Monopoly (game)

Players make their way around the Monopoly board, such as this German one.
Publisher	Parker Brothers
Players	2–8
Setup time	5–15 minutes
Playing time	1.5–6 hours
Rules complexity	Medium
Strategy depth	Medium
Random chance	Medium (dice rolling, card drawing, luck)
Skills required	Dice rolling Counting Social skills
BoardGameGeek entry

Throughout this article, the unqualified use of currency denominations such as "$" or "£" generally refers to play money in the context of the game.

Monopoly is the best-selling commercial board game in the world. Players compete to acquire wealth through stylised economic activity involving the buying, rental and trading of properties using play money, as players take turns moving around the board according to the roll of the dice. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly, the domination of a market by a single seller.

It is published by Parker Brothers, an imprint of Hasbro. According to Hasbro, since Charles Darrow patented the game in 1935, approximately 750 million people have played the game, making it "the most played [commercial] board game in the world."^[1] The 1999 Guinness Book of Records cited Hasbro's previous statistic of 500 million people having played Monopoly^[2]. Games Magazine has inducted Monopoly into its Hall of Fame.^[3]

History

The history of Monopoly can be traced back to the early 1900s. In 1904, an inventor named Elizabeth Magie patented a game through which she hoped to be able to explain some of the economic ideas of Henry George. Her game, The Landlord's Game, was commercially published a few years later. Magie and other interested game players redeveloped the game and some made their own sets. Magie herself patented a revised edition of the game in 1924, and similar games were published commercially. By the early 1930s a board game named Monopoly was created much like the version of Monopoly sold by Parker Brothers and its parent companies through the rest of the 20th century, and into the 21st. Several different people, mostly in the U.S. Midwest and near the U.S. East Coast, contributed to the game's design and evolution.

By the 1970s, the game's early history had been lost (and at least one historian has argued that it was purposely suppressed - see below), and the idea that it had been created solely by Charles Darrow had become popular folklore, printed in the game's instructions, and even the 1974 book The Monopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game, by Maxine Brady. As Professor Ralph Anspach fought Parker Brothers and their then parent company, General Mills, over the trademarks of the Monopoly board game, much of the early history of the game was "rediscovered."

Because of the lengthy court process, and appeals, the legal status of Parker Brothers' trademarks on the game was not settled until the mid-1980s. The game's name remains a registered trademark of Parker Brothers, as do its specific design elements. Parker Brothers current corporate parent, Hasbro, again only acknowledges the role of Charles Darrow in the creation of the game. Anspach published a book about his researches, called The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle, in which he makes his case about the purposeful suppression of the game's early history and development.

Board

Atlantic City version

This is the original and classic version produced originally by Charles Darrow, and later by Parker Brothers. The board consists of 40 squares containing 28 properties, 3 "Chance" squares, 3 "Community Chest" squares, a "Luxury Tax" square, an "Income Tax" square, "GO", "Jail", "Free Parking", and "Go To Jail." In the U.S. version shown below, the properties are named after locations in (or near) Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Landing on the Jail space by a direct roll of the dice (without being sent to Jail) in the corner between the Light Blue and Light Purple/Maroon properties means the player is "Just Visiting" and continue the next turn normally.

Note that Marvin Gardens, a Yellow property on the above board, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. Marven Gardens is not a street, but a housing area outside Atlantic City. The housing area is said to be derived from MARgate City and VENtnor City in New Jersey (emphasis added). The misspelling was originally introduced by Charles Todd, whose home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and subsequently used as the basis of the design by Parker Brothers. It was not until 1995 that Parker Brothers acknowledged this mistake and formally apologized to the residents of Marven Gardens for the misspelling. ^[4] Another change made by Todd and duplicated by Darrow, and later Parker Brothers, was the use of South Carolina Avenue. North Carolina Avenue was substituted for this street on the board.

Illinois Avenue was renamed Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Atlantic City sometime during the 1980s. States Avenue and Saint Charles Place no longer exist, as the Showboat Casino Hotel was developed where they once ran.^[5]

Short Line is believed to refer to the Shore Fast Line, a streetcar line that served Atlantic City. ^[6] 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. Finally, Atlantic City does not have a Water Works – its water is piped in from the New Jersey "mainland" through two pipes.

The other versions of the game have different property names, and the prices may be denominated in another currency, but the game mechanics are almost identical. The income tax choice from the U.S. version is replaced by a flat rate in the UK version, and the $75 Luxury Tax square is replaced with the £100 Super Tax square. The same is true of current German boards, with a €200 for the Income Tax space on the board, and a €100 Zusatzsteuer (Add-on tax) in place of the Luxury Tax. To complicate matters further, an Austrian version, released by Parker Brothers/Hasbro in 2001, does allow for the 10% or €200 for Income Tax and has a €100 Luxury Tax.

London 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 in order 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 an area of North London named after a coaching inn that stood on the Great North Road. By the 1930s the inn had become a Lyons Corner House (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.

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 such as New Zealand (see Localized versions of the Monopoly game).

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

For a list of some of the localized versions, including the UK "Here & Now" edition, and the names of their properties, see localized versions of the Monopoly game.

Here and Now Editions

United Kingdom

In 2005, Hasbro launched the UK version of the "Here and Now Limited Edition", updating the properties and prices to reflect present-day London properties. The playing pieces were also changed to be: Mobile phone, Roller blade, Hamburger, Jumbo Jet, Racing Car, Skateboard and London Bus. This version was launched in recognition of the game's 70th anniversary in conjunction with an online version.

United States

The U.S. version of the "Here and Now Edition" replaces Atlantic City landmarks with legendary U.S. streets, neighborhoods and national monuments. Fans were able to vote on the U.S. Monopoly website for their favorite landmarks from 22 cities – including New York's Times Square, Chicago's Wrigley Field, Honolulu's Waikiki Beach, Minneapolis' Mall of America, Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive, Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, Phoenix's Camelback Mountain, and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Additionally, the votes determined where each landmark appears on the game board; the city with the most votes landing on the coveted Boardwalk spot. The railroads were replaced by airports, namely, New York's JFK, Chicago's O'Hare, Los Angeles' LAX and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson. Property values have been increased, money is in higher denominations, and the Community Chest and Chance cards reflect more modern scenarios. Tokens in the new game include a box of McDonald's french fries, a cup of Starbucks coffee, a Toyota Prius, a New Balance tennis shoe, a Motorola RAZR cellular phone, an airplane, a labradoodle and a laptop.^[7] A version for Microsoft Windows based on the same board was also released on CD-ROM, produced by Encore, Inc.

Germany

A German edition called Monopoly Heute (Monopoly Today) was released in 2005, with updated properties in Berlin.

France

The French edition called Monopoly - Nouveau plateau was released in 2005, with updated properties in Paris.

Australia

The Australian edition is following a nomination process similar to the American edition, though with Premiers making the nominations to Hasbro.^[8][9] The set is to be released in June 2007, voting is between January 8 - February 10 at www.monopoly.com.au.

Canada

A Here and Now Limited Edition has been released in Canada around the same time as that of the US version. It includes landmarks such as Niagara Falls, Percé Rock and Yorkville.^[10]

Norway

The Norwegian "Here and Now Edition" replaced bank notes with ATM cards, and updated prices. Fans were invited to vote for which Oslo streets were to be included in the game. The edition was released in spring 2006.

Debit Card versions

A "Here and Now Electronic Banking Edition" was released in the United Kingdom in 2006, which includes an ATM and Visa debit cards in place of paper money.^[11] Australia also distributes the UK Debit Card version.^[12] A similar edition is available in Germany, France and Sweden where they are known as "Monopoly Banking", "Monopoly Electronique" and "Monopol Här & Nu-utgåvan" respectively.

Equipment

All twelve tokens from the U.S. Deluxe Edition Monopoly.

Each player is represented by a small pewter token which is moved around the edge of the board according to the roll of two dice. The twelve playing pieces currently used are pictured to the left and are as follows (from left to right): a wheelbarrow (1937b edition), a battleship, a sack of money (1999 editions onwards), a horse and rider, a car, a train (Deluxe Edition only), a thimble, a cannon (1937b edition), an old style shoe (sometimes known as "the boot"), a Scottie dog, an iron, and a top hat.

Many of the tokens came from companies such as Dowst Miniature Toy Company, which made metal charms and tokens designed to be used on charm bracelets. The battleship and spinning wheel 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.^[13] 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 head-shaped tokens identical to those in Sorry!.^[14] Parker Brothers also acquired Sorry! in the 1930s. Plastic versions of these tokens can be seen in the German Monopoly set pictured at the beginning of this article.

Other things included in the standard edition are:

The dice in the UK were replaced with a spinner because of a lack of materials due to World War II

• A pair of six-sided dice.
• A Title Deed for each property. A Title Deed 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:
  • 22 streets, divided into 8 color groups of two or three streets. A player must own all of a color group (have a monopoly) in order to build houses or hotels. A player can also be considered to have a monopoly by having both utilities and/or all four railroads (or stations) during gameplay. However, the utilities and railroads cannot be improved or have houses and/or hotels built on them.
  • 4 railways/stations. Players collect higher rent if they own more than one railway. Hotels and houses cannot be built on railways. These are usually replaced by railway stations in non-U.S. editions of Monopoly.
  • 2 utilities. Players collect higher rent if they own both utilities. Hotels and houses cannot be built on utilities.
• A supply of paper money. The supply of 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. In U.S. standard editions, the supply generally starts with $15,140, the same amount given away in United States dollars to the winner of the quadrennial Monopoly World Championship.^[15]
• 32 wooden or plastic houses and 12 wooden or plastic hotels. (The original and the 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.
• A deck of 16 Chance cards and a deck of 16 Community Chest cards. Players draw these cards when they land on the corresponding squares of the track, and follow the instructions printed on them.

Hasbro also 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 their "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 US$600. ^[16]

The F.A.O. Schwarz store in New York City sold a custom version in 2000 called "One-Of-A-Kind Monopoly" for US$100,000. ^[17] 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 made of 23-carat gold, with rubies and sapphires atop the chimneys of the houses and hotels, and worth US$2,000,000 is the most expensive Monopoly set ever produced. ^[18]

Rules

Two to eight people may play Monopoly, but the game dynamics are ideal with six players. With more than six players, it is too likely that an individual will not have the opportunity to buy significant property and be bankrupted without ever having been in contention. With four or fewer players, there are not as many possible combinations of property ownership, and the importance of astute trading and negotiation is diminished.

Each player begins the game with his token on the Go square, and $1500 (£1500, €1500, etc.) in cash divided as follows, per the U.S. standard rules:

• 2 each of:
  • $500 bills
  • $100 bills
  • $50 bills
• 6 $20 bills
• 5 each of:
  • $10 bills
  • $5 bills
  • $1 bills

The British version has an initial cash distribution of:

• 2 x £500
• 4 x £100
• 1 x £50
• 1 x £20
• 2 x £10
• 1 x £5
• 5 x £1

Classic German editions (i.e. those pre-Euro) started with 30,000 "Spielmark" in eight denominations and abbreviated M., and later used the Deutschmark (DM.) abbreviation, with seven denominations. In the classic Italian game, each player receives L350,000 ($3500) in a two-player game, but L50,000 ($500) less for each player more than two. Only in a six-player game does a player receive the equivalent of $1500. The classic Italian games were played with only four denominations of currency. At least one Spanish edition (the Barcelona edition) started the game with 150,000 in play money, with a breakdown identical to that of the American version.

All property deeds, houses, and hotels are held by the bank until bought by the players.

Official rules

Players take turns in order, as determined by chance before the game. A player's turn consists of rolling two dice and advancing on the board the corresponding number of squares clockwise around the track. Depending on where he/she lands, he/she takes any of a number of actions. If he or she lands on an unowned property, then the player has two options. He or she can either buy the property for its listed purchase price, or he or she can put it up for auction. The same goes for Railroads and utilities. If a person lands on Chance or Community Chest, then he or she draws the top card from the respective pile. If the player rolls doubles, he or she rolls again after completing the first turn, but if the player rolls three doubles in a row, he/she is sent to jail. If the player lands on an owned property he or she pays the owner a set amount of rent on colored properties and railroads, or multiplies a dice roll by a certain factor for the utilities. The player can also buy houses for their property if he/she owns all the property in a color group. The rent increases the more houses are on a space. Once there are four houses on a space, the player can build a hotel. The construction or selling back of houses and hotels must be done evenly across all properties in a color group. This means that each property must have first received one house before a second can be constructed, two houses before a third can be constructed, and so on.

House rules

Many casual Monopoly players are surprised and disappointed to discover that some of the rules that they are used to are not part of the official rules. Many of these house rules tend to make the game longer by giving some players more money. Some common house rules include the following (and more can be found via links at the end of this article):

• Allowing the bank to make loans other than mortgages.
• Free Parking jackpot, which usually consists of an initial stake (typically $500) plus collections of fines and taxes otherwise paid to the bank. A player who lands on Free Parking wins the jackpot, which may then be reset with the initial stake (if any). The jackpot is usually put in the center of the board. Since the jackpot forms an additional "income" for players in this set of house rules, games can take a much longer time than under normal rules.
• Players in jail cannot collect rent, build house or conduct trades.
• A bonus for landing directly on GO by dice roll (commonly an additional $200). This does not include cards that send the player to GO.
• Delayed Start: Players must pass GO before they can buy property.
• Not having an auction when a player lands on a property and does not buy it.
• Unlimited houses and hotels. A variant on this is to declare that houses cost $50 each, and hotels cost $100 each.
• No need to build houses and hotels evenly over monopolized properties.
• A bonus for rolling snake eyes (a pair of ones), often $100 or $500.^[19][20]
• Properties are auctioned as soon as they are landed on, without the chance for the player who landed on the property to buy it outright. This is actually carried over from "auction monopoly" rules that were popular in the 1920s.
• All properties are handed out evenly to all players before the game begins, or one or two are dealt to each player. (This variation is in the official UK rules as a short game option.)
• No income tax on weekends and after 4 p.m. because the "income tax office" is closed.
• In trades, players may offer "protection" from their own properties (someone does not have to pay rent for landing on that property) as part of a deal.
• A 'get out of jail free' card means that one can stay where they are on the board.
• No need to roll a double when in jail.
• A player rolling a 3 has the option of taking a Chance card instead.
• The final unsold property is added to the Free Parking jackpot and must be won therein; it cannot be purchased even if a player lands on it.
• A player can build a house as soon as he or she buys a property.
• A player may buy resort shares when passing GO. Buying shares means that a player pays the lowest rent if he or she lands there.
• A player who owns a property color set may sell shares of one of them. A player who buys property shares pays half of the rent if he or she lands there and receives half of the rent if other players land there.
• The winner must put away the money since he has it all. He must also put away the property cards, pieces, and board.
• A player may build a house without a monopoly when landing on one's own property.

House rules, while unofficial, are not wholly unrecognized by Parker Brothers. George S. Parker himself created two variants, to shorten the length of game play. Video game and computer game versions of Monopoly have options where popular house rules can be used. House rules that have the effect of introducing more money into the game have a side-effect of increasing the time it takes for players to become bankrupt, lengthening the game considerably.

Strategy

Monopoly involves a substantial portion of luck, with the roll of the dice determining whether a player gets to own key properties or lands on squares with high rents. Even the initial misfortune of going last is a significant disadvantage because one is more likely to land on property which has already been bought and therefore be forced to pay rent instead of having an opportunity to buy unowned property. There are, however, many strategic decisions which allow skilled players to win more often than the unskilled.

Property square probabilities

The layout of the "special" squares on the board (that is, the non-property squares), as well as the dice-roll probabilities, mean that not all squares have an equal probability of being landed upon.

According to probability study, seven is the most probable roll of two dice, occurring 6 out of 36 times whereas 2 and 12 are the least probable rolls, each occurring once every 36 rolls. For this reason, Park Place/Park Lane is one of the least landed-on squares as the square seven places behind it is "Go to Jail".

Also when you are in jail, you are likely to get out by rolling a double, one in every six rolls. A get out of jail free card can be sold to any other player.

In consequence, some properties are landed upon more than others and the owners of those properties get more income from rent. The board layout factors include the following:

• Jail: Since players are frequently directed to "Go To Jail," they will move through the purple, orange and red property groups immediately after leaving Jail. The two properties with the highest probability of being landed upon after leaving jail are the two cheaper orange properties (St James Place and Tennessee Avenue in North America, Bow Street and Marlborough Street outside North America). This makes the orange property set highly lucrative.
• Go to…: One square — Go To Jail — plus a number of Chance and Community Chest cards will cause the player to advance a distance around the board. Thus, the squares immediately following Go To Jail and the take-a-card squares have a reduced probability of being landed upon. The least-landed upon property in this situation is the cheaper dark blue property (Park Place or Park Lane) because it sets in the lee of both Go to Jail and Community Chest (the Chance directly before it wouldn't affect its odds because it is impossible to roll a one).
• Go to (property): Several properties are blessed with Chance cards which draw players to them. St Charles Place (Pall Mall), Illinois Avenue (Trafalgar Square), Boardwalk (Mayfair), all of the railroads except Short Line (Liverpool Street Station), and both of the utilities benefit from this feature. Reading Railroad (King's Cross Station) has the fortune of having both a "go to" dedicated card plus the card advancing to the nearest railroad.
• Advance to Go: A player may be directed to the Go square by a Chance or a Community Chest card, thus lowering the probability of being landed-upon of every square in-between. The properties most affected by this are the yellow, green, and dark blue sets. It also marginally raises the probability for each square in the wake of Go, including the purple and orange sets which will be reached two or three rolls after being on Go.
• Go Back Three Spaces: This directive comes from a Chance card. A quick look at the board shows that there are three Chance squares and hence three other squares which are 3 spaces behind. The leading orange property (New York Avenue or Vine Street) gains the most benefit from this card since the Chance square nestled amongst the red properties is itself the most landed-upon Chance square.

In all, during game play, Illinois Avenue (Trafalgar Square), New York Avenue (Vine Street), B&O Railroad (Fenchurch Street Station), and Reading Railroad (King's Cross Station) are the most frequently landed-upon properties. Mediterranean Avenue (Old Kent Road) and Baltic Avenue (Whitechapel Road) are the least-landed-upon properties. ^[21]

Dealing and bargaining

Much of the skill comes from knowing how to make the best use of a player's resources and above all knowing how to strike a good bargain. Monopoly is a social game where players often interact and must "deal" with each other in ways not unlike "real world" real estate bargaining. Note that the best deal is not always for the most expensive property; it is often situational, dependent on money resources available to each player and even where players happen to be situated on the board. When looking to deal, a player should attempt to bargain with another player who not only possess properties he or she needs but also properties the other player needs. In fact, offering relatively fair deals to other players can end up helping the player making the offer by giving him or her a reputation as an honest trader, which can make players less wary of dealings in the future. What is more, most people play Monopoly with the same group repeatedly. For this reason, such a reputation can have effects far beyond the game being played.

The end game

One common criticism of Monopoly is that it has carefully defined yet almost unreachable termination conditions. 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."^[22] However, the problem of time can be resolved by playing with a time limit and counting each player's net worth when the time is up. In fact, tournament play calls for a 90-minute time limit.^[23] Two hour time limits are used for international play. ^[24] The Lord of the Rings edition gives players the option of creating a random time limit using the included One Ring token and specialized dice.

Played strictly to the rules, many games will be effectively decided when one player succeeds in bankrupting another because the bankrupt player gives all his property to the one to whom he could not pay his debt. A player who thus gains a fistful of properties will virtually control the game from that point onwards since other players will be constantly at risk. On the other hand, if a player is bankrupted by being unable to meet his debt to the bank (e.g., a fine or tax or other debt that is not rent), then his property is auctioned off; this can open up new possibilities in a game which was evenly set or in which a lot of property sets were divided among the players.

Another path to a faster ending is by a key property bargain, whether it be a very shrewd trade which sets one player up with a well-positioned set or a very rash trade where an inexperienced player gives his experienced opponent an underpriced gem. Either way, a deal which pays off for one player is most often the turning point of the game.

A third way to finish the game, though not the fastest, is to jot down important information (like property, money, and spaces the pieces are on), then put that in the box with the game to finish at a later date.

A fourth way to finish the game is to wait for all of the property to be bought. Once this has occurred, the player with the most money is victorious.

Hasbro states that the longest game of Monopoly ever played lasted 1,680 hours (70 days). ^[25]

Add-ons

Numerous official and unofficial add-ons have been made for Monopoly, both before its commercialization and after. The best-known expansion to the game is the Stock Exchange Add-On, published by Parker Brothers in 1936 (wikibook). In the Stock Exchange add-on, the Free Parking square is replaced with the Stock Exchange. The add-on also contained three each of Chance and Community Chest cards directing the player to advance to the Stock Exchange.

The add-on also included thirty stock certificates, five for each of the six different stocks, differing only in its purchase price, ranging from $100 to $150. Shares, like properties, can be considered to be tradeable material, and could also be mortgaged for half their purchase price. Shareholders could increase the value of their shares by buying up more of the same company's shares.

When a player moves onto Free Parking, stock dividends are paid out to all players with any unmortgaged shares. The amount to be paid out to each player is determined based on the number and kind of shares owned. Specifically, a player receives dividends from each stock based on the following mathematical formula:

(purchase price of share / 10) × (number of shares owned)²

EXAMPLE: Owning one share of MOTION PICTURES (purchased at $100) pays dividends of $10. Owning two shares pays $40 ($10 x 2 x 2). Three shares pays $90 ($10 x 3 x 3). Four pays $160 ($10 x 4 x 4). All five pays $250 ($10 x 5 x 5).

The player who lands on Free Parking can also choose to buy a share if any remain – should the player decline, the Bank auctions a share off to the highest bidder. The 1936 rules are ambiguous with regards to the stock that is put up for auction, and convention has it that the winner of the auction chooses the stock to be received.

The Stock Exchange add-on serves to inject more money into the game, in a similar manner to railroad properties, as well as changing the relative values of properties. In particular, the Yellow and Green properties are more valuable due to the increased chance of landing on Free Parking, at the expense of the Light Purple and Orange groups.

The Stock Exchange add-on was later redesigned and rereleased in 1992 under license by Chessex, this time including a large number of new Chance and Community Chest cards. ^[26] This version included ten new Chance cards (three GO TO STOCK EXCHANGE and seven other related cards) and eleven new Community Chest cards (three GO TO STOCK EXCHANGE and eight other related cards; the regular Community Chest card "From sale of stock you get $45" is removed from play when using these cards).

A Monopoly Stock Exchange Edition was released in 2001, 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. ^[27]

"Playmaster", another official add-on, kept 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 that will be advantageous for some players and a punishment for others, 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 will play I've Been Working on the Railroad. ^[28]

Spinoffs

Monopoly Tycoon is a PC game in the Tycoon series that makes strategy and speed into determining factors for winning the game, eliminating completely the element of luck inherent in the dice rolls of the original. The game uses the U.S. standard Atlantic City properties as its basis, but the game play is unique to this version. The game also allows for solo and multiplayer online games.

Parker Brothers has also sold several games which are spinoffs of Monopoly. These are not add-ons as they don't function as an addition to the Monopoly game, but are simply additional games in the flavor of Monopoly.

• Monopoly Junior board game, a simplified version for young children
• Advance to Boardwalk board game
• Express Monopoly, a card game released by Hasbro/Parker Brothers and Waddingtons in the UK in the 1990s, now out of print.
• Monopoly: The Card Game, an updated card game released by Winning Moves Games under license from Hasbro.
• Free Parking card game
• Don't Go To Jail The MONOPOLY Dice Game
• Monopoly Express A deluxe edition UK re-release of Don't Go To Jail
• Monopoly Express Casino A gambling-themed version of the above game, that adds wagering to the gameplay

A short-lived Monopoly game show aired on Saturday evenings during the summer of 1990 on ABC. The show was produced by Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! creator Merv Griffin. The show was hosted by former Jeopardy! contestant Mike Riley. Three contestants competed by answering crossword puzzle-style clues to acquire the properties on the board and money equivalent to the values of said properties (with bonuses added for getting monopolies). After the properties were acquired and players used the earned money to improve them with Houses and Hotels, a timed Monopoly Game Round was played, allowing players to earn even more money by landing on their properties and answering more word clues. When time was up, the player with the most money won the game, and then went on to play the Bonus Game. In the Bonus Game, the contestant had to choose 4 properties on the board to convert to "Go To Jail" spaces. Along with the actual "Go To Jail" space, the contestant rolled the dice up to five times (with extra rolls added for each double rolled) and had to pass GO without landing on a "Go To Jail" space. If the contestant passed GO before running out of rolls or landing on a "Go To Jail" space, they won US$25,000; however if the contestant landed EXACTLY on GO, they would win US$50,000. The show was paired on ABC with a summer long Super Jeopardy! tournament.

In North America, a variety of slot machines have been produced with a Monopoly theme. In Europe, there were also Monopoly "fruit machines", some of which remain popular through emulation. The British quiz machine brand itbox also supports a Monopoly trivia and chance game, which, like most other itbox games, costs 50p (GB£0.50) to play and has a GB£20 jackpot, although this is very rarely won.

There is 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.^[29]

Variants

Because Monopoly evolved in the public domain before its commercialization, Monopoly has seen many variant games. Most of these 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. Many of these are listed at Localized versions of the Monopoly game. Details, including box cover art, can be seen in the List of licensed Monopoly game boards. Over the years, many speciality 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.

Late for the Sky

Late for the Sky Production Company produces a huge range of Monopoly based games with similar rules and board layout as Monopoly but with a large selection of special themes. They also offer Monopoly based games based on your own theme. Major product lines of theirs include nearly sixty titles based on US college and university campuses and the City in a Box line. ^[30] Late for the Sky has also licensed many of their -Opoly products to Outset Media in Canada for sales there. Outset Media has also produced further games exclusively for the Canadian market that build upon the Late for the Sky product lines.

Help On Board

Help On Board is a company that specializes in creating fundraising board games for various charities. Many of these have been made in an "-opoly" style using locales within a variety of communities in the United States and Canada. Proceeds from sales of the games go to various local causes. A gallery of images of some of these fundraising board games can be seen on their website. ^[31]

Related games

Some games have been published which take after Monopoly, but have variations in rules which affect game play. Some of these include:

• Anti-Monopoly, written by Ralph Anspach in 1974.
• Atlantik is a Monopoly-based computer game for KDE on Linux, again, with the street names changed. It maintains the same set of rules for Monopoly while adding multiplayer support across a LAN or the internet.
• Dinosauropoly, a version using prehistoric motifs and rules.
• Dogopoly: The Game of High Steaks and Bones, created by Spahits Games in 1977 with a 25th anniversary edition released in 2002. Not to be confused with the Dog-opoly published by Late for the Sky. ^[32]
• Easy Money, published by Milton Bradley, also in the 1930s.
• The Farming Game is a board game in which the goal is to run a financially successful farm, and like Monopoly the heart of the game is economics. The game's website draws comparisons to Monopoly.
• Fast Food Franchise is a board game by TimJim games which shares Monopoly's core mechanic, but through careful design guarantees that it will actually end.
• The Fascinating Game of Finance, later shortened to Finance, first marketed in 1932 by Knapp Electric, and later by Parker Brothers.
• Go For Broke, the exact opposite of Monopoly, has the players trying to spend all their money before anyone else. Bad bets at the casino, real estate, stock market, race track, and giving to the poor house lowers you account balance. This was a Milton Bradley game originally published in the mid-1960s.
• 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, so much that Hasbro sought and received a court ordered injunction against Ghettopoly's designer.^[33][34] The game and its sequel are no longer available directly from the designer's website.
• The Mad Magazine Game, a Mad Magazine themed board game in which the object of the game is for player to lose all their money, play is counter-clockwise, and the dice must be rolled with the left hand. Released by Parker Brothers in 1979.
• Make Your Own-opoly is a game set sold by TDC Games of Itasca, Illinois. Using a Microsoft Windows-based PC, a person can print out his or her own property cards, labels to place on the board and the box, and game currency. ^[35]
• Solarquest, a popular space-age adaptation, was released by Golden in 1986.

Popular culture

Since Parker Brothers first published and marketed the board game Monopoly in 1935, it has influenced popular culture in many ways. It has been referenced in cartoons, comic strips, novels, and comedy routines, among others.

See also

• Anti-Monopoly
• Atlantik, an open source game based on monopoly released under the GPL.
• Dogopoly
• List of licensed Monopoly game boards
• Localized versions of the Monopoly game
• Monopoly (game show)
• McDonald's Monopoly
• My Monopoly
• Rich Uncle Pennybags, known as "Mr. Monopoly" since 1998. This mascot for the game was introduced with editions beginning in 1936, and began appearing on the game boxes and game boards in 1985.

Notes

References

• Monopoly as a Markov Process, by R. Ash and R. Bishop, Mathematics Magazine, vol. 45 (1972) p. 26-29.
• Anspach, Ralph. The Billion Dollar MONOPOLY ® Swindle, Second Edition, Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 0-7388-3139-5.
• Brady, Maxine (1974). The Monopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game, First hardcover edition, D. McKay Co.. ISBN 0-679-20292-7.
• Darzinskis, Kaz (1987). Winning Monopoly: A Complete Guide to Property Accumulation, Cash-Flow Strategy, and Negotiating Techniques When Playing the Best-Selling Board Game, First Edition, Harper & Row, New York. ISBN 0-06-096127-9.
• Moore, Tim (2004). Do Not Pass Go. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-09-943386-9.
• Orbanes, Philip E. (1999). The Monopoly Companion: The Player's Guide, Second Edition, Adams Media Corporation. ISBN 1-58062-175-9.
• Orbanes, Philip E. (2004). The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers, First Edition, Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 1-59139-269-1.

External links

• The official U.S. Monopoly web site
• Hasbro's Fun Facts Page on Monopoly
• U.S. Patent 748626 and U.S. Patent 1509312 - Patents for the first and second version of The Landlord's Game
• U.S. Patent 2026082 Patent awarded to C.B. Darrow for "Monopoly" on Dec. 31. 1935
• Early history of Monopoly
• Atlantic City 150th Anniversary series of articles from the newspaper CourierPost, which describe the streets of Atlantic City that appear on Monopoly
• History of Monopoly - History Detectives, PBS, 2004
• Monopoly and Mathematics
• Probabilities in the Game of Monopoly by Truman Collins
• The Economics of Monopoly
• Monopoly at BoardGameGeek
• Game Simulator - Simulates 256 rolls of the dice and provides token landing statistics

• London Monopoly: Photos of Places on the Board