I’m making a general assumption that you’d want it to be an entertaining two hours as opposed to the mind-numbing, pointless exercise in tedium that it is now. Personally my real solution to making Monopoly fun is saying “Why don’t we play Settlers of Catan/Ticket to Ride/Vegas Showdown/An Actually Entertaining Board Game instead?” but Rilchiam asked how Monopoly could be updated to bring it to something resembling the standards of modern board games.
Reaper Man.
Yeah, but then it wouldn’t be Monopoly, would it? 
Playing Monopoly is like reading classic literature–something everybody pretends to enjoy, but never does unless you’re forced to.
I love Monopoly, for real, and so does one of my very good friends.
The people that we occasionally force to play it with us? Well, they haven’t killed us YET, but we’ve dialed down the frequency of games lately 'cause we think it might be coming…
We play regularly with an established two hour time limit. On average though, our games only take 45 minutes to an hour.
You can mortgage your properties and you are supposed to pay 10% interest on them if you want to flip them back over so you can collect rents on them again.
But Auctions are not a good idea, as they are predicated on the point that the dude landing on an unbought property will not buy it, which is unlikely.
Man, nothin’s been the same since Electronic Battleship…
In my family, we play following the official rules (no Free Parking money) and build very aggressively, to the point that it is not uncommon for the game to end before all the properties are purchased. Under those conditions it is very hard to accumulate enough money to build on the greens, so they are normally auctioned off at a discount vs. list price. Most of the other properties are purchased when possible, however.
Actually, tactically it’susually better that you don’t buy and let it auction. You can immediately start the bidding of any property at $1. You might get a bargain and even if you don’t you can run the price up on someone else.
I’m guessing the classic version will still be available.
But I’m with the “Play Settlers of Catan instead” camp.
Brian
With the good ol’ cash we used to put fines and assessments in the corner under GO, and when anyone landed on GO directly, they received the boost of that extra money. Not in the rules, of course, but that’s how we always did it. I haven’t played Monopoly now in probably 30 years! I liked the little race car.
I’m still waiting for the modern version of Risk. You know, with a board that doesn’t reference places like Prussia and Indochina and uses the concept of force multipliers and asymmetric warfare and the like.
My family plays Landlord’s Rules. We allow all kinds of package deals, side deals, and you can collect rent even if the property is mortgaged.
We take Monopoly seriously.
Robin
Something like this?
I’m not a fan of it myself but I know quite a few people who enjoy that update.
There’s just something visually satisfying about having a stack of bright orange $500’s that’ll be lost.
Some folks are missing the point that Monopoly is supposed to be played by kids who don’t know any better… and now the kids will know even less.
Adults and teenagers who like playing games don’t play Monopoly.
And some folks are missing the point that THE CLASSIC MONOPOLY GAME IS NOT, I REPEAT NOT, BEING DISCONTINUED. Sorry I had to shout, but I don’t know if my point got across the first two times.
So you’re saying we won’t be able to buy Monopoly anymore? I think we should start a letter writing campaign to save Monopoly. Trust busting, for the loss.
How can you misread something so simply written? THE CLASSIC MONOPOLY “NUMBER NINE” GAME HAS BEEN A PARKER BROTHERS MAINSTAY SINCE 1935. HASBRO HAS NO PLANS TO TAKE THE GAME OF THE MARKET, AND IT IS IN NO DANGER OF BEING DISCONTINUED ANYTIME SOON. (I actually made a mistake- the “speed die” is optional and comes in a different edition of the game.) Or to put it simpler: MONOPOLY LIVES!
Let Hasbro themselves tell you:
(This also tells me that only the British Here and Now has the debit card.)