Monopoly is a board game currently published by Hasbro. In the game, players roll two six-sided dice to move around the game board, buying and trading properties, and developing them with houses and hotels. Players collect rent from their opponents, with the goal being to drive them into bankruptcy. Money can also be gained or lost through Chance and Community Chest cards, and tax squares; players can end up in jail, which they cannot move from until they have met one of several conditions. The game has numerous house rules, and hundreds of different editions exist, as well as many spin-offs and related media. Monopoly has become a part of international popular culture, having been licensed locally in more than 103 countries and printed in more than 37 languages.
A British edition of Monopoly
This is a Monopoly game using locals in London, England. The game uses pounds (£) instead of dollars ($). The board is identical, only the names have changed. The Chance and Community Chest cards are brighter and more colorful than a standard Monopoly set. UK Monopoly 15 questions Average, 15 Qns, allynellie, Jun 16 01. My childhood memories of playing this game involved tears and laughter: the former from myself and the latter from my sister. All amounts are in pounds unless specified. This is based upon the board game available from the 1980s. Average allynellie Jun plays 2. Recent variations. Starting in the UK in 2005, an updated version of the game entitled Monopoly Here and Now was produced, replacing game scenarios, properties, and tokens with modern equivalents. This also included the ever increasing popularity of the Southampton Edition, famous to the home of the Titanic. Late for the Sky Production Company produces a huge range of Monopoly based games with similar rules and board layout as Monopoly but with a large selection of special themes. They also offer Monopoly based games based on your own theme.
Monopoly is derived from The Landlord's Game created by Lizzie Magie in the United States in 1903 as a way to demonstrate that an economy which rewards wealth creation is better than one where monopolists work under few constraints,[1] and to promote the economic theories of Henry Georgeâin particular his ideas about taxation.[3] It was first published by Parker Brothers in 1935. The game is named after the economic concept of monopolyâthe domination of a market by a single entity.
History[edit]Early history[edit]
Lizzie Magie's 1904 board design
The history of Monopoly can be traced back to 1903,[1] when American anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie created a game which she hoped would explain the single tax theory of Henry George. It was intended as an educational tool to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies. She took out a patent in 1904. Her game, The Landlord's Game, was self-published, beginning in 1906.[4]
Lizzie created two sets of rules: an anti-monopolist set in which all were rewarded when wealth was created, and a monopolist set in which the goal was to create monopolies and crush opponents.[5]
Several variant board games, based on her concept, were developed from 1906 through the 1930s; they involved both the process of buying land for its development and the sale of any undeveloped property. Cardboard houses were added, and rents were increased as they were added to a property. Magie patented the game again in 1923.[6]
According to an advertisement placed in The Christian Science Monitor, Charles Todd of Philadelphia recalled the day in 1932 when his childhood friend, Esther Jones, and her husband Charles Darrow came to their house for dinner. After the meal, the Todds introduced Darrow to The Landlord's Game, which they then played several times. The game was entirely new to Darrow, and he asked the Todds for a written set of the rules. After that night, Darrow went on to utilize this and distribute the game himself as Monopoly. Because of this act the Todds refused to speak to Darrow ever again.[7]
After the game's excellent sales during the Christmas season of 1934, Parker Brothers bought the game's copyrights from Darrow.[8] When the company learned Darrow was not the sole inventor of the game, it bought the rights to Magie's patent for just $500.[9]
Parker Brothers began selling the game on February 6, 1935.[10] Cartoonist F. O. Alexander contributed the design.[11] U. S. patent number US 2026082 A was issued to Charles Darrow on December 31, 1935, for the game board design and was assigned to Parker Brothers Inc.[12] The original version of the game in this format was based on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1936â1970[edit]
In 1936, Parker Brothers began licensing the game for sale outside the United States. In 1941, the British Secret Intelligence Service had John Waddington Ltd., the licensed manufacturer of the game in the United Kingdom, create a special edition for World War II prisoners of war held by the Nazis.[13] Hidden inside these games were maps, compasses, real money, and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by fake charity organizations created by the British Secret Service.[14]
In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, the German government and its collaborators were displeased with Dutch people using Monopoly Game sets with American or British locales, and developed a version with Dutch locations. Since that version had in itself no specific pro-Nazi elements, it continued in use after the war, and formed the base for Monopoly games used in the Netherlands up to the present.
1970sâ80s[edit]
Economics professor Ralph Anspach published a game Anti-Monopoly in 1973, and was sued for trademark infringement by Parker Brothers in 1974. The case went to trial in 1976. Anspach won on appeals in 1979, as the 9th Circuit Court determined that the trademark Monopoly was generic and therefore unenforceable.[15] The United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case, allowing the appellate court ruling to stand. This decision was overturned by the passage of Public Law 98-620 in 1984.[16][17] With that law in place, Parker Brothers and its parent company, Hasbro, continue to hold valid trademarks for the game Monopoly. However, Anti-Monopoly was exempted from the law and Anspach later reached a settlement with Hasbro and markets his game under license from them.[18]
The research that Anspach conducted during the course of the litigation was what helped bring the game's history before Charles Darrow into the spotlight.[15]
Hasbro ownership[edit]
In 1991, Hasbro acquired Parker Bros. and thus Monopoly.[19] Before the Hasbro acquisition, Parker Bros. acted as a publisher only issuing two versions at a time, a regular and deluxe. Hasbro moved to create and license other versions and involve the public in varying the game.[20] A new wave of licensed products began in 1994, when Hasbro granted a license to USAopoly to begin publishing a San Diego Edition of Monopoly,[19][21] which has since been followed by over a hundred more licensees including Winning Moves Games (since 1995)[22] and Winning Solutions, Inc. (since 2000) in the United States.
In 2003, the company held a national tournament on a chartered train going from Chicago to Atlantic City (see § U.S. National Championship).[20] Also in 2003, Hasbro sued the maker of Ghettopoly[23] and won.[24] In February 2005, the company sued RADGames over their Super Add-On accessory board game that fit in the center of the board.[25] The judge initially issued an injunction on February 25, 2005, to halt production and sales before ruling in RADGames' favor in April 2005.[26]
In 2008, the Speed Die was added to all regular Monopoly set.[22] After polling their Facebook followers, Hasbro Gaming took the top house rules and added them to a House Rule Edition released in the Fall of 2014 and added them as optional rules in 2015.[27] In January 2017, Hasbro invited Internet users to vote on a new set of game pieces, with this new regular edition to be issued in March 2017.[28]
On May 1, 2018, the Monopoly Mansion hotel agreement was announced by Hasbro's managing director for South-East Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Jenny Chew Yean Nee with M101 Holdings Sdn Bhd. M101 has the five-star, 225-room hotel, then under construction, located at the M101 Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur and would have a 1920s Gatsby feel. M101's Sirocco Group would manage the hotel when it opens in 2019.[29]
Board[edit]
The original 1935 Monopoly board patent
Bb flashback pro 2.6.9 build 1360 2. The Monopoly game-board consists of forty spaces containing twenty-eight propertiesâtwenty-two streets (grouped into eight color groups), four railroads, and two utilitiesâthree 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.[30]
US versions[edit]
There have been some changes to the board since the original. Not all of the Chance and Community Chest cards as shown in the 1935 patent were used in editions from 1936/1937 onwards.[31] Graphics with the Mr. Monopoly character (then known as 'Rich Uncle Pennybags') were added in that same time-frame.[32] A graphic of a chest containing coins was added to the Community Chest spaces, as were the flat purchase prices of the properties. Traditionally, the Community Chest cards were yellow (although they were sometimes printed on blue stock) with no decoration or text on the back; the Chance cards were orange with no text or decoration on the back.[32]
Hasbro commissioned a major graphic redesign to the U.S. Standard Edition of the game in 2008, with some minor revisions. Among the changes: the colors of Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues changed from purple to brown, and the colors of the GO square changed from red to black. A flat $200 Income Tax was imposed (formerly the player's choice of $200 or 10% of their total holdings, which they could not calculate until after making their final decision). Originally the amount was $300 but was changed a year after the game's debut,[33] and the Luxury Tax amount increased to $100 from $75. There were also changes to the Chance and Community Chest cards; for example, the 'poor tax' and 'grand opera opening' cards became 'speeding fine' and 'it is your birthday', respectively; though their effects remained the same; the player must pay only $50 instead of $150 for the school tax. In addition, a player now gets $50 instead of $45 for sale of stock, and the Advance to Illinois Avenue card now has the added text indicating a player collects $200 if they pass Go on the way there.[34]
2014 U.S. Monopoly box
All the Chance and Community Chest cards received a graphic upgrade in 2008 as part of the graphic refresh of the game. Mr. Monopoly's classic line illustration was also now usually replaced by renderings of a 3D Mr. Monopoly model. The backs of the cards have their respective symbols, with Community Chest cards in blue, and Chance cards in orange.[34]
Additionally, recent versions of Monopoly replace the dollar sign ($) with an M with two horizontal strokes through it.[35]
In the U.S. versions shown below, the properties are named after locations in (or near) Atlantic City, New Jersey.[36]Atlantic City's Illinois Avenue was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in the 1980s. St. Charles Place no longer exists, as the Showboat Atlantic City was developed where it once ran.[37]
Different versions have been created based on various current consumer interests such as: Dog-opoly,[38]Cato-poly,[39]Bug-opoly,[40] and TV/movie games among others.
Standard (American Edition) Monopoly board layout as of September 2008
Marvin Gardens, the farthest yellow property, is a misspelling of its actual name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was introduced by Charles and Olive Todd, who taught the game to Charles Darrow. It was passed on when their homemade Monopoly board was copied by Darrow and then by Parker Brothers. The Todds also changed the Atlantic City Quakers' Arctic Avenue to Mediterranean, and shortened the Shore Fast Line to the Short Line.[41]It was not until 1995 that Parker Brothers acknowledged the misspelling of Marvin Gardens, formally apologizing to the residents of Marven Gardens.[42]
Short Line refers to the Shore Fast Line, a streetcar line that served Atlantic City.[37] 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 a 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.[43]
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.[37]
UK version[edit]
The board cover of the standard British version, with the 2008â13 artwork
In the 1930s, John Waddington Ltd. (Waddingtons) was a printing company in Leeds that had begun to branch out into packaging and the production of playing cards.[44] 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.
Victor Watson, the managing director of Waddingtons, gave the game to his son Norman, 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 â transatlantic calls then being almost unheard of.[44] This call resulted in Waddingtons obtaining a license to produce and market the game outside the United States.[45] 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.[46][44]The Angel, Islington is not a street in London but a building (and the name of the road intersection where it is located). It had been a coaching inn that stood on the Great North Road. By the 1930s, the inn had become a J. Lyons and Co. tea room (today The 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.[47]
During World War II, the British Secret Service contacted Waddington (who could also print on silk) to make Monopoly sets that included escape maps, money, a compass and file, all hidden in copies of the game sent by fake POW relief charities to prisoners of war.[48]
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.
In 1998, Winning Moves procured the Monopoly license from Hasbro and created new UK city and regional editions[49] with sponsored squares. Initially, in December 1998, the game was sold in just a few W H Smith stores, but demand was high, with almost fifty thousand games shipped in the four weeks leading to Christmas. Winning Moves still produces new city and regional editions annually.
The original income tax choice from the 1930s 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. In 2008, the U.S. Edition was changed to match the UK and various European editions, including a flat $200 Income Tax value and an increased $100 Luxury Tax amount.[34]
In cases where a national company produced the game, the $ (dollar) sign replaced the £ (pound), but the place names were unchanged.
Post-2005 variations[edit]
Beginning in the U.K. in 2005, a revised version of the game, titled Monopoly Here and Now, was produced, replacing game scenarios, properties, and tokens with newer equivalents.[50] Similar boards were produced for Germany and France. Variants of these first editions appeared with Visa-branded debit cards taking the place of cash â the later U.S. 'Electronic Banking' edition has unbranded debit cards.[51][52]
The success of the first Here and Now editions prompted Hasbro U.S. to allow online voting for twenty-six landmark properties across the United States to take their places along the game-board.[53] The popularity of this voting, in turn, led to the creation of similar websites, and secondary game-boards per popular vote to be created in the U.K., Canada,[54] France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and other nations.[53]
In 2006, Winning Moves Games released the Mega Edition, with a 30% larger game-board and revised game play.[55] Other streets from Atlantic City (eight, one per 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.[56]
This edition was adapted for the U.K. market in 2007, and is sold by Winning Moves U.K.[57] After the initial U.S. release, critiques of some of the rules caused the company to issue revisions and clarifications on their website.[citation needed]
Monopoly Here and Now[edit]
In September 2006, the U.S. edition of Monopoly Here and Now was released. This edition features top landmarks across the U.S.[58] The properties were decided by votes over the Internet in the spring of 2006.[59]
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 (or 10% of their total, as this edition was launched prior to 2008), each player starts with $15,000,000 instead of $1,500, etc.).[58] Also, the Chance and Community Chest cards are updated, the Railroads are replaced by Airports (Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles International, New York City's JFK, and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson), and the Utilities (Electric Company and Water Works) are replaced by Service Providers (Internet Service Provider and Cell Phone Service Provider).[59] The houses and hotels are blue and silver, not green and red as in most editions of Monopoly. The board uses the traditional U.S. layout; the cheapest properties are purple, not brown, and 'Interest on Credit Card Debt' replaces 'Luxury Tax'. Despite the updated Luxury Tax space, and the Income Tax space no longer using the 10% option, 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 and bank cards, 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.[59]
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). 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.[60]
In 2015, in honor of the game's 80th birthday, Hasbro held an online vote 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.[61]
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.[62]
Monopoly Empire[edit]
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.[63] Every space on the board is a brand name, including Xbox, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Samsung.[64]
Monopoly Token Madness
This version of Monopoly contains an extra eight 'golden' tokens. That includes a penguin, a television, a race car, a Mr. Monopoly emoji, a rubber duck, a watch, a wheel and a bunny slipper.[65]
Monopoly Jackpot
During the game, players travel around the gameboard buying properties and collecting rent. If 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 may hit the 'Jackpot', go bankrupt, or be sent to Jail. The player who has the most cash when the bank crashes wins.[66]
Monopoly: Ultimate Banking Edition
The so-named 'Ultimate Banking Unit' utilized in the Ultimate Banking Edition
In this version, there is no cash. The Monopoly Ultimate Banking game features an electronic ultimate banking piece with touch technology. Players can buy properties instantly and set rents by tapping. Each player has a bankcard and their cash is tracked by the Ultimate Banking unit. It can scan the game's property cards and boost or crash the market. Event cards and Location spaces replace Chance and Community Chest cards. On an Event Space, rents may be raised or lowered, a player may earn or lose money, or someone could be sent to Jail. Location Spaces allow players to pay and move to any property space on the gameboard.[67]
Equipment[edit]
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[edit]
A deck of thirty-two Chance and Community Chest cards (sixteen each) which players draw when they land on the corresponding squares of the track, and follow the instructions printed on them.
Deeds[edit]
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 rents depending on how developed the property is. Properties include:
The purchase price for properties varies from $60 to $400 on a U.S. Standard Edition set.
Dice[edit]
2 standard dice, included in the original Monopoly Board Game.
A pair of six-sided dice is included, 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.[68] Hasbro lost the suit in 2008 and had to pay $446,182 in royalties.[69] Subsequent printings of the game reverted to normal six-sided dice.
Houses and hotels[edit]
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[edit]
Older U.S. standard editions of the game included a total of $15,140 in the following denominations:
Newer (September 2008 and later) U.S. editions provide a total of $20,580â30 of each denomination instead. The colors of some of the bills are also changed: $10s are now blue instead of yellow, $20s are a brighter 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). Before 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.
Although the U.S. version is indicated as allowing eight players, the cash distribution shown above 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[edit]
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[edit]
According to the Parker Brothers rules, Monopoly money is theoretically unlimited; if the bank runs out of money it may issue as much as needed 'by merely writing on any ordinary paper'.[70]However, Hasbro's published Monopoly rules make no mention of this.[71] 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.[72]
Electronic banking[edit]
In several countries there is also a version of the game that features electronic banking. Instead of receiving paper money, each player receives a plastic bank card that is inserted into a calculator-like electronic device that keeps track of the player's balance.[73][74]
Tokens[edit]Classic[edit]
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.[75] Two more were added in late 1937,[75] and tokens changed again in 1942.[75] During World War II, the game tokens were switched back to wood.[76] 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!.[77] Many of the early 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 for Monopoly usage.[78] By 1943, there were ten tokens which included the Battleship, Boot, Cannon, Horse and rider, Iron, Racecar, Scottie Dog, Thimble, Top hat, and Wheelbarrow. These tokens remained the same until the late 1990s, when Parker Brothers was sold to Hasbro.
In 1998, a Hasbro advertising campaign asked the public to vote on a new playing piece to be added to the set. The candidates were a 'bag of money', a bi-plane, and a piggy bank. The bag ended up winning 51 percent of the vote compared to the other two which failed to go above 30%.[75] This new token was added to the set in 1999 bringing the number of tokens to eleven.[75] Another 1998 campaign poll asked people which monopoly token was their favorite. The most popular was the Race Car at 18% followed by the Dog (16%), Cannon (14%) and Top Hat (10%). The least favorite in the poll was the Wheelbarrow at 3% followed by Thimble (7%) and the Iron (7%).[75] The 'Cannon', and 'Horse and rider' were both retired in 2000 with no new tokens taking their place.[79] Another retirement came in 2007 with the sack of money that brought down the total token count to eight again.[75]
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. The choices were a guitar, a diamond ring, a helicopter, a robot, and a cat.[80] This new campaign was different than the one in 1998 as one piece was retired and replaced with a new one. Both were chosen by a vote that ran on Facebook from January 8 to February 5, 2013. The cat took the top spot with 31% of the vote over the iron which was replaced.[81] In January 2017, Hasbro placed the line of tokens in the regular edition with another vote which included a total of 64 options. The eight playable tokens at the time included the Battleship, Boot, Cat, Racecar, Scottie Dog, Thimble, Top hat, and Wheelbarrow. By March 17, 2017, Hasbro retired three tokens which included the thimble, wheelbarrow, and boot, these were replaced by a penguin, a Tyrannosaurus and a rubber duck.[82]
Special editions[edit]
Over the years Hasbro has released tokens for special or collector's editions of the game. One of the first tokens to come out included a Steam Locomotive which was only released in Deluxe Editions. A Director's Chair token was released in 2011 in limited edition copies of Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story. Shortly after the 2013 Facebook voting campaign, a limited-edition Golden Token set was released exclusively at various national retailers, such as Target in the U.S., and Tesco in the U.K.[84] The set contained the Battleship, Boot, Iron, Racecar, Scottie Dog, Thimble, Top hat, and Wheelbarrow as well as the iron's potential replacements. These replacement tokens included the cat, the guitar, the diamond ring, the helicopter, and the robot.[76][81][84] Hasbro released a 64-token limited edition set in 2017 called Monopoly Signature Token Collection to include all of the candidates that were not chosen in the vote held that year.[85]
Rules[edit]Official rules[edit]
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 a piece clockwise around the board the corresponding number of squares. If a player rolls doubles, they roll again after completing their turn. A player who rolls three consecutive sets of doubles on one turn has been 'caught speeding' and is immediately sent to jail instead of moving the amount shown on the dice for the third roll.
A player who lands on or passes the Go space collects $200 from the bank. Players who land on either Income Tax or Luxury Tax pay the indicated amount to the bank. In older editions of the game, two options were given for Income Tax: either pay a flat fee of $200 or 10% of total net worth (including the current values of all the properties and buildings owned). No calculation could be made before the choice, and no latitude was given for reversing an unwise calculation. In 2008, the calculation option was removed from the official rules, and simultaneously the Luxury Tax was increased to $100 from its original $75. No reward or penalty is given for landing on Free Parking.
Properties can only be developed once a player owns all the properties in that color group. They then must be developed equally. A house must be built on each property of that color before a second can be built. Each property within a group must be within one house level of all the others within that group.
Chance/Community Chest[edit]
If a player lands on a Chance or Community Chest space, they draw the top card from the respective deck and follow its instructions. This may include collecting or paying money to the bank or another player or moving to a different space on the board. Two types of cards that involve jail, 'Go to Jail' and 'Get Out of Jail Free', are explained below.
Jail[edit]
A player is sent to jail for doing any of the following:
When a player is sent to jail, they move directly to the Jail space and their turn ends ('Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.'). If an ordinary dice roll (not one of the above events) ends with the player's token on the Jail corner, they are 'Just Visiting' and can move ahead on their next turn without incurring any penalty.
If a player is in jail, they do not take a normal turn and must either pay a fine of $50 to be released, 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. Failing to roll doubles for three consecutive turns requires the player to either pay the $50 fine or use a Get Out of Jail Free card, after which they move ahead according to the total rolled. Players in jail may not buy properties directly from the bank since they are unable to move. They can engage all other transactions, such as mortgaging properties, selling/trading properties to other players, buying/selling houses and hotels, collecting rent, and bidding on property auctions. A player who rolls doubles to leave jail does not roll again; however, if the player pays the fine or uses a card to get out and then rolls doubles, they do take another turn.
Properties[edit]
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.[86] If the property landed on is already owned and unmortgaged, they must pay the owner a given rent; the amount depends on whether the property is part of a set or its level of development.
When a player owns all the properties in a color group and none of them are mortgaged, they may develop them during their turn or in between other player's turns. Development involves buying miniature houses or hotels from the bank and placing them on the property spaces; this 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 increases if a player owns more than one of either type. If there is a housing shortage (more demand for houses to be built than what remains in the bank), then a housing auction is conducted to determine who will get to purchase each house.
Mortgaging[edit]
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 half the purchase price from the bank for each mortgaged property. This must be repaid with 10% interest to clear the mortgage. 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 improved property away to others; however, trading mortgaged properties is allowed. The player receiving the mortgaged property must immediately pay the bank the mortgage price plus 10% or pay just the 10% amount and keep the property mortgaged; if the player chooses the latter, they must pay the 10% again when they pay off the mortgage.
Bankruptcy[edit]
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 their assets over to the bank, who then auctions off their properties (if they have any), except buildings. If the debt is owed to another player instead, all assets are given to that opponent, except buildings which must be returned to the bank. The new owner must either pay off any mortgages held by the bank on such properties received or pay a fee of 10% of the mortgaged value to the bank if they choose to leave the properties mortgaged. The winner is the remaining player left after all of the others have gone bankrupt.
If a player runs out of money but still has assets that can be converted to cash, they can do so by selling buildings, mortgaging properties, or trading with other players. To avoid bankruptcy the player must be able to raise enough cash to pay the full amount owed.
A player cannot choose to go bankrupt; if there is any way to pay what they owe, even by returning all their buildings at a loss, mortgaging all their real estate and giving up all their cash, even knowing they are likely going bankrupt the next time, they must do so.
Official Short Game rules[edit]
From 1936, the rules booklet included with each Monopoly set contained a short section at the end providing rules for making the game shorter, including dealing out two Title Deed cards to each player before starting the game, by setting a time limit or by ending the game after the second player goes bankrupt. A later version of the rules included this variant, along with the time limit game, in the main rules booklet, omitting the last, the second bankruptcy method, as a third short game.[87]
House rules[edit]
Many 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 minimum payout. 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.[89]
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.[90]
Strategy[edit]
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 (Kings Cross Station)' and 'Go Back Three Spaces'.[91]
In all, during game play, Illinois Avenue (Trafalgar Square) (Red), New York Avenue (Vine Street) (Orange), B&O Railroad (Fenchurch Street Station), and Reading Railroad (Kings Cross Station) are the most frequently landed-upon properties. Mediterranean Avenue (Old Kent Road) (brown), Baltic Avenue (Whitechapel Road) (brown), Park Place (Park Lane) (blue), and Oriental Avenue (The Angel Islington) (light blue) 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.[92]
End game[edit]
One 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.'[93]
Hasbro states that the longest game of Monopoly ever played lasted 1,680 hours (70 days or 10 weeks or 2.3 months).[94]
Related games[edit]Add-ons[edit]
Numerous add-ons have been produced for Monopoly, sold independently from the game both before its commercialization and after, with three official ones discussed below:
Stock Exchange[edit]
The original Stock Exchange add-on was published by Capitol Novelty Co. of Rensselaer, New York in early 1936.[95] 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'.[96]The Stock Exchange add-on was later redesigned and re-released 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).[citation needed]
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.[97]
Playmaster[edit]
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 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.[98]
Get Out of Jail and Free Parking Minigames[edit]
In 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 to flick out various colored prisoners. The game can be used as an alternative to rolling doubles to get out of jail.[99][100] 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.[101][102]
Speed Die[edit]
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 game-play when in use.[103] In 2007, Parker Brothers began releasing its standard version (also called the Speed Die Edition) of Monopoly with the same die[104] (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 Monopoly: Mega Edition, rolling the bus allows the player to 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 the player does not roll again.[105] 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.[106] 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. and World Monopoly Championship, as well as the 2015 World Championship.[107]
Spin-offs[edit]
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 with the flavor of Monopoly:
Video games[edit]
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, Nintendo Entertainment System, iPad, Genesis, Super NES, etc.), two spin-off computer games have been created.[119] An electronic hand-held version was marketed from 1997 to 2001.[120]
Gambling games[edit]
Monopoly-themed slot machines and lotteries have been produced by WMS Gaming in conjunction with International Game Technology for land-based casinos.[127][128][129]WagerWorks, who have the online rights to Monopoly, have created online Monopoly themed games.[130]
London's Gamesys Group have also developed Monopoly-themed gambling games.[131] The British quiz machine brand itbox also supports a Monopoly trivia and chance game.[132]
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.[133]
Media[edit]Commercial promotions[edit]
The 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.[134]
Television game show[edit]
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.[135]
From 2010 to 2014, The Hub aired the game show Family Game Night with Todd Newton. For the first two seasons, teams earned cash in the form of 'Monopoly Crazy Cash Cards' from the 'Monopoly Crazy Cash Corner', which was then inserted to the 'Monopoly Crazy Cash Machine' at the end of the show. In addition, beginning with Season 2, teams won 'Monopoly Party Packages' for winning the individual games. For Season 3, there was a Community Chest. Each card on Mr. Monopoly had a combination of three colors. Teams used the combination card to unlock the chest. If it was the right combination, they advanced to the Crazy Cash Machine for a brand-new car. For the show's fourth season, a new game was added called Monopoly Remix, featuring Park Place and Boardwalk, as well as Income Tax and Luxury Tax.[136]
To honor the game's 80th anniversary, a game show in syndication on March 28, 2015, called Monopoly Millionaires' Club was launched. It was 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.[137][138]
Films[edit]
In 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.[139][140] The story was being developed by author Frank Beddor.[141] However, Universal eventually halted development in February 2012 then opted out of the agreement and rights reverted to Hasbro.[142][143]
In October 2012, Hasbro announced a new partnership with production company Emmett/Furla Films, and said they would develop a live-action version of Monopoly, along with Action Man and Hungry Hungry Hippos.[144] Emmett/Furla/Oasis dropped out of the production of this satire version that was to be directed by Ridley Scott.[145]
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[145] co-financed and produced by Lionsgate and Hasbro's Allspark Pictures.[146]
In January 2019, it was announced that Allspark Pictures would now be producing an untitled Monopoly film in conjunction with Kevin Hart's company HartBeat Productions and The Story Company[147]. Hart is attached to star in the film and Tim Story is attached to direct, and no logline or writer for this iteration of the long-gestating project has been announced[147].
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[148] on February 14, 2012. The television version of the film won four regional Emmy Awards from the Pacific Southwest Chapter of NATAS.[149] The film is directed by Kevin Tostado and narrated by Zachary Levi.[150][151]
Tournaments[edit]U.S. National Championship[edit]
Until 1999, U.S. entrants had to win a state/district/territory competition to represent that state/district/territory at the once every four year national championship. The 1999 U.S. National Tournament had 50 contestants - 49 State Champions (Oklahoma was not represented) and the reigning national champion.[152]
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.[107]
The 2009 Monopoly U.S. National Championship was held on April 14â15 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 $20,580âthe amount of money in the bank of the board gameâand competed in the 2009 World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 21â22, where he finished in third place.[107]
In 2015, Hasbro used a competition that was held solely online to determine who would be the U.S. representative to compete at the 2015 Monopoly World Championship. Interested players took a twenty-question quiz on Monopoly strategy and rules and submitted a hundred-word essay on how to win a Monopoly tournament. Hasbro then selected Brian Valentine of Washington, D.C., to be the U.S. representative.[153][154]
World Championship[edit]
Hasbro conducts a worldwide Monopoly tournament. The first Monopoly World Championships took place in Grossinger's Resort in New York, in November 1973, but they did not include competitors from outside the United States until 1975. 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)âthe total amount of Monopoly money in the current Monopoly set used in the tournament.[107] The most recent World Championship took place September 2015 in Macau. Italian Nicolò Falcone defeated the defending world champion and players from twenty-six other countries.[155][156]
Variants[edit]
Because Monopoly evolved in the public domain before its commercialization, Monopoly has seen many variant games. The game is licensed in 103 countries and printed in thirty-seven languages.[160] Most of the variants 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[161] 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 like Monopoly include:
Other unlicensed editions include: BibleOpoly, HomoNoPolis and Petropolis, among others.[24]
Games by locale or theme[edit]
There have been a large number of localized editions, broken down here by region:
Unauthorized and parody games[edit]
This list is of unauthorized, unlicensed games based on Monopoly:
Middopoly
Memeopolis (Android app) World editions[edit]
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.[172]
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
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.[citation needed]
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.[173] 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-Palestinianadvocacy groups.[174] 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.'[173]
A similar online vote was held in early 2015 for an updated version of the game. The resulting board should be released worldwide in late 2015.[needs update] Lima, Peru won the vote and will hold the Boardwalk space.[175]
Deluxe editions[edit]
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.[176]
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.[177]
In 2000, the FAO Schwarz store in New York City sold a custom version called One-Of-A-Kind Monopoly for $100,000.[178] This special edition comes in a locking attaché case made with Napolino leather and lined in suede, and features include:
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.[179] This set was designed by artist Sidney Mobell to honor the game's 50th anniversary in 1985, and is now in the Smithsonian Institution.[180] Iseries access 5.5 windows 7 download.
Reception[edit]
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.'[181]
Most of the three to four-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.'[181]
The hobby-gaming community BoardGameGeek is especially critical.[182] User reviews of Monopoly rank the game among the 20 worst games out of nearly 10,000 ranked in the database with an average rating of 4.422 out of 10.[183]
Monopoly Metaphors and Idioms[edit]
References[edit]
Notes
Further reading[edit]
Bibliography
External links[edit]
{{Commons category|Monopoly (game)}
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monopoly_(game)&oldid=912802455'
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monopoly is a board game published by Parker Brothers, a subsidiary of Hasbro. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly, the domination of a market by a single entity.
Monopoly is the most commercially-successful board game in United States history, with 485 million players worldwide.[2]. According to the BBC, Monopoly is a redesign of an earlier game 'The Landlord's Game' first published by the Quaker and political activistElizabeth Magie. The purpose of that game was to teach people how monopolies end up bankrupting the many whilst giving extraordinary wealth to one or few individuals.[3]
According to Hasbro, since Charles Darrowpatented the game in 1935, approximately 750 million people have played the game, making it 'the most played (commercial) board game in the world.'[4] The 1999 Guinness Book of Records cited Hasbro's previous statistic of 500 million people having played Monopoly.[5]Games Magazine has inducted Monopoly into its Hall of Fame.[6] The mascot for the game, known as Mr. Monopoly or Rich Uncle Pennybags, is a mustached man wearing a monocle and morning dress.
BoardUS versions
The pawns/pieces are: dog, top hat, wheel barrow, race car, boot, iron, ship, thimble, and money bag (introduced in 1999)[7]. Three pieces: the cannon, the horse and rider, and the train, appear in Deluxe versions only. The original version was sold by Charles Darrow, and later by Parker Brothers. The board consists of forty spaces containing twenty-eight properties (twenty-two colored Streets, four railroads and two utilities), three Chance spaces, three Community Chest spaces, a Luxury Tax space, an Income Tax space, and the four corner squares: GO, Jail, Free Parking, and Go to Jail. In the U.S. versions shown below, the properties are named after locations in (or near) Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In September 2008, the layout of the board was modified to more closely match the foreign-released versions, as shown in the board layout below. The notable changes are the colors of Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues (which changed from purple to brown), the adaptation of the flat $200 Income Tax (formerly the player's choice of 10% of their total holdings or $200) and increased $100 Luxury Tax amount (upped from $75). Similar color/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 version of the McDonald's Monopoly promotion.
Standard (American Edition) Monopoly game board layout as of September 2008
A player who reaches the Jail space by a direct roll of the dice is said to be 'Just Visiting', and continues normal play on the next turn.
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. Marven Gardens is not a street, but a housing area outside Atlantic City. The housing area is said to be derived from Margate City and Ventnor City in New Jersey.
The misspelling was [said to be] introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker Brothers. Actually, the home-made Todd board contained only references to streets in Philadelphia (like Market, Chestnut, and Walnut) or streets named after oneself (like Charles and Olive Streets, after the Todds) as was the custom in passing on 'The Landlord's Game.' The Todd board is in a private collection. All references from Philadelphia to Atlantic City were devices from Darrow.
It was not until 1995 that Parker Brothers acknowledged this mistake and formally apologized to the residents of Marven Gardens for the misspelling.[8] Another change made by Todd and duplicated by Darrow, and later Parker Brothers, was the use of South Carolina Avenue. North Carolina Avenue was substituted for this street on the board.
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.[9]
Short Line is believed to refer to the Shore Fast Line, a streetcar line that served Atlantic City.[10] 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 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.
The other versions of the game have different property names, and the prices may be denominated in another currency, but the game mechanics are almost identical.
UK version
The original income tax choice from the U.S. version is replaced by a flat rate in the UK version, and the $75 Luxury Tax space is replaced with the £100 Super Tax space. The same is true of current German boards, with a â¬200 for the Income Tax space on the board, and a â¬100 Add-on tax in place of the Luxury Tax. An Australian version, released by Parker Brothers/Hasbro in 2001, does allow for the 10% or $200 for Income Tax and has a $100 Luxury Tax. The choice of London main line stations is that of the four stations within the London and North Eastern Railway group. Starting with the September 2008 release, the U.S. Edition now also uses the flat $200 Income Tax value and the upped $100 Luxury Tax amount.
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 in order 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 the cases where the game was produced under license by a national company, the £ (pound) was replaced by a $ (dollar) sign, but the place names were unchanged.
For a list of some of the localized versions, including the UK 'Here and Now' edition, and the names of their properties, see Licensed and localized editions of Monopoly.
Recent variations
Starting in the UK in 2005, an updated version of the game entitled Monopoly Here and Now was produced, replacing game scenarios, properties, and tokens with modern equivalents. This also included the ever increasing popularity of the Southampton Edition, famous to the home of the Titanic. 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.[11]
Hasbro opened a new website in January 2008, for online voting of the Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition. The colored property spaces are worldwide cities, as determined by the same vote/popularity formula as established for national editions.
In 2006, Winning Moves Games released another edition, the Mega Edition, with a larger game board (50% bigger) 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.[12]
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 (eg, one collects $2,000,000 instead of $200 for passing Go). Also, the Chance and Community Chest cards are updated. The houses and hotels are blue and silver, not green and red like in most editions of Monopoly. The board uses the traditional US layout; the cheapest properties are purple, not brown, and the 'luxury tax' (replaced with 'interest on credit card debt') is $750,000, not $1,000,000. 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).
World editions
In 1998, Winning Moves procured the Monopoly license from Hasbro and created new UK city and regional editions with sponsored squares. https://oitjlbr.weebly.com/vopt-9-21-setup-keygen-crack-patch.html.
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 produce new city and regional editions annually. Nottingham based designers Guppi have been responsible for the games' visual design since 2001.
Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition
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.[13]
Monopoly Game Board Layout
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 Mono (a game-based take on the Euro; designated by
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 People's Republic of China. No other countries are represented by more than one city.
Of the 68 cities listed on Hasbro Inc.âs website for the vote, Jerusalem, was chosen as one of the 20 cities to be featured in the newest Monopoly World Edition.[14] Before the vote took place, a Hasbro employee in the London office eliminated the country signifier âIsraelâ after the city, in response to pressure from pro-Palestinianadvocacy groups.[15] After the Israeli government protested, Hasbro Inc. issued a statement that read: âIt 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.â[14]
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. It is has been aired in the United States by ESPN. The current world champion is Bjørn Halvard Knappskog who won the title in Las Vegas, Nevada on 22 October 2009. 41 players competed for the title of Monopoly World Champion and a cash prize of $20,580 USD.[16][17]
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 14â15 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 â the amount of money in the bank of the board game â and competed in the 2009 World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 21â22.
In addition, a version of the Monopoly game called Monopoly Family Game Night: The Championship Edition, was released in Fall 2009 to coincide with the 2009 Monopoly World Championships.
Equipment
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 currently used are pictured at left (from left to right): a wheelbarrow (1937b edition), a battleship, a sack of money (1999â2007 editions), a horse and rider, a car (racecar), a train (Deluxe Edition only), a thimble, a howitzer (sometimes called a cannon), an old style shoe (sometimes called a boot), a Scottie dog, an iron, and a top hat.
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.[18] 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!.[19]Parker Brothers also acquired Sorry! in the 1930s.
Other items included in the standard edition are:
During World War II, the dice in the United Kingdom were replaced with a spinner because of a lack of materials.
Hasbro also 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 railroadlocomotive. 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.[22]
In 2000, the FAO Schwarz store in New York City sold a custom version called One-Of-A-Kind Monopoly for $100,000.[23] This special edition comes in a locking attaché case made with Napolino leather and lined in suede, and features include:
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.[24]
The distribution of cash in the U.S. version has changed with the newer release versions. Older versions had a total of $15,140 in the following amounts/colors:
The newer (September 2008) editions have a total of $20,580, with 30 of each bill denomination. In addition, the colors of some of the bills have been changed; $10's are now blue instead of yellow, $20's are a brighter color green than before, and $50's are now purple instead of blue.
Standard Monopoly Board Layout
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. Prior to September 2008, the money was divided as follows in the U.S. standard rules:
Since then, the US version has taken on the British version's initial cash distributions of:
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 â¤350,000 ($3500) in a two-player game, but â¤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.
All property deeds, houses, and hotels are held by the bank until bought by the players.
History
For more details on this topic, see History of the board game Monopoly.
The history of Monopoly can be traced back to 1904, when a Quaker 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 a few years later. Other interested game players redeveloped the game and some made their own sets. Phillips herself patented a revised edition of the game in 1923, and similar games of this nature were published commercially. By 1933 a board game named Monopoly was created much like the version of Monopoly sold by Parker Brothers and its parent companies throughout the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st. Charles Darrow, widely proclaimed by Parker Brothers as the 'inventor' of the game, was introduced to the game by his friends, the Todds, who lived in Atlantic City. The spaces were named after streets in Atlantic City. In most cases, it is still true today that the value of the spaces on the board reflect the actual condition of the real streets in Atlantic City with Boardwalk and Park Place being the nicest and Meditteranean and Baltic not very nice. Darrow made some graphical changes to the game and sold his version to Parker Brothers in 1935. Several people, mostly in the U.S. Midwest and near the U.S. East Coast, contributed to the game's design and evolution.
In 1941 the British Secret Service had John Waddington Ltd., the licensed manufacturer of the game outside the U.S., create a special edition for World War IIprisoners of war held by the Nazis.[25] 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.[26]
By the 1970s, the game's early history had been lost (at least one historian has argued that it was purposely suppressed), and the idea that it had been created solely by Charles Darrow had become popular folklore. This was stated in the 1974 book The Monopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game, by Maxine Brady, and even in the instructions of the game itself. As Professor Ralph Anspach fought Parker Brothers and its then parent company, General Mills, over the trademarks of the Monopoly board game, much of the early history of the game was 'rediscovered'.
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. Anspach won the case on appeals in 1979, as the 9th District Court determined that the trademark 'Monopoly' was generic, and therefore unenforceable.[27] However, on Hasbro's pressure, the US Congress immediately passed a statute amending the Trademark Act to protect longstanding marks against 'generic' claims. Thus the game's name remains a registered trademark of Parker Brothers, as do its specific design elements. Parker Brothers' current corporate parent, Hasbro, again acknowledges only the role of Charles Darrow in the creation of the game. Anspach published a book about his research, called The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle (and republished as Monopolygate), in which he makes his case about the purposeful suppression of the game's early history and development.
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 clockwise around the board the corresponding number of squares. Landing on Chance or Community Chest, a player draws the top card from the respective pile. If the player lands on an unowned property, whether street, railroad, or utility, he can buy the property for its listed purchase price. If he declines this purchase, the property is auctioned off by the bank to the highest bidder. If the property landed on is already owned and unmortgaged, he must pay the owner a given rent, the price dependent on whether the property is part of a monopoly or its level of development. If a player rolls doubles, he rolls again after completing his turn. If any dice are rolled outside the play area or are leaning against an object the player must re-roll both dice. Three sets of doubles in a row, however, land the player in jail. During a turn, players may also choose to develop or mortgage properties. Development involves the construction, for given amounts of money paid to the bank, of houses or hotels. To build a house or a hotel, the player must own all properties in a color group. Development must be uniform across a monopoly, such that a second house cannot be built on one property in a monopoly until the others have one house. No merges between players are allowed. 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, which must be repaid with interest to unmortgage. Houses are returned to the bank for half their purchase price.
House Rules
Parker Brothers' official instructions have long encouraged the use of house rules, specific additions to or subtractions from the official rule sets. Many casual Monopoly players are surprised to discover that some of the rules that they are used to are not part of the official rules. Many of these house rules tend to make the game longer by randomly giving players more money. Some common house rules are listed below:
House rules, while unofficial, are not wholly unrecognized by Parker Brothers. George S. Parker himself created two variants, to shorten the length of game play. 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 which 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.
Strategy
Monopoly involves a portion of luck, with the roll of the dice determining whether a player gets to own key properties or lands on squares with high rents. Even the initial misfortune of going last is a significant disadvantage because one is more likely to land on property which has already been bought and therefore be forced to pay rent instead of having an opportunity to buy unowned property. There are, however, many strategic decisions which allow skilled players to win more often than the unskilled. Hasbro also offers a helpful strategy guide and different insights on their site. According to the laws of probability, seven is the most probable roll of two dice, with a probability of 1 in 6, whereas 2 and 12 are the least probable rolls, each with a probability of one in 36. For this reason, Park Place (Park Lane) is one of the least landed-on squares as the square is seven places beyond Go to Jail.
In consequence, some properties are landed upon more than others and the owners of those properties get more income from rent. The board layout factors include the following:
According to Jim Slater in The Mayfair Set, there is an overwhelming case for having the orange sites, 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 (King's Cross Station) and Go Back Three Spaces.[30]
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.[31]
Limited number of houses and hotels
In order to put a cap on total development of property sets in the game, there are only 12 hotels and 32 houses. This limitation is in place to ensure that property sets cannot be developed unless there are houses or hotels available to purchase from the bank. This cap allows a certain amount of dominance to be developed by some players, because if every set of property were fully developed there would be enough rent collected between different players to allow the game to drag on for an extended period. This limitation on numbers of houses and hotels leads to an advantage for one player. Simply building each lot out to a maximum of 4 houses and then refusing to upgrade to hotels ensures that nearly the maximum amount of rent is collected for each property, and the monopolization of the houses from the game prevents opponents from developing their property. It is conceivable that a single player could end up owning all 32 houses near the end of the game, and the refusal to upgrade to hotels makes these houses unavailable for opponents to purchase for any property they may own.
Much of the skill comes from knowing how to make the best use of a player's resources and above all knowing how to strike a good bargain. Monopoly is a social game where players often interact and must deal with each other in ways similar to real world real estate bargaining. Note that the best deal is not always for the most expensive property; it is often situational, dependent on money resources available to each player and even where players happen to be situated on the board. When looking to deal, a player should attempt to bargain with another player who not only possesses properties he or she needs but also properties the other player needs. In fact, offering relatively fair deals to other players can end up helping the player making the offer by giving him or her a reputation as an honest trader, which can make players less wary of dealings in the future. What is more, most people play Monopoly with the same group repeatedly. For this reason, such a reputation can have effects far beyond the game being played.
The 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.'[32] 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.[33] Two hour time limits are used for international play.[34] 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.
Played strictly to the rules, many games will be effectively decided when one player succeeds in bankrupting another because the bankrupt player gives all his property to the one to whom he could not pay his debt. A player who thus gains a fistful of properties will virtually control the game from that point onwards since other players will be constantly at risk. On the other hand, if a player is bankrupted by being unable to meet his debt to the bank (e.g., a fine or tax or other debt that is not rent), then his property is auctioned off; this can open up new possibilities in a game which was evenly set or in which a lot of property sets were divided among the players.
The Monopoly Mega Edition is geared towards faster play by incorporating more squares and enabling players to build without the full color-group.
Hasbro states that the longest game of Monopoly ever played lasted 1,680 hours (70 days or 10 weeks or 2 1/3 months).[35]
Add-ons
Numerous add-ons have been made for Monopoly, both before its commercialization and after. Three such official add-ons are discussed below.
Stock Exchange
The Stock Exchange add-on was originally published by Parker Brothers in 1936 [36]. 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 add-on also included thirty stock certificates, five for each of the six different stocks, differing only in the purchase price (or Par Value), ranging from $100 to $150. Shares, like properties, are tradeable material, and could also be mortgaged for half their purchase price. Shareholders could increase the value of their shares by buying up more of the same company's shares.
When a player moves onto Free Parking/Stock Exchange, stock dividends are paid out to all players on their non-mortgaged shares. The amount to be paid out to each player is determined based on the number and kind of shares owned. Specifically, a player receives dividends from each stock based on the following formula:
Example: Owning one share of 'Motion Pictures' (par value $100) pays dividends of $10. Owning two shares pays $40 ($10 x 2 x 2), owning three pays $90 ($10 x 3 x 3) and owning four pays $160 ($10 x 4 x 4). A player owning all five receives $250 ($10 x 5 x 5).
The player who lands on Free Parking/Stock Exchange can also choose to buy a share if any remain. Should the player decline, the share is auctioned to the highest bidder by the Bank.[37]
The Stock Exchange add-on serves to inject more money into the game, in a similar manner to railroad properties, as well as changing the relative values of properties. In particular, the Red and Yellow properties are more valuable due to the increased chance of landing on Free Parking.
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.[38] 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.[39]
Playmaster
Playmaster, another official add-on, released in 1982, was an electronic device that kept 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 will be 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 will play I've Been Working on the Railroad.[40]
Speed Die
In 2007, Parker Brothers began releasing its standard version of Monopoly with a new addition to gameplayâthe Speed Die.[41] First included in Winning Moves' Monopoly: The Mega Edition variant, this third die alters gameplay by allowing players to increase their move up to 3 spaces (rolling one of the 3 numbered sides); move immediately to the next unowned property OR to the next property on which they would owe money (rolling one of 2 'Mr. Monopoly' sides); 'Get Off The Bus Early' (rolling the 'Bus' side), allowing the player the option to use the total of just one die to move (i.e. A roll of 1-5-BUS would let the player choose from moving 1, 5 or 6 spaces); or even move directly to any space on the board (rolling a tripleâall three dice showing the same 1, 2, or 3). Usage of the die in the regular game differs slightly from use in the Mega Edition (i.e. Players use the Speed Die from the beginning in Mega; players can only use the Speed Die in the regular game AFTER their first time going past GO).[42]
SpinoffsOther 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. Windows-based PC, Macintosh, Game Boy, Super Nintendo, Game Boy Advance, Satellaview, Sega Genesis, Commodore 64, etc.), two spin-off computer games have been created.[43]
Monopoly Tycoon is a PC game in the Tycoon series that makes strategy and speed into determining factors for winning the game, eliminating completely the element of luck inherent in the dice rolls of the original. The game uses the U.S. standard Atlantic City properties as its basis, but the game play is unique to this version. The game also allows for solo and multiplayer online games.
Monopoly Casino is also a PC game, simulating a casino full of Monopoly-based adaptations of various casino games (most notably, slot machines). This program was released in both standard and 'Vegas' editions, each featuring unique games.
In September 2001, Stern Pinball released a Monopolypinball machine.
On April 23, 2008, Electronic Arts announced that they would be releasing in Q3 2008 a new version of Monopoly for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii video game consoles. In September 2008, Electronic Arts' Pogo division released an online version of Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition.
In June 2008, Electronic Arts and iTunes released a Monopoly game for iPod (fifth generation), iPod Nano (third generation), and iPod Classic.
On December 5, 2008, Electronic Arts released a version of Monopoly Here and Now into the iTunes App Store for play on iPhone and iPod touch.
On November 20, 2009, the standard game version was also released by Electronic Arts for play on iPhone and iPod touch. It includes boards and gameplay in six languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.
Parker Brothers and its licensees have also sold several games which are spinoffs 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.
Game show version
A short-lived Monopolygame 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.
Three contestants competed by answering crossword puzzle-style clues to acquire properties and earn money in attempt to build monopolies. After the properties were acquired, players used the money earned to improve them with houses and hotels which would then further increase the value of questions when those properties were landed upon. The player with the most money at the end of the game won and played the bonus round for a chance to win $25,000 or $50,000.
Gambling games
In North America, a variety of slot machines and lotteries have been produced with a Monopoly theme. In Europe, there were also Monopoly 'fruit machines', some of which remain popular through emulation. 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, although this is very rarely won. There is also an online slot machine version of the game made by WMS which is a 19 reel traditional style casino game.
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.[46]
Londonâs Gamesys Group have also developed an exclusive online version of Monopoly called Monopoly Snap where members of Jackpotjoy, the companyâs flagship site, can play a game based on the franchise for real cash. During the game, players are dealt hands of 5 Monopoly trading cards. If they turn over a set of cards, they win a cash prize. The dealer then reads out the properties one by one, with players hoping to match their hands with the dealerâs calls. When a player has matched their five cards they win a jackpot. If they match it in the minimum 5 calls they open the community chest jackpot which is shared with everyone playing. After the game the dealer will call out the name of one of the game tokens, and everyone who holds that token will win again. Itâs notable as a gambling game with a high chance of experiencing a win of some kind.
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, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom, France, Romania, Australia and Singapore. The game mimics the game of Monopoly. Originally, customers received a set of two tokens with every purchase, but now tokens only come with certain menu items. Tokens correspond to a property space on the Monopoly board. When combined into color-matched properties, the tokens may be redeemed for money or prizes. There are also 'instant win' tokens the recipient can redeem for McDonald's food, money, or other prizes.
Standard Monopoly BoardFilms
In 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 will be 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.[47][48] The story is being developed by author Frank Beddor.[49]
Additionally, a documentary called Under the Boardwalk about the history of the game, the people who play it, and how it has become a worldwide phenomenon over the last 75 years is coming to theaters in Fall 2010.[50][51]
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 are similar to Monopoly. These include:
Online Variants
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.[56]
Notes
Standard Uk Edition Monopoly Game Board Layout OnlineBibliography
External links
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