Cecil claimed that the recent list published “appears to be every Monopoly rule variation ever devised by the mind of man.” I know he left out at least one.
It is, in fact, the only house rule I’ll allow–none of that ultra-inflationary “FREE PARKING” nonsense for me! But I will permit someone holding the “GET OUT OF JAIL FREE” card to use it after rolling. It balances out the heavy advantage conferred on ownership of “Jailhouse Row,” as we always called it.
People interested in house rules for Monopoly that actually make the game more interesting instead of just making it longer may like this book:
http://boardgame-remix-kit.com/
Also includes alternate rules for several other board games like Cluedo and Scrabble.
You should try playing the Subprime Mortgage version. All debt must be paid on the turn, but another, wealthier player can buy another player’s debt in exchange for collateral, the value of which is up to the debt buyer. It means people get bankrupt slower, but it makes for an interesting, topical game…you can also divide the debt into smaller parts and different players can pay it…its quite humorous
I always found that, whenever I played, the most popular “house rules” were:
(a) if the player who moved onto an unowned property/utility didn’t buy it at face value, then the player’s turn was over (there was no “auction” for it);
(b) if somebody landed on your property but the next player rolled the dice before you claimed the rent, you lost your opportunity (I believe the rules give you until the third roll after somebody landed on it); and
© you didn’t have to have your houses on a particular color “balanced” (so it was possible to have, say, a hotel on Marvin Gardens and only two houses on Atlantic and one on Ventnor).
(My best guess for why there’s a “$400 for landing on Go” house rule; isn’t “you get double for landing on the start space” a rule in Careers, which is almost as old as Monopoly?)
– Don
The rules say the second player, though I’ve played under a house rule that specified “a friendly game,” in which you’re expected to offer the rent to the person if he doesn’t notice. Problem with that is, it gives people less incentive to pay attention, and they’re soon wandering off until the game falls apart.
I agree with this one. I didn’t even know there was an auction until I played a videogame version (NES). I still don’t really like it because it basically means you have to buy everything you land on until you can’t afford it. If you auction it, there’s no way to make sure the other person pays a fair price without risking getting it yourself, the very thing you were trying to avoid.
I’d also never heard of dealing on the side with players. Talk about something that makes the game last longer. When you can’t pay, the game was over for us.
The auction rule makes no sense whatsoever with only two players. With a lot of players, on the other hand, no one is likely to run out of money and everyone will want as many properties as possible to use as trade bait. So the auction rule is really only helpful with about 3-5 players.
Not that I’ve ever used it. But I’ve always felt like I’m missing some of the je ne se quois of Monopoly as a result – whether such a feeling is accurate or not, I can’t say.
Powers &8^]