Friday, April 4, 2014

MEET ME ON ST. JAMES PLACE. REPEATEDLY:  Hasbro is adding five fan-voted "house rules" as official options in the next edition of Monopoly:
  • No rent collection while in jail
  • $400, not $200, if you land exactly on Go 
  • Land on Free Parking, take all the taxes/fees/fines paid.
  • Players must travel around the board one full time before they can begin buying properties
  • Roll a double-one, get $500.

11 comments:

  1. Joseph Finn7:50 PM

    I think my family was convinced that the Free Parking variation was an actual rule.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Pathetic Earthling9:10 PM

    Just what Monopoly needs -- quantitative easing in the face of fixed prices. The game lasts too long as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. bill.9:51 PM

    A couple of years ago we finally played Monopoly with the actual rules -- no Free parking money and auctioning property if the 1st player didn't buy it. It was blast, sped up the game, got the properties in play earlier, kept everyone more involved. We had a newer board with a speed die and that kinda put it into hyperdrive. Move directly to unsold properties and or get placed on an opponent's street. We got through a game in under two hours without trying to be fast.

    I'm fine never playing with any house rules, especially these massive speed bumps.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adam B.11:06 AM

    Is the increased ability to pay off rents counterbalanced by owners' enhanced ability to build faster?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jordan1:02 PM

    I've never heard of four of those rules. Until just now, I thought the free parking thing was an actual rule.

    ReplyDelete
  6. As someone who doesn't really enjoy Monopoly, I have developed my own set of rule alterations. These can be used individually or as a group:


    -If a player lands on Boardwalk, that player wins.
    -If a player lands on Go To Jail, that player is out of the game. (We don't believe in rehabilitation anymore, anyway.)
    -If a player lands on one of the green or orange properties, that player wins.
    -All penalties stemming from Community Chest or Chance cards are tripled; all benefits are halved.
    -If a player is the dog, that player wins.
    -If a player lands on a railroad, all other players must give that player all their cash and real estate holdings.


    Try these next time you play!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alternatively--"Play Acquire Instead."

    ReplyDelete
  8. Marsha10:15 PM

    The speed die has dramatically improved our family games, given that my boys insist on playing games through to the bitter, bitter end.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I didn't know about the auction rules until I started playing Monopoly on its app. LOVE LOVE LOVE auction rules and if I ever play the actual board game again will definitely enforce those.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think I have the first edition Triopoly from 1997 (may not have sold enough to issue a 2nd edition.) It's basically a 3 tier Monopoly that codified the Free Parking lottery. It was an interesting twist, but poor access to other levels was its biggest problem.

    One idea that I thought worked allowed for earlier buying of properties. In addition to whatever their houses and hotels were called, they had gas stations. These you could put on a single property without owning the entire set. So for Monopoly, I'd be fine buying houses as soon as possible; though still waiting until you have the full set for hotels. And I'd also allow loading houses unevenly.

    ReplyDelete
  11. As a criminal defense attorney I have a real fundamental problem with the no rent collection while in jail (different story if property was purchased with proceeds from criminal enterprise)

    ReplyDelete