Wednesday, June 16, 2010

GO TO JAIL, GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200: One of the most common complaints about Monopoly is how long it takes to play a game. But it turns out you can play a full game in 4 turns and 21 seconds.

18 comments:

  1. Heh.  I had this post queued for tomorrow AM.  The lack of auctioning, however, is a concern.

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  2. spacewoman4:08 PM

    As someone who played approx. 800 games a week last summer, this sounds pretty appealling.  Will have to figure out how to rig it.

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  3. Natalie4:20 PM

    There is a game in the comments that is faster and doesn't deal with auctions. This is quite possible my favorite article in years.

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  4. Adam C.4:26 PM

    <p>It may be a concern re: the time duration of the game, but it wouldn't really matter to the outcome here, would it?  As long as Player 1 doesn't spend more than $150 in total on the auctioned properties (Elec. Co., Illinois, Pennsy RR), the game could still proceed as posited - Player 2 might have some property to mortgage, but still would go bankrupt.
    </p>

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  5. Adam C.4:39 PM

    <p>I should add that I've never, ever, played with the auction rule, and just had a palm-to-forehead realization about why all the Monopoly games in my experience have seemed to take forever.
    </p>

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  6. spacewoman7:01 PM

    Auction rule??  Actually, I don't want to know. 

    I will say that I always thought my mom was incredibly dumb for always buying railroads and nothing else, but now that I have kids, I get it.  (It's because you actually want THEM to win.)

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  7. No, I'm going to tell you anyway.  From the Rules:

    "If you do not wish to buy the [unowned property on which you landed], the Banker sells it at auction to the highest bidder. The buyer pays the Bank the amount of the bid in cash and receives the Title Deed card for that property. Any player, including the one who declined the option to buy it at the printed price, may bid. Bidding may start at any price."

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  8. Heather K8:28 PM

    All right, well that is going into play for sure with my fiancee and his brother next time we are stuck in a cabin in the rain outside of Vail for the better part of a week with no cable and no movies and no internet.

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  9. Marsha8:29 PM

    I've never played with the Auction Rule either. But the best comment on the linked post is the one that explains that this is all irrelevant because Monopoly only exists as a venue for sibling conflict anyway. Right, Sue?

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  10. Carmichael Harold9:09 PM

    I agree about Monopoly being primarily a venue for sibling conflict.   I was going to post that most of my games as a kid ended in about 21 seconds as well, because that's about as long as it took for someone to hurl the board/pieces across the room.

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  11. Not just lack of auctions, but also overpaying $50 for the regressive "$200 or 10%" income tax space.

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  12. They've eliminated the 10% option.

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  13. spacewoman12:56 AM

    Not gonna lie, sometimes I kind of want to hurl it across the room as well.  We have Monopoly City, and it's like purgatory. 

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  14. I blame the Democrats.  Is it true the luxury tax has increased 33%, also?

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  15. I refuse to answer on the grounds that my response may incriminate me. (And get my butt kicked by my sister, who once finally explained to me that the reason I could never win a game of Monopoly in our childhoods is because, "Susan, you could never get through a game without going to the bathroom. That's when I stole from the bank.")

    Oops.

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  16. Joan H12:04 PM

    Awesome post, and it's good to know that in at least some corners of the world, Monopoly love continues.

    We have LOTR Monopoly and I love it, except that they call the money "power" and that's stupid.  The best thing about is The One Ring, which starts out at Go and advances one space every time the Eye of Sauron appears -- one of the dice, instead of a side with one dot, has a side with an image of the Eye.  When the The Ring reaches Mount Doom (Boardwalk), game over!

    Ironically, my kids no longer like to play with the Ring option, preferring to play to the bitter, bitter end.  Last year we had a 2-day game in which my 9yo son finally fell to my 11yo daughter, even though he owned practically everything and had it well built up with funds from me and my older son.  Daughter had hotels on Boardwalk+ Park Place and a few random undeveloped properties.  She never landed on her little brother's property, and he only needed to land on her a few times to get wiped out, which he eventually did.  Weirdest game ever.

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  17. Marsha4:32 PM

    This is the point where I smile and say, "I love you, Susan!"

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