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Monopoly (game)
Monopoly is a board game where players roll two six-sided dice to mo }}
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.
Contents
Monopoly Empire
Monopoly Empire has uniquely branded tokens and places based on popular brands. Instead of buying properties, players buy popular brands one by one and slide their billboards onto their Empire towers. Instead of building houses and hotels, players collect rent from their rivals based on their tower height. A player wins by being the first player to fill his or her tower with billboards. Every space on the board is a brand name, including Xbox, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Samsung.
Monopoly Token Madness
This version of Monopoly contains an extra 6 "golden" tokens. That includes a penguin, a television, a racecar, a Mr Monopoly emoji, a rubber duck, a watch, a wheel and a bunny slipper.
Monopoly Jackpot
During the game, players travel around the gameboard buying properties and collecting rent. But when they land on a chance space, or roll the chance icon on a die, they can spin the Chance spinner to try to make more money. Players can get the "Jackpot", go bankrupt, or get sent to Jail. The player who has the most cash when the bank crashes wins.
Monopoly: Ultimate Banking Edition
In this version, there is no cash. The Monopoly Ultimate Banking game features an electronic ultimate banking piece with touch technology. Now players can instantly buy properties, and set rent by tapping. Each player gets a bankcard and the Ultimate Banking piece keeps track of everyone's money. It also scans the game's property cards and can boost or crash the market. The game introduces Event cards and Location spaces instead of Chance cards and Community Chest cards. Land on an Event Space, and rents may be raised or lowered, a player may earn or lose money, or someone could get sent to Jail. Location Spaces allow players to pay and move to any property space on the gameboard.
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, with a "Speed Die" added for variation in 2007. 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.
| U.S. editions prior to 2008 | U.S. editions since 2008 / British editions |
|---|---|
| 2 × $500 | 2 × $/£500 |
| 2 × $100 | 4 × $/£100 |
| 2 × $50 | 1 × $/£50 |
| 6 × $20 | 1 × $/£20 |
| 5 × $10 | 2 × $/£10 |
| 5 × $5 | 1 × $/£5 |
| 5 × $1 | 5 × $/£1 |
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, a set of eight tokens was introduced: Two more were added in late 1937,
| Token | Usage | Retired | Replaced By | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battleship | 1937–Present | None | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cat | 2013–Present | Cat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lantern | 1937–1942 | Penguin, Rubber Duck, T-Rex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top hat | 1937–Present 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 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 31% 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. 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. House rulesMany house rules have emerged for the game since its creation. Well-known is the "Free Parking jackpot rule", where all the money collected from Income Tax, Luxury Tax, Chance and Community Chest goes to the center of the board instead of 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 Free Parking, 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 may 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 a "Free Parking" house rule without additional money and forcing players to traverse the board once before buying properties. StrategyAccording 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 gameOne 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 2.3 months). Related gamesAdd-onsNumerous 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 ExchangeThe 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. PlaymasterPlaymaster, 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 MinigamesIn 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 DieFirst 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. 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). 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.
Video gamesBesides 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 to 2001.
Gambling gamesMany 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 Monopoly-themed gambling games. 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. MediaCommercial promotionsThe 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, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States. Television game showA 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 game show in syndication on March 28, 2015 called Monopoly Millionaires' Club launched, connected with a multi-state lottery game of the same name and hosted by comedian Billy Gardell from Mike & Molly. The game show was filmed at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino and at Bally's Las Vegas in Las Vegas, with players having a chance to win up to $1,000,000. However, the lottery game connected with the game show (which provided the contestants) went through multiple complications and variations, and the game show last aired at the end of April 2016. FilmsIn 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 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. TournamentsU.S. National ChampionshipAlthough 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, 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. World ChampionshipHasbro 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.
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