# What are your Monopoly house rules/game strategies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 17, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176 "2006-05-17T21:53:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/21 "2006-05-18T05:52:17Z")
[QUOTE=Bear\_Nenno] I refuse to play by anything other than the real rules. [/QUOTE] Why? ---
**Author:** ![sleeping\_mud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@sleeping\_mud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping_mud)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/22 "2006-05-18T06:09:42Z")
[QUOTE=Plynck] Cheat. Cheat like hell. Take your opponent’s (brother’s) money when he isn’t looking. Take money from the bank. Fudge your move if you get a bad roll so you don’t land on someone else’s property. Move your opponent’s (other brother’s) piece when he isn’t looking. Remove buildings from your opponent’s (youngest brother’s) properties when he isn’t looking. Anything was okay as long as you didn’t get caught. I mean, that’s the American way, right? There’s nothing like a friendly game of Monopoly among brothers on a rainy day to make a mother wish she’d entered a convent. I have no idea how none of us are serving hard time right now… Or politicians, for that matter… [/QUOTE] Jeb, izzat you? But seriously, only play by Official Monopoly Rules. its much better that way and makes the universe run right. Though whoever uses the dog icon has to pay a $20 fee for poop pickup each time they pass go. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/23 "2006-05-18T06:51:45Z")
[QUOTE=sleeping mud] Though whoever uses the dog icon has to pay a $20 fee for poop pickup each time they pass go. [/QUOTE] What, the horse gets a pass? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/24 "2006-05-18T10:19:34Z")
[QUOTE=Rysto] Well, my strategy during my last game of Monopoly was to only buy Boardwalk and Park Place, use all of my money to buy houses before anyone could so much as pick up two properties of the same colour, and proceed to bankrupt everyone on Boardwalk. … I wouldn’t exactly suggest this as a general strategy, though. [/QUOTE] [Cough] See my post 7 above! [/cough] ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/25 "2006-05-18T12:58:40Z")
When you get the “Second prize in a beauty contest” card, hit Rick over the head with the bank. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/26 "2006-05-18T13:57:19Z")
I’d like to be a purist about the rules, but somehow I’ve found myself playing with the Free Parking pot of money. We don’t seed it with an initial $500, but all the fines go in there. The nice thing about that is that it becomes a difference-maker in close games, and often leads the game to end. Auctioning properties is great. We never played that way as kids, probably out of ignorance. But it adds a nice extra element of competition and choice. I’ve just recently introduced the no-one-dollar-bills house rule. Just round – 3 and above goes to five, etc. The outcome of the game would rarely be affected, and it’s a bit of a timesaver. ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/27 "2006-05-18T14:12:58Z")
We only auctioned off properties that someone needed to sell to pay rent. They also had the option to sell it to the bank for half the selling price. Sometimes we’d deal out the properties and make everyone trade for monopolies. If you want to guarantee not to lose a game of Monopoly, just play against me. I’ve never won a game, ever. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/28 "2006-05-18T15:18:24Z")
1. Parking: for us it’s just a blank. Some people put in the middle of the table the money from penalty cards, if you fall in free parking you don’t just “not pay”, you get that money. (My brother refers to that specific variation as “the Mayor’s parking spot”) 2. The bank can’t be managed by anybody under age 10. 3. You can buy hotels straight off (pay 5 houses). You can’t build unless you have the whole color. 4. When someone can’t pay, he can sell stuff back to the bank (at half price, and before he sells a street he must have sold every house on that color), to the person holding the debt, or to third parties. We always make sure to clarify which options are valid for that particular game (making “back to bank” the only possible option speeds up the game). 5. When cards have to be shuffled, they get shuffled by the youngest person (in other words, gramps cheats). ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/29 "2006-05-18T16:03:26Z")
1. If a rule is not stated before the first roll of the game, it is not in effect. 2. Free Park is seeded with $500 and then all taxes and fees are thrown in there. 3. No auctioning 4. Only initiate trades during your turn. ---
**Author:** ![Can\_I\_change\_my\_answer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Can\_I\_change\_my\_answer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_I_change_my_answer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/30 "2006-05-18T16:04:46Z")
My daughter loves $500 in the kitty for Free Parking. I can’t stand it! I’ve kept track and the person who won is _always_ the person who landed there the most. With no strategy left to the game, why bother? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/31 "2006-05-18T16:05:59Z")
I will lie, cheat, steal, or kill to get all four railroads. That’s my strategy and I’m sticking to it. That way, someone is always just about to land on one of your properties and it’s a nice piece of change too. My brother’s strategy: Wait until Dung Beetle lands on Boardwalk, then kick the board across the room and cry. At least, that was his method when we were kids. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/32 "2006-05-18T16:33:01Z")
I haven’t played Monopoly in years, but when I did, it was Official Rules most of the time. I quite like the “Fine/CC money into the middle, whoever lands on Free Parking gets it” rule, and I’m not a fan of the “Auctioning everything that gets landed on” rule, as invariably it means some poor bastard ends up with Old Kent Road and Whitechape that bring in little cash. We tried Monopoly Cheques a couple of times- the idea was you could write a cheque for an amount, and the payee couldn’t get the cash until three turns later. It was rather useful when you were low on cash and landed on Mayfair with a Hotel, especially if the player also had Park Lane- you could pay with a Monopoly Cheque, and three turns later, hopefully you’d passed Go and got a bit of cash- if not, it was time to hand over some Title Deeds. 😃 One other thing: As far as I am concerned, the **only** version of Monopoly is the British one (the London edition). I don’t care that the American one was first, the British version of Monopoly is the definitive one, I tells ya! 🙂 And while we’re here: [The Wikipedia entry on Monopoly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_%28game%29#London_version) ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/33 "2006-05-18T16:42:53Z")
I am 39 years old, and I have never won a game of Monopoly. Not once. My game strategy now is to not play. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/34 "2006-05-18T18:59:14Z")
“The Fickle Hand of Government” There is a running clock. Every half-hour, a person is designated “Chancellor”. The title passes around to the left every half-hour. There is a separate pot called the “Budget”. All monetary transactions of buying/selling properties, rents paid, etc are “taxed” at 5% (with a 5$ minimum tax). All tax goes into the “Budget”. e.g., land on Go, $10 of your $200 goes to the budget, pay someone $500 rent and $25 goes into the budget, etc. The Chancellor controls the budget. At any time, the Chancellor can use the Budget for “Public Works” projects (i.e. to attack other player investments.) to return properties or investments back to the public sector. So if Bob is about to drop some houses on Boardwalk that I don’t like, and I have $500 in my budget as the Chancellor, BAM! Sorry Bob, Boardwalk has been targeted for public works, and it is going back on the market. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/35 "2006-05-18T19:45:15Z")
I agree that most “House rules” actually make Monopoly much less enjoyable in the long run. Extra money at Free Parking or from landing exactly on Go just makes the game take longer and be even more luck-based. I played around with some rules for Monopoly, though, and we found that playing by the house rules except for the following actually make the game much more strategic _and_ shorter. 1. Double all property and building prices. Also double the amount received from mortgaging property and selling back buildings to the bank, but do _not_ double the rent received or any card effects. The result of this rule is to make purchases more risky and to force the auctioning of properties. Monopoly is boring and luck based when “buy everything you land on” is a valid strategy. 2. Rent collected while the owner is in jail goes to the bank. This provides a modest speedup because money is removed from the system, and because the game isn’t stalled for 3 turns in the late game while someone sits in jail. It struck us as lame that “sit in jail” was the best thing to do in the late game. A few more _real_ rules that nobody seems to play by 1. You can buy houses or hotels at any time, not just during your turn. The rules don’t explicitly mention this, but they do mention that if more than one player wants to buy a building at the same time, it is auctioned off. Obviously, for more than one player to want to buy a building at the same time, one must be able to buy them at any time. It is common in our games to wait to buy a house until just before another player near the properties you were planning to buy it on rolls, and then count out and buy the house only on the most likely landing sites. 2. You _have_ to have houses to go to a hotel. Similarly, when selling a hotel, you _have_ to have houses to put back on, or you are forced to also sell the phantom houses until you get down to the number that are actually available to buy. This, combined with auctioning off houses and hotels, can provide huge leverage when used strategically. The two main strategies are usually either to buy as many cheap properties as you can and try to monopolize the houses before other players can build far on more expensive properties (the slumlord), or to buy more expensive properties and leverage the higher starting prices for improvements to win auctions (or force the slumlord to greatly overpay) when there are few houses left. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/36 "2006-05-18T20:03:25Z")
[QUOTE=brickbacon] Why? [/QUOTE] Because most of them just make the game last forever, and the take strategy out of the game. Free Parking becomes a lottery of sorts, and simply landing on it will put a person back in the game–or even ahead. Where’s the fun in that? Also, things start getting confusing towards the end of the game when people start going out. Everyone has a different idea of what’s supposed to happen with money and property. And mortgaged property changing hands, etc. The best thing is to just stick with the rules. There’s always the “well, i dont play like that” turning up late in the game. Even when you think you’ve covered all house rules and stated everything in the begining, someone will come up with something later. And they’ll be like “well I didn’t state that one because I thought it was the real rules…” And one rule that I can’t stand when it’s broken is “letting people stay rent free”. No one is allowed to say “you dont have to pay me. I give you a free stay in the hotel” Or some bullshit like that. Or they make a deal where part of the property exchange involves 5 rent-free lands on that property. Or other ways of trading and granting amnisty. If you want to form treaties, play Risk!! Anyway… that’s my take on the game. ---
**Author:** ![beebee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@beebee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beebee)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/37 "2006-05-18T21:55:37Z")
the rules at our compound - 1. pawpaw is always the dirty old hat. 2. my brother-in-law blows cigar smoke in your face when you are trying to think. 3. b&o railroad must be called “body odor”. 4. anyone who lands on st. james ave. must sing “st. james infirmary blues” until pummeled by other players. 5. any time someone gets “2nd prize in a beauty contest”, you must loudly state “there were only 2 people in it”. 6. any one being sent to jail must be read their rights - a) you have the right to remain silent. b) you have the right to sing the blues. c) you have the right to pink underwear.\* d) you have the right to cable television. 7. the owner of the “electric company” may flash the room lights a maximum of 3 times. 8. kicking other players under the table is forbidden. but encouraged none the less. - our local sheriff dyed all the jail underpants pink to keep them from being stolen. he also has “tent city” jail, right next to a sewage treatment plant, with a hotel “vacancy” sign in front of it. we live in the phoenix metro area. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/38 "2006-05-18T23:50:49Z")
[QUOTE=Emilio Lizardo] When you pass Go, you get $200 and a bong hit. [/QUOTE] I’m adopting this one. (For legal reasons I’ll change it to a shot of JD) Strategy: Let my wife win. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176/39 "2006-05-19T00:45:23Z")
[QUOTE=Rysto] Well, my strategy during my last game of Monopoly was to only buy Boardwalk and Park Place, use all of my money to buy houses before anyone could so much as pick up two properties of the same colour, and proceed to bankrupt everyone on Boardwalk. [/QUOTE] My strategy is called the “Poor Man’s Monopoly.” I attempt to get both Mediterranean and Baltic (either by landing on them through luck of the die or trading for them with other players), then keep buying improvements. Mediterranean costs $60 and gives only $2 rent, but $250 will be given to you if you have a hotel on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-monopoly-house-rules-game-strategies/357176.md?page=1)