do you play Monopoly wrong?

[sol740]

Have you ever played Monopoly?

 

Of course you have. Everyone's played it at some time in their life. It's shared culture, a common element that weaves together our modern world.

 

But when was the last time you played it?

 

You can't remember, can you?We've all played it sometime, when we were kids; but never recently, and why?

 

Because it's crap. It takes ages to play, suffering long action-free periods in which the players endlessly circle the board in search of the streets they need to complete a set, and lacks the interaction between players that we look for in a game. In short, it's boring and lacks skill.

 

Except that it isn't crap. Actually. You just have to play it the way it was designed to be played.

 

You just have to read the fucking rules.

 

What Is Real Monopoly?

 

Real Monopoly is Monopoly played according to the actual rules. Now as you read this I can just imagine you shaking your head and saying, "Right... Because getting rid of free parking is so going to revolutionise the game!"

 

But I'm not talking about the rule changes that everyone knows are house-rules. I'm talking about the rules changes that everyone thinks are part of the original rules. I could waffle on, but it'll save a lot of your time and my typing if I just present you with the relevant section of the rules:

 

BUYING PROPERTY...Whenever you land on an unowned property you may buy that property from the Bank at its printed price. You receive the Title Deed card showing ownership; place it face up in front of you.

 

If you do not wish to buy the property, the Banker sells it at auction to the highest bidder. The buyer pays the Bank the amount of the bid in cash and receives the Title Deed card for that property. Any player, including the one who declined the option to buy it at the printed price, may bid. Bidding may start at any price.

 

http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/monins.pdf

 

Take your time. I imagine that 99% of you are at this point exclaiming something along the lines of, "The fuck?Since when was that how you're supposed to play Monopoly?"

 

Take a deep breath. I know I've just rearranged what seems like one of the fundamental pillars of the world, like the fact that you can't travel faster than light, or the fact that the Wright brothers were the first to achieve powered flight, or the fact that the Swedes do porn and the Dutch do drugs.

 

But you're just going to have to accept it.

Those are the actual rules of Monopoly. Go and look at the rules in your set if you don't believe me.

 

Shit, landing on "Free Parking" and winning the money in the middle of the board is BS too. Fuck, next I'll learn Fireball Island had rules against me crushing everyone each turn.

 

http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue10/CampaignRealMonopoly1.html

[Aaron]

My head assploaded.

 

Kinda cool. Might play to see how this changes things.

[morabu]

I figured this out about a year ago, when i started playing it with my kids.

took the time to read the rules for the kids sake, and was like......wtf?

[El Karacho1647545492]

I like Monopoly because it takes me to a world where the rich land owners are just as likely as anyone else to lose their money and go to jail.

[gillbot]

I've never assumed I played right, we make shit up as we go along. Plus the banker is always corrupt. Makes it more fun.

[ImUrOBGYN]

Everyone has their little 'house rules' for monopoly, uno, etc. I'm a huge stickler for going by the rules when it comes to playing games such as these, but I've learned to accept it.

 

I got the new Monopoly board game for xmas. Its modeled after that online one they had for awhile but I haven't had time to play it, yet. I like me some Life, as well, though I always thought the ending was a little funky.

[Flyin Miata]

I've always played with the auction rule, never could understand how someone could actually get through a whole game and enjoy it without doing auctions.

 

The other big thing is allowing trades between players. Makes the game so much more interesting when you can swing a good 3 player trade to change things up a little.

[SRTurbo04]

iam a hussler at monopoly..who wants to play for money?

[ForeverMaker]

You buy houses/hotels for property you own at ANY point from the bank. It doesn't need to be your turn. This is helpful if some players are coming towards your properties and you want to quickly add some in case they land on it.

[SiColin]

Interesting I haven't played real monopoly in a while. I enjoy playing the kid version with the lil bro and sis. It doesn't take very long.

[Spidey2721]

i always played it right