Edition: Eliminates the need for money, using credit cards instead.

Monopoly Hotels (2012) based on the mobile application.

Monopoly Junior board game (first published 1990, multiple variations since): A simplified version of the original game for young children.

Monopoly Millionaire (2012) A variant of the game where the goal is to be the first player to make $1,000,000.

Monopoly Millionaire Deal (2012) Card game; Combines game-play elements of Monopoly Millionaire and Monopoly Deal.

Monopoly Town by Parker Brothers / Hasbro (2008) a young children's game of racing designed to help them learn to count.

U-Build Monopoly (2010): A variant of Monopoly City using separate game tiles that allow for construction of custom game-board configurations.

Video games

Besides the many variants of the actual game (and the Monopoly Junior spin-off) released in either video game or computer game formats (e.g., Commodore 64, Macintosh, Windows-based PC, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo Entertainment System, iPad, Genesis, Super NES, etc.), two spin-off computer games have been created. An electronic hand-held version was marketed from 1997–2001.

Monopoly: The iPhone game designed by Electronic Arts.

Monopoly City Streets: An online version, using Google Maps and OpenStreetMap.

Monopoly Millionaires: The Facebook game designed by Playfish.

Monopoly Streets: A video game played for the Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3. The video game includes properties now played on a street.

Monopoly Tycoon: A game where you build businesses on the properties you own.

Monopoly Plus: A game for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 with high definition graphics.

Gambling games

Many Monopoly-themed slot machines and lotteries have been produced by WMS Gaming in conjunction with International Game Technology for land-based casinos. WagerWorks, who have the online rights to Monopoly, have created online Monopoly themed games.

London's Gamesys Group have also developed a bingo-based online game called "Monopoly Snap!" for the Jackpotjoy online bingo site.

The British quiz machine brand itbox also supports a Monopoly trivia and chance game, which, like most other itbox games, costs 50p (£0.50) to play and has a £20 jackpot.

There was also a live, online version of Monopoly. Six painted taxis drive around London picking up passengers. When the taxis reach their final destination, the region of London that they are in is displayed on the online board. This version takes far longer to play than board-game Monopoly, with one game lasting 24 hours. Results and position are sent to players via e-mail at the conclusion of the game.

Commercial promotions

The McDonald's Monopoly game is a sweepstakes advertising promotion of McDonald's and Hasbro that has been offered in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and United States.

Comic books

In the 1979 Issue 7 of Howard the Duck magazine, the story "Of Dice and Ducks!" placed Howard the Duck and Man-Thing in a small town based on the Monopoly game, including the properties, Chance cards, and Rich Uncle Pennybags (now Mr. Monopoly).

Television game show

A short-lived Monopoly game show aired on Saturday evenings from June 16 to September 1, 1990 on ABC. The show was produced by Merv Griffin and hosted by Mike Reilly. The show was paired with a summer-long Super Jeopardy! tournament, which also aired during this period on ABC.

From 2010 to 2014, The Hub aired the game show Family Game Night with Todd Newton. For the first two seasons, teams earn cash in the form of "Monopoly Crazy Cash Cards" from the "Monopoly Crazy Cash Corner", which is then inserted to the "Monopoly Crazy Cash Machine" at the end of the show. In addition, starting with Season 2, teams win "Monopoly Party Packages" for winning the individual games. For Season 3, there is a Community Chest. Each card on Mr. Monopoly has a combination of three colors. Then teams will use the combination card to unlock the chest. If it's the right combination, then they will advance to the Crazy Cash Machine for a brand-new car. For the show's fourth season, a new game is added called Monopoly Remix, featuring Park Place and Boardwalk, as well as Income Tax and Luxury Tax.

To honor the game's 80th anniversary, a brand new game show came to syndication on March 28, 2015 called Monopoly Millionaires' Club with Billy Gardell from Mike & Molly. The show takes place at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino and at Bally's Las Vegas in Las Vegas where players could win up to $1,000,000.

Films

In November 2008, Ridley Scott was announced to direct Universal Pictures' film version of the game, based on a script written by Pamela Pettler. The film was co-produced by Hasbro's Brian Goldner, as part of a deal with Hasbro to develop movies based on the company's line of toys and games. The story was being developed by author Frank Beddor. However, Universal eventually halted development in February 2012 then opted out of the agreement and rights reverted to Hasbro.

In October 2012, Hasbro announced a new partnership with production company Emmett/Furla Films, and they said they will develop a live-action version of Monopoly, along with Action Man and Hungry Hungry Hippos. Emmett/Furla/Oasis dropped out of the production of this satire version that was to be directed by Ridley Scott.

In July 2015, Hasbro announced that Lionsgate will distribute a Monopoly film with Andrew Niccol writing the film as a family-friendly action adventure film co-financed and produced by Lionsgate and Hasbro's Allspark Pictures.

The documentary Under the Boardwalk: The MONOPOLY Story, covering the history and players of the game, won an Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2010 Anaheim International Film Festival. The film played theatrically in the U.S. beginning in March 2011 and was released on Amazon and iTunes on February 14, 2012. The television version of the film won four regional Emmy Awards from the Pacific Southwest Chapter of NATAS. The film is directed by Kevin Tostado and narrated by Zachary Levi.

U.S. National Championship

Although in the past, U.S. entrants had to successfully compete in regional competitions before the national championship, qualifying for the National Championship has been online since 2003. For the 2003 Championship, qualification was limited to the first fifty people who correctly completed an online quiz. Out of concerns that such methods of qualifying might not always ensure a competition of the best players, the 2009 Championship qualifying was expanded to include an online multiple-choice quiz (a score of 80% or better was required to advance); followed by an online five-question essay test; followed by a two-game online tournament at Pogo.com. The process was to have produced a field of 23 plus one: Matt McNally, the 2003 national champion, who received a bye and was not required to qualify. However, at the end of the online tournament, there was an eleven-way tie for the last six spots. The decision was made to invite all of those who had tied for said spots. In fact, two of those who had tied and would have otherwise been eliminated, Dale Crabtree of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Brandon Baker, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, played in the final game and finished third and fourth respectively.

The 2009 Monopoly U.S. National Championship was held on April 14–15 in Washington, D.C. In his first tournament ever, Richard Marinaccio, an attorney from Sloan, New York (a suburb of Buffalo), prevailed over a field that included two previous champions to be crowned the 2009 U.S. National Champion. In addition to the title, Mr. Marinaccio took home $20,580 — the amount of money in the bank of the board game — and competed in the 2009 World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 21–22, where he finished in third place.

In 2015, Hasbro used a competition that was held solely online to determine who would be the U.S. representative to compete at the 2015 MONOPOLY World Championship. Interested players took a twenty-question quiz on MONOPOLY strategy and rules, and submitted a hundred-word essay on how to win a MONOPOLY tournament. Hasbro then selected Brian Valentine of Washington, D.C. to be the U.S. representative.

World Championship

Hasbro conducts a worldwide Monopoly tournament. The first Monopoly World Championships took place in Grossinger's Resort in New York, in November 1973, but it wasn't until 1975 that they included competitors from outside the United States. It has been aired in the United States by ESPN In 2009, forty-one players competed for the title of Monopoly World Champion and a cash prize of $20,580 (USD), which is the total amount of 'Monopoly money' in the current Monopoly set used in the tournament. The most recent World Championship took place September 2015 in Macau. Italian Nicolò Falcone defeated the defending world champion and players from twenty-six other countries.

Variants

Because Monopoly evolved in the public domain before its commercialization, Monopoly has seen many variant games. The game is licensed in 103 countries and printed in thirty-seven languages. Most of the variants are exact copies of the Monopoly games with the street names replaced with locales from a particular town, university, or fictional place. National boards have been released as well. Over the years, many specialty Monopoly editions, licensed by Parker Brothers/Hasbro, and produced by them, or their licensees (including USAopoly and Winning Moves Games) have been sold to local and national markets worldwide. Two well known "families" of -opoly like games, without licenses from Parker Brothers/Hasbro, have also been produced.

Several published games similar to Monopoly include:

Anti-Monopoly, one of several games that are a sort of monopoly backwards. The name of this game led to legal action between Anti-Monopoly's creator, Ralph Anspach, and the owners of Monopoly.

Business, a Monopoly-like game not associated with Hasbro. In this version the "properties" to be bought are cities of India; Chance and Community Chest reference lists of results printed in the center of the board, keyed to the dice roll; and money is represented by counters, not paper.

Dostihy a sázky, a variant sold in Czechoslovakia. This game comes from the totalitarian communist era (1948–1989), when private businesses were forbidden and mortgages didn't exist, so the monopoly theme was changed to a horse racing theme.

Ghettopoly, released in 2003, caused considerable offense upon its release. The game, intended to be a humorous rendering of ghetto life, was decried as racist for its unflinching use of racial stereotypes. Hasbro sought and received an injunction against Ghettopoly's designer.

Make Your Own -OPOLY: This game allows you to customize the board, money, and rules to your liking.

Matador: The unlicensed Danish version from BRIO with a round board instead of the square one, cars instead of tokens and includes breweries and ferries to buy. The game also has candy and a popular TV-series Matador named after it.

Turism:, a variant sold in Romania

Disney Magical Dice: a Monopoly-like mobile game for iOS and Android devices, featuring Disney characters. A particular of this game is that players wear costumes of Disney characters, that can be unlocked with collectible cards.

Games by locale or theme

There have been a large number of localized editions, broken down here by region:

List of licensed and localized editions of Monopoly: Africa and Asia (including the Middle East and South-East Asia but excluding Russia and Turkey)

List of licensed and localized editions of Monopoly: Europe (including Russia and Turkey)

List of licensed and localized editions of Monopoly: North America (including Central America but excluding the United States of America)

List of licensed and localized editions of Monopoly: Oceania (Australia and New Zealand)

List of licensed and localized editions of Monopoly: South America

List of licensed and localized editions of Monopoly: USA (including the United States of America and all editions based on commercial brands)

Unauthorized and parody games

This list is of unauthorized, unlicensed games based on Monopoly:

Anti-Monopoly

Ghettopoly

Middopoly
Memeopolis (Android app)

World editions

In 2008, Hasbro released Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition. This world edition features top locations of the world. The locations were decided by votes over the Internet. The result of the voting was announced on August 20, 2008.

Out of these, Gdynia is especially notable, as it is by far the smallest city of those featured and won the vote thanks to a spontaneous, large-scale mobilization of support started by its citizens. The new game uses its own currency unit, the Monopolonian (a game-based take on the Euro; designated by M). The game uses said unit in millions and thousands. As seen above, there is no dark purple color-group, as that is replaced by brown, as in the European version of the game.

It is also notable that three cities (Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) are from Canada and three other cities (Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai) are from the People's Republic of China. No other countries are represented by more than one city.

Of the 68 cities listed on Hasbro Inc.'s website for the vote, Jerusalem, was chosen as one of the 20 cities to be featured in the newest Monopoly World Edition. Before the vote took place, a Hasbro employee in the London office eliminated the country signifier "Israel" after the city, in response to pressure from pro-Palestinian advocacy groups. After the Israeli government protested, Hasbro Inc. issued a statement that read: "It was a bad decision, one that we rectified relatively quickly. This is a game. We never wanted to enter into any political debate. We apologize to our Monopoly fans."

A similar online vote was held in early 2015 for an updated version of the game. The resulting board should be released worldwide in late 2015. Lima, Peru won the vote and will hold the Boardwalk space.

Deluxe editions

Hasbro sells a Deluxe Edition, which is mostly identical to the classic edition but has wooden houses and hotels and gold-toned tokens, including one token in addition to the standard eleven, a railroad locomotive. Other additions to the Deluxe Edition include a card carousel, which holds the title deed cards, and money printed with two colors of ink.

In 1978, retailer Neiman Marcus manufactured and sold an all-chocolate edition of Monopoly through its "Christmas Wish Book" for that year. The entire set was edible, including the money, dice, hotels, properties, tokens and playing board. The set retailed for $600.

In 2000, the FAO Schwarz store in New York City sold a custom version called One-Of-A-Kind Monopoly for $100,000. This special edition comes in a locking attaché case made with Napolino leather and lined in suede, and features include:

18-carat (75%) gold tokens, houses, and hotels

Rosewood board

Street names written in gold leaf

Emeralds around the Chance icon

Sapphires around the Community Chest

Rubies in the brake lights of the car on the Free Parking Space

The money is real, negotiable United States currency

The Guinness Book of World Records states that a set worth $2,000,000 and made of 23-carat gold, with rubies and sapphires atop the chimneys of the houses and hotels, is the most expensive Monopoly set ever produced. This set was designed by artist Sidney Mobell to honor the game's 50th anniversary in 1985.

Criticisms

Wired magazine believes Monopoly is a poorly designed game. Former Wall Streeter Derk Solko explains, "Monopoly has you grinding your opponents into dust. It's a very negative experience. It's all about cackling when your opponent lands on your space and you get to take all their money."

Most of the three to four-hour average playing time is spent waiting for other players to play their turn. "Board game enthusiasts disparagingly call this a 'roll your dice, move your mice' format".

The hobby-gaming community BoardGameGeek is especially critical. User reviews of Monopoly rank the game among the 20 worst games out of nearly 10,000 ranked in the database.