Monopoly (game)

Monopoly

The Fast-Dealing Property Trading Game
File:Monopoly pack logo.png The Monopoly Logo
Designers	Elizabeth Magie Charles Darrow
Illustrators	Matt Pocock
Publishers	Hasbro Parker Brothers Waddingtons
Players	Some Versions 2–6 Other Versions 2–12
Setup time	5–10 minutes
Playing time	60–240 minutes (1–4 hours) [average]
Chance	High (dice rolling, card drawing)
Skills	Negotiation, Resource management

Monopoly is an American-originated board game published by Parker Brothers. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly - the domination of a market by a single entity. It is currently published by the United States game and toy company Hasbro. Billed as "The Fast-Dealing Property Trading Game", players move around the game board buying or trading property, developing their properties with houses and hotels, and collecting rent from their opponents.

History

Further information: History of the board game Monopoly

The history of Monopoly can be traced back to 1903, when an American woman named Elizabeth (Lizzie) J. Magie Phillips created a game through which she hoped to be able to explain the single tax theory of Henry George (it was intended to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies). Her game, The Landlord's Game, was commercially published in 1923. A series of variant board games based on her concept were developed from 1906 through the 1930s that involved the buying and selling of land and the development of that land. By 1934, a board game called Monopoly had been created which formed the basis of the game sold by Parker Brothers and its parent companies through the rest of the 20th century, and into the 21st. Several people, mostly in the Midwestern United States and near the East Coast, contributed to the game's design and evolution. By the 1970s, the idea that the game had been created solely by Charles Darrow had become popular folklore: it was printed in the game's instructions and even in the 1974 book The Monopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game by Maxine Brady.

In 1941, the British Secret Intelligence Service had John Waddington Ltd., the licensed manufacturer of the game outside the U.S., create a special edition for World War II prisoners of war held by the Nazis. Hidden inside these games were maps, compasses, real money, and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by Secret Service-created fake charity groups.

Because of the lengthy court process and appeals, the legal status of Parker Brothers' trademarks on the game was not settled until the late 1970s. Ralph Anspach won a lawsuit over his game Anti-Monopoly on appeals in 1979, as the 9th District Court determined that the trademark Monopoly was generic, and therefore unenforceable.

Board

The Monopoly game board consists of forty spaces containing twenty-eight properties (twenty-two colored streets, four railway stations and two utilities), three Chance spaces, three Community Chest spaces, a Luxury Tax space, an Income Tax space, and the four corner squares: GO, (In) Jail/Just Visiting, Free Parking, and Go to Jail.

US versions

There have been some changes to the board since the original: the colors of Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues (which changed from purple to brown), the colors of the GO square (which changed from red to black), the adoption of a flat $200 Income Tax (formerly the player's choice of $200 or 10% of their total holdings, which they may not calculate until after making their decision), and increased $100 Luxury Tax amount (upped from $75). Similar color and amount changes are used in the U.S. Edition of the "Here and Now: World Edition" game, and are also used in the most recent versions of the McDonald's Monopoly promotion.

The "Bank Pays You Dividend of $50" card had an illustration change from 1936; since 2004, Uncle Pennybags no longer smokes a cigar on this card. Also, in the SNES version of the game Uncle Pennybags waves some dollar bills instead.

In the U.S. versions shown below, the properties are named after locations in (or near) Atlantic City, New Jersey. Atlantic City's Illinois Avenue was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in the 1980s. St. Charles Place no longer exists, as the Showboat Casino Hotel was developed where it once ran.

Standard (American Edition) Monopoly game board layout as of September 2008

Free Parking	Kentucky Avenue $220	Chance ?	Indiana Avenue $220	Illinois Avenue $240	B&O Railroad $200	Atlantic Avenue $260	Ventnor Avenue $260	Water Works $150	Marvin Gardens $280	Go To Jail
New York Avenue $200	MONOPOLY									Pacific Avenue $300
Tennessee Avenue $180										North Carolina Avenue $300
Community Chest										Community Chest
St. James Place $180										Pennsylvania Avenue $320
Pennsylvania Railroad $200										Short Line $200
Virginia Avenue $160										Chance ?
States Avenue $140										Park Place $350
Electric Company $150										Luxury Tax (pay $100)
St. Charles Place $140										Boardwalk $400
In Jail/Just Visiting	Connecticut Avenue $120	Vermont Avenue $100	Chance ?	Oriental Avenue $100	Reading Railroad $200	Income Tax (pay $200)	Baltic Avenue $60	Community Chest	Mediterranean Avenue $60	Collect $200 salary as you pass GO

Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was introduced by Charles and Olive Todd, who taught the game to Charles Darrow, and passed on when their home-made Monopoly board was copied by Darrow and thence to Parker Brothers. The Todds also changed the Atlantic City Quakers' Arctic Avenue to Mediterranean, and shortened the Shore Fast Line to the Short Line. The Todd board is on display in the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. It was not until 1995 that Parker Brothers acknowledged this mistake and formally apologized to the residents of Marven Gardens for the misspelling.

Short Line refers to the Shore Fast Line, a streetcar line that served Atlantic City. 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.

The Baltimore & Ohio (now part of CSX) was the parent of the Reading. There is a tunnel in Philadelphia where track to the south was B. & O. and track to the north is Reading. The Central of N.J. did not have track to Atlantic City but was the daughter of the Reading (and granddaughter of the B. & O.) Their track ran from the New York City area to Delaware Bay and some trains ran on the Reading-controlled track to Atlantic City.

The actual "Electric Company" and "Water Works" serving the city are respectively Atlantic City Electric Company (a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings) and the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority.

UK version

File:British monopoly.jpg

The board cover of the standard British version.

For other localized versions, see List of licensed and localized editions of Monopoly: Europe § United Kingdom.

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 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 (see Licensed and localized versions of the Monopoly game).

In 1998, Winning Moves procured the Monopoly license from Hasbro and created new UK city and regional editions with sponsored squares. Winning Moves struggled to raise the sponsorship deals for the game boards, but did so eventually. A Nottingham Graphic Design agency, TMA, produced the visual design of the Monopoly packaging. Initially, in December 1998, the game was sold in just a few WHSmith stores, but demand was high, with almost fifty thousand games shipped in the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas. Winning Moves still produces new city and regional editions annually. Nottingham based designers Guppi have been responsible for the games' visual design since 2001.

The original income tax choice from the U.S. board is replaced by a flat rate on the UK board, and the $75 Luxury Tax space is replaced with the £100 Super Tax space, the same as the current German board. The U.S. Edition now also uses the flat $200 Income Tax value and the upped $100 Luxury Tax amount since 2008.

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

UK Edition Monopoly game board layout

Free Parking	Strand £220	Chance ?	Fleet Street £220	Trafalgar Square £240	Fenchurch Street station £200	Leicester Square £260	Coventry Street £260	Water Works £150	Piccadilly £280	Go To Jail
Vine Street £200	MONOPOLY									Regent Street £300
Marlborough Street £180										Oxford Street £300
Community Chest										Community Chest
Bow Street £180										Bond Street £320
Marylebone station £200										Liverpool Street station £200
Northumberland Avenue £160										Chance ?
Whitehall £140										Park Lane £350
Electric Company £150										Super Tax (pay £100)
Pall Mall £140										Mayfair £400
In Jail/Just Visiting	Pentonville Road £120	Euston Road £100	Chance ?	The Angel Islington £100	King's Cross station £200	Income Tax (pay £200)	Whitechapel Road £60	Community Chest	Old Kent Road £60	Collect £200 salary as you pass GO

Post-2005 variations

Starting in the UK in 2005, an updated version of the game, titled Monopoly Here and Now, was produced, replacing game scenarios, properties, and tokens with modern equivalents. Similar boards were produced for Germany and France. Variants of these first editions appeared with Visa-branded debit cards taking the place of cash – the later US "Electronic Banking" edition has unbranded debit cards.

The success of the first Here and Now editions caused Hasbro US to allow online voting for 26 landmark properties across the United States to take their places along the game board. The popularity of this voting, in turn, caused the creation of similar websites, and secondary game boards per popular vote to be created in the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and other nations.

In 2006, Winning Moves Games released the Mega Edition, with a 30% larger game board and revised game play. Other streets from Atlantic City (eight, one per a color group) were included, along with a third "utility", the Gas Company. In addition, $1,000 denomination notes (first seen in Winning Moves' Monopoly: The Card Game) are included. Game play is further changed with bus tickets (allowing non-dice-roll movement along one side of the board), a speed die (itself adopted into variants of the Atlantic City standard edition; see below), skyscrapers (after houses and hotels), and train depots that can be placed on the Railroad spaces.

This edition was adapted for the UK market in 2007, and is sold by Winning Moves UK. After the initial US release, critiques of some of the rules caused the company to issue revisions and clarifications on their website.

Monopoly Here and Now

In September 2006, the US edition of Monopoly Here and Now was released. This edition features top landmarks across the US. The properties were decided by votes over the Internet in the spring of 2006.

Monetary values are multiplied by 10,000 (e.g., one collects $2,000,000 instead of $200 for passing GO and pays that much for Income Tax, each player starts with $15,000,000 instead of $1,500, etc.). Also, the Chance and Community Chest cards are updated. The houses and hotels are blue and silver, not green and red as in most editions of Monopoly. The board uses the traditional US layout; the cheapest properties are purple, not brown, and the "Interest on Credit Card Debt" replaces "Luxury Tax", which is $750,000 instead of $75. Despite the updated Luxury Tax space, this edition uses paper Monopoly money, and not an electronic banking unit like the Here and Now World Edition. However, a similar edition of Monopoly, the Electronic Banking edition, does feature an electronic banking unit, as well as a different set of tokens. Both Here and Now and Electronic Banking feature an updated set of tokens from the Atlantic City edition.

It is also notable that three states (California, Florida and Texas) are represented by two cities each (Los Angeles and San Francisco, Miami and Orlando, and Dallas and Houston respectively). No other state is represented by more than one city (not including the airports). One landmark, Texas Stadium, has been demolished and no longer exists. Another landmark, Jacobs Field, still exists, but was renamed Progressive Field in 2008.

Monopoly Here and Now: The US Edition

Free Parking	Camelback Mountains, Phoenix $2.2<small">M	Chance ?	Waikiki Beach, Honolulu $2.2<small">M	Walt Disney World, Orlando $2.4<small">M	JFK Airport, New York City $2<small">M	French Quarter, New Orleans $2.6<small">M	Hollywood, Los Angeles $2.6<small">M	Internet Service $1.5<small">M	Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco $2.8<small">M	Go To Jail
Pioneer Square, Seattle $2<small">M	MONOPOLY Here and Now: The US Edition									Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas $3<small">M
Johnson Space Center, Houston $1.8<small">M										Wrigley Field, Chicago $3<small">M
Chance and Community Chest cards#Community Chest										Community Chest
South Beach, Miami $1.8<small">M										White House, Washington $3.2<small">M
Los Angeles International Airport $2<small">M										Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport $2<small">M
Liberty Bell, Philadelphia $1.6<small">M										Chance ?
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver $1.4<small">M										Fenway Park, Boston $3.5<small">M
Cell Phone Service $1.5<small">M										Interest On Credit Card Debt pay $750<small">K
Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta $1.4<small">M										Times Square, New York City $4<small">M
In Jail/Just Visiting	Mall of America, Minneapolis $1.2<small">M	Gateway Arch, St. Louis $1<small">M	Chance ?	Grand Ole Opry, Nashville $1<small">M	O'Hare Airport, Chicago $2<small">M	Income Tax pay $2<small">M	Texas Stadium, Dallas $600<small">K	Community Chest	Jacobs Field, Cleveland $600<small">K	Collect $2<small">M salary as you pass GO

Equipment

During World War II, the dice in the United Kingdom were replaced with a spinner because of a lack of materials.

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 32 Chance and Community Chest cards (16 Chance and 16 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:

• 22 streets, divided into 8 color groups of two or three streets; a player must own all of a color group (commonly mistaken for being called a monopoly) in order to build houses or hotels. If a player wants to mortgage one property of a color-group, not only must any houses or hotels be removed from that property, but from the others in the color-group as well.
• 4 railways, players collect $25 rent if they own one station, $50 for two, $100 for three and $200 for all four. These are usually replaced by railway stations in non-U.S. editions of Monopoly.
• 2 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.

Dice

A pair of six-sided dice. (Since 2007, a third "Speed Die" was added for variation.)

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.

Money

Paper money that 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, this note is not a standard denomination for "classic" versions of Monopoly.) In older U.S. standard editions, the supply generally starts with $15,140. The winner of the quadrennial Monopoly World Championship receives the same amount in United States dollars.

Older U.S. standard editions provided the $15,140 total 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)

The newer (September 2008 and later) editions instead provide a total of $20,580--30 of each denomination. The colors of some of the bills also changed: $10s are now blue instead of yellow, $20s are a brighter color green than before, and $50s are now 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 as follows in the U.S. standard rules: Template:Multicol

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

Template:Multicol-break Since then, the US version has taken on the British version's initial cash distributions of:

• 2 × $/£500
• 4 × $/£100
• 1 × $/£50
• 1 × $/£20
• 2 × $/£10
• 1 × $/£5
• 5 × $/£1

Although the US 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.

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 receives ₤350,000 ($3500) in a two-player game, but ₤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.

Tokens

File:US Deluxe Monopoly Tokens.jpg

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

Each player is represented by a small metal token that is moved around the edge of the board according to the roll of two dice. The twelve playing pieces used in the 2005 Deluxe Edition in the United States were:

• Wheelbarrow (1937b edition)
• Battleship
• Sack of money (1999–2007 editions; won a contest over a piggy bank and biplane)
• Man on horseback (no longer in classic edition)
• Racecar
• Locomotive (Deluxe Edition only)
• Thimble
• Howitzer, better known as a cannon (no longer in classic edition)
• Old-style shoe (or boot)
• Scottie dog
• Iron
• Top hat

Previous tokens retired in the 1950s (replaced by the dog, man on horseback, and wheelbarrow):

• Lantern
• Purse
• Rocking horse

Many of the tokens were created by companies such as Dowst Miniature Toy Company, which made metal charms and tokens designed to be used on charm bracelets. The battleship and cannon 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. 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. An Australian edition of the game had a pewter koala in addition to the regular pieces.

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 US edition. This piece was retired in 2007. In 2013, a similar promotional campaign was launched encouraging the public to vote on one of several possible new tokens, to replace an existing one.

Rules

Players take turns in order, with the initial player determined by chance before the game. A typical turn begins with the rolling of the dice and advancing their piece clockwise around the board the corresponding number of squares.

If a player lands on Chance or Community Chest, they draw the top card from the respective pile and obey its instructions. If the player lands on an unowned property, whether street, railroad, or utility, they can buy the property for its listed purchase price. If they decline this purchase, the property is auctioned off by the bank to the highest bidder, including the player who declined to buy. If the property landed on is already owned and unmortgaged, they must pay the owner a given rent, the price dependent on whether the property is part of a set or its level of development. If a player rolls doubles, they roll again after completing their turn. Three sets of doubles in a row, however, land the player in jail.

A player also lands in jail if they land on "Go to Jail", or draw a Community Chest or Chance Card saying "Go to Jail". When a player is sent to jail, they cannot pass GO or collect $200 salary; their turn ends. If the player is not "sent" to jail but just lands on that space, they are "Just Visiting", incur no penalty, and move in the usual manner on their next turn.

If a player is in jail, they do not take a normal turn and must either pay a fine of $50 to be released from jail, use a Chance or Community Chest Get Out of Jail Free card, or attempt to roll doubles on the dice. If a player fails to roll doubles, they lose their turn. If they fail to roll doubles three times, they must automatically pay the $50 fine to be released. While a player is in jail, they can still buy and sell property and buildings, participate in auctions, and collect rents. If a player does roll doubles, they may immediately move according to the roll, but they cannot roll a second time after exiting jail.

If a player owns all of the properties in a color group and none of them are mortgaged, they may develop them during their turn. Development involves buying miniature houses or hotels from the bank and placing them on the property spaces, and must be done uniformly across the group. That is, a second house cannot be built on any property within a group until all of them have one house. Once the player owns an entire group, they can collect double rent for any undeveloped properties within it. Although houses and hotels cannot be built on railroads or utilities, the given rent also increases if a player owns more than one of either type.

Properties can also be mortgaged, although all developments on a monopoly must be sold before any property of that color can be mortgaged or traded. The player receives money from the bank for each mortgaged property (half of the purchase price), which must be repaid with interest to unmortgage. Houses and hotels can be sold back to the bank for half their purchase price. Players cannot collect rent on mortgaged properties and may not give property away to others.

A player who cannot pay what they owe is bankrupt and eliminated from the game. If the bankrupt player owes the bank, they must turn all of their assets over to the bank, who then auctions off their properties (if they have any). If the debt is instead to another player, all the assets are instead given to that opponent, but the new owner must still pay the bank to unmortgage any such properties received. The winner is the remaining player left after all the others have gone bankrupt.

House rules

From 1936, the rules booklet included with each Monopoly set contained a short section at the end providing rules for making the game shorter, either by setting a time limit, or by ending the game after the second player goes bankrupt. As well, an additional rules booklet or sheet was included giving the rules for a short variant with several changes, such as starting each player out with two properties selected at random. A later version of the rules included this variant, along with the time limit game, in the main rules booklet, omitting the second bankruptcy method as a third short game.

Video game and computer game versions of Monopoly have options where popular house rules can be used. House rules that have the effect of randomly 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, as well as decreasing the effects of strategy and prudent investment. House rules that increase the amount of money in the game may change the strategies of the players, such as changing the relative value of different properties- the more money in the game, the more one may wish to invest in the higher value properties. A player cannot bid a high price without having the money first.

Strategy

According 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 (Marylebone 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 (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.

Other strategies may include exploitation of the game's rules, or loopholes that aren't necessarily addressed by the rules. A nearly-bankrupt player could, for instance, sell or trade all of his or her remaining assets to another player for substantially less than their actual value, effectively engaging in kingmaking. One might deploy this strategy in a last-ditch effort to avoid conceding their assets to wealthy players when the threat of bankruptcy becomes unavoidable. However, this tactic is usually prevented by judges at the national championship level as trades are required to be beneficial to all parties involved.

Some players have also used tactics such as selling houses from one set of properties, then immediately buying them back and placing them on more expensive sets of properties, all during the course of a single turn. Although the housing auction rule sometimes applies, this tactic could still be used if other players simply can't afford to participate in auctions at the time. When the number of houses available to the bank is particularly limited, some players may quickly purchase and hoard all available housing without ever upgrading to hotels, effectively restricting anyone else from upgrading as well.

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." 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. Two hour time limits are used for international play. 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. The SpongeBob SquarePants game board includes a Plankton piece that moves every time someone rolls a 1 with the dice (if a player rolls two 1s, the Plankton piece moves two spaces), and the game is over when it reaches the end of the board.

Hasbro states that the longest game of Monopoly ever played lasted 1,680 hours (70 days or 10 weeks or 21⁄3 months).

Related games

Add-ons

Numerous add-ons have been made for Monopoly, both before its commercialization and after, with four official ones discussed below:

Stock Exchange

The 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 US), 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.

Playmaster

Playmaster, 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 that are 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 plays "I've Been Working on the Railroad".

Speed Die

In 2007, Parker Brothers began releasing its standard version of Monopoly with a new addition to gameplay—the Speed Die. First included in Winning Moves' Monopoly: The Mega Edition variant, this third, six-sided die is rolled with the other two, and accelerates gameplay when in use. 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. The bus (properly "get off the bus") allows the player to use only one of the two numbered dice (i.e. A roll of 1-5-BUS would let the player choose from moving 1, 5 or 6 spaces). 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.

The Speed Die is used throughout the game in the "Mega Edition", while in the "Regular Edition" it is used after each player has passed GO.

Get Out of Jail and Free Parking Mini Games

In 2009, Hasbro released two mini games 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.

Spinoffs

Parker Brothers and its licensees have also sold several spin-offs of Monopoly. These are not add-ons, as they do not function as an addition to the Monopoly game, but are simply additional games in the flavor of Monopoly:

• Advance to Boardwalk board game: Focusing mainly on building the most hotels along the Boardwalk.
• Don't Go to Jail: Dice game originally released by Parker Brothers; roll combinations of dice to create color groups for points before rolling the words "GO" "TO" and "JAIL" (which forfeits all earned points for the turn).
• Don't Go to Jail: Monopoly Express: A deluxe, travel edition re-release of Don't Go To Jail, replacing the word dice with "Officer Jones" dice and adding an eleventh die, Houses & Hotels, and a self-contained game container/dice roller & keeper.
• Express Monopoly card game: Released by Hasbro/Parker Brothers and Waddingtons in the UK in the 1990s, now out of print. Basically a rummy-style card game based on scoring points by completing color group sections of the game board.
• Free Parking card game: A more complex card game released by Parker Brothers, with several similarities to the card game Mille Bornes. Uses cards to either add time to parking meters, or spend the time doing activities to earn points. Includes a deck of Second Chance cards that further alter gameplay. Two editions were made; minor differences in card art and Second Chance cards in each edition.
• Monopoly City: Gameplay retains similar flavor but has been made significantly more complex in this version. The traditional properties are replaced by “districts” mapped to the previously underutilized real estate in the center of the board.
• Monopoly Deal: The most recent card game version of Monopoly. Players attempt to complete three property groups by playing property, cash & event cards.
• Monopoly Express Casino: A gambling-themed version of the above game, that adds wagering to the gameplay.
  • Monopoly Here & Now Electronic Edition: Eliminates the need for money, using credit cards instead.
• Monopoly Junior board game: A simplified version of the original game for young children.
• Monopoly: The Card Game: an updated card game released by Winning Moves Games under license from Hasbro. Similar, but decidedly more complex, gameplay to the Express Monopoly card game.
• U-Build Monopoly: A variant of Monopoly City using separate game tiles that allow for construction of custom game board configurations.
• Monopoly Millionaire, A variant of the game where the goal is to make $1,000,000.

Video games

Besides 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, Satellaview, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, etc.), two spin-off computer games have been created. An electronic handheld version was marketed from 1997–2001.

• Monopoly: The iPhone game designed by Electronic Arts.
• Monopoly City Streets: An online version, using Google Maps and OpenStreetMap.
• Monopoly Millionaires The Facebook game designed by Playfish.
• Monopoly Streets: A video game played for the Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3. The video game includes properties now played on a street.

Gambling games

Many Monopoly-themed slot machines and lotteries have been produced by WMS Gaming for land-based casinos. WagerWorks, who have the on-line rights to Monopoly, have created online Monopoly themed games.

London’s Gamesys Group have also developed a bingo-based online game called "Monopoly Snap!" for the Jackpotjoy online bingo site.

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.

Media

Commercial promotions

Main article: McDonald's Monopoly

The McDonald's Monopoly game is a sweepstakes advertising promotion of McDonald's and Hasbro that has been offered in the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Romania, Australia, South Africa, Singapore and Taiwan.

Television game show

Main article: Monopoly (game show)

A 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.

Currently, The Hub airs the game show Family Game Night. 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, although Monopoly is not actually one of the games played on 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 car.

Films

In November 2008, Ridley Scott was announced to direct Universal Pictures' film version of the game, based on a script written by Pamela Pettler and Alex Hyner. The film is 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. The story is being developed by author Frank Beddor. However, Universal eventually passed on the project and rights reverted to Hasbro.

In October 2012, Hasbro announced a new partnership with production company Emmett/Furla, and they have confirmed that they will work on a live action version of Monopoly, along with Action Man and Hungry Hungry Hippos. Ridley Scott's role on this film has now been changed to a producer.

The 2010 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 US beginning in March 2011 and was released on Amazon & iTunes on February 14, 2012. The film is narrated by Zachary Levi.

Tournaments

U.S. National Championship

Although 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, Mr. 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 Championship

Hasbro 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, 41 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.

Date	Location	Winner	Nationality
1973	Catskills, NY	Lee Bayrd	United States
1974	New York	Alvin Aldridge	United States
1975	Washington D.C.	John Mair	United Kingdom
1977	Monte Carlo	Cheng Seng Kwa	Singapore
1980	Bermuda	Cesare Bernabei	Italy
1983	Palm Beach, Florida	Greg Jacobs	Australia
1985	Atlantic City, New Jersey	Jason Bunn	United Kingdom
1988	London	Ikuo Hyakuta	Japan
1992	Berlin	Joost van Orten	Netherlands
1996	Monte Carlo	Christopher Woo	Hong Kong
2000	Toronto	Yutaka Okada	Japan
2004	Tokyo	Antonio Fernandez	Spain
2009	Las Vegas	Bjørn Halvard Knappskog	Norway

Variants

See also: Licensed and localized editions of Monopoly

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. Over the years, many specialty 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.

Several published games similar to Monopoly include:

• Anti-Monopoly, one of several games that are a sort of monopoly backwards. The name of this game led to legal action between Anti-Monopoly's creator, Ralph Anspach, and the owners of Monopoly.
• Business, a Monopoly-like game not associated with Hasbro. In this version the "properties" to be bought are cities of India; Chance and Community Chest reference lists of results printed in the center of the board, keyed to the dice roll; and money is represented by counters, not paper.
• Dostihy a sázky, a variant sold in Czechoslovakia. This game comes from the totalitarian communist era (1948–1989), when private businesses were forbidden and mortgages didn't exist, so the monopoly theme was changed to a horse racing theme.
• 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. Hasbro sought and received an injunction against Ghettopoly's designer.
• Make Your Own -OPOLY: This game allows you to customize the board, money, and rules to your liking.

World editions

Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition

Publishers	Parker Brothers
Players	2–6
Setup time	5–15 minutes
Playing time	About 1.5 hours
Chance	High (dice rolling, card drawing)
Skills	Negotiation, Basic Resource management

In 2008, Hasbro released Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition. This world edition features top locations of the world. The locations were decided by votes over the Internet. The result of the voting was announced on August 20, 2008.

Out of these, Gdynia is especially notable, as it is by far the smallest city of those featured and won the vote thanks to a spontaneous, large-scale mobilization of support started by its citizens. The new game uses its own currency unit, the Monopolonian (a game-based take on the Euro; designated by M). The game uses said unit in millions and thousands. As seen above, there is no dark purple color-group, as that is replaced by brown, as in the European version of the game.

It is also notable that three cities (Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) are from Canada and three other cities (Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai) are from the People's Republic of China. No other countries are represented by more than one city.

Of the 68 cities listed on Hasbro Inc.’s website for the vote, Jerusalem, was chosen as one of the 20 cities to be featured in the newest Monopoly World Edition. Before the vote took place, a Hasbro employee in the London office eliminated the country signifier “Israel” after the city, in response to pressure from pro-Palestinian advocacy groups. After the Israeli government protested, Hasbro Inc. issued a statement that read: “It was a bad decision, one that we rectified relatively quickly. This is a game. We never wanted to enter into any political debate. We apologize to our Monopoly fans.”

Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition (2008)

Free Parking	Sydney M2.2<small">M	Chance ?	New York M2.2<small">M	London M2.4<small">M	Monopoly Cruise M2<small">M	Beijing M2.6<small">M	Hong Kong M2.6<small">M	Wind Energy M1.5<small">M	Jerusalem M2.8<small">M	Go To Jail
Vancouver M2<small">M	MONOPOLY Here and Now: The World Edition									Paris M3<small">M
Shanghai M1.8<small">M										Belgrade M3<small">M
Community Chest										Community Chest
Rome M1.8<small">M										Cape Town M3.2<small">M
Monopoly Air M2<small">M										Monopoly Space M2<small">M
Toronto M1.6<small">M										Chance ?
Kyiv M1.4<small">M										Riga M3.5<small">M
Solar Energy M1.5<small">M										Super Tax pay M1<small">M
Istanbul M1.4<small">M										Montreal M4<small">M
In Jail/Just Visiting	Athens M1.2<small">M	Barcelona M1<small">M	Chance ?	Tokyo M1<small">M	Monopoly Rail M2<small">M	Income Tax pay M2<small">M	Taipei M600<small">K	Community Chest	Gdynia M600<small">K	Collect M2<small">M salary as you pass GO

Deluxe editions

Hasbro 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 its "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 $600.

In 2000, the FAO Schwarz store in New York City sold a custom version called One-Of-A-Kind Monopoly for $100,000. 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 worth $2,000,000 and made of 23-carat gold, with rubies and sapphires atop the chimneys of the houses and hotels, is the most expensive Monopoly set ever produced. This set was designed by artist Sidney Mobell to honor the game's 50th anniversary in 1985.

Criticisms

Wired magazine believes Monopoly is a poorly designed game. Former Wall Streeter Derk Solko explains, "Monopoly has you grinding your opponents into dust. It's a very negative experience. It's all about cackling when your opponent lands on your space and you get to take all their money."

Most of the 3 to 4-hour average playing time is spent waiting for other players to play their turn. "Board game enthusiasts disparagingly call this a 'roll your dice, move your mice' format".

See also

• List of world championships in mind sports
• Rich Uncle Pennybags, also known as "Mr. Monopoly", the game's mascot character

References

Notes

World of Monopoly

Bibliography

• Monopoly as a Markov Process, by R. Ash and R. Bishop, Mathematics Magazine, vol. 45 (1972) p. 26–29.
• Anspach, Ralph (2000). The Billion Dollar MONOPOLY Swindle (Second Edition ed.). Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 0-7388-3139-5. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Brady, Maxine (1974). The Monopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game (First hardcover edition ed.). D. McKay Co. ISBN 0-679-20292-7. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• 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 ed.). Harper & Row, New York. ISBN 0-06-096127-9. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Moore, Tim (2004). Do Not Pass Go. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-09-943386-9.
• "Monopoly launches UK-wide edition". BBC. September 24, 2007. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
• "Monopoly World Champion". BBC. January 2, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2012.

External links

• The official U.S. Monopoly web site
• Hasbro's Fun Facts page
• Monopoly Tournaments.com
• World Monopoly Association
• U.S. patent 748,626 and U.S. patent 1,509,312 – Patents for the first and second version of The Landlord's Game
• U.S. patent 2,026,082 Patent awarded to C. B. Darrow for Monopoly on December 31, 1935
• Atlantic City 150th Anniversary series of articles from the newspaper Courier Post, which describe the streets of Atlantic City that appear on Monopoly
• History of Monopoly
• Pre-Parker Brothers Stock Exchange game pieces by Capitol Novelty Co.
• Online Monopoly Simulator interactive, customizable real-world Monopoly simulator and estimated win percentage generator.