Tabletop games
Monopoly
HasbroCharles Darrow, Elizabeth J. Magie (Phillips)1935
- players
- 2–8
- minutes
- 90-180
- years
- 8+
In the box
1 board · 8 pawns · 2 dice · 28 title deeds · 16 Chance cards and 16 Community Chest cards · 32 houses and 12 hotels · Banknotes
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designers
- Charles Darrow, Elizabeth J. Magie (Phillips)
- Artwork
- Charles Darrow, Edison Girard
- Publisher
- Hasbro
- Mechanics
- AuctionIncomeLoansLose a TurnOwnership
- Expansions
- Monopoly: Free Parking · 2025
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Each player tries to become the richest by buying, renting and selling properties, until the others are ruined. On your turn, roll two dice and move: an unowned property may be bought, otherwise it goes to auction, and an owned property charges rent, which rises with the houses and hotels built on a complete group. A player who can no longer pay is bankrupt and leaves the game; the last one still in wins.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
2 to 8 players, 1,500 each, Tokens on GO
- Two to eight players. Each receives 1,500 at the start and chooses a token, placed on the GO space.
- The property cards stay with the bank until they are bought.
- One player is named banker and also runs the auctions. If they play, they keep their own money strictly separate from the bank's; with more than five players, they may act as banker only.
- The highest dice roll starts; play then passes to the left.
How to play
Roll 2 dice, Buy or auction, GO earns 200
- Roll two dice and move forward that many spaces. Passing or landing on GO earns 200.
- An unowned property may be bought; otherwise it goes to auction, which most tables forget.
- An owned property charges rent, which rises with houses and hotels. The owner must claim it before the next player rolls the dice, otherwise it is lost.
- A double gives another roll; three doubles in a row send you straight to jail, without collecting the 200 for passing GO.
- To build, you must own a whole colour group. Build evenly, up to four houses per site, then a hotel in place of the four houses.
Scoring
No points, Full group: rent ×2
- The rules award no points: you win by being the last player still solvent.
- For a game stopped at a set time, the counter tracks each player's wealth: cash, plus the value of their land and buildings.
- A complete colour group doubles the rent on unmortgaged undeveloped sites, before any building at all.
- Counter convention: a mortgaged site counts only for its mortgage value, half its price.
End of the game
Last solvent wins, Bankrupt = out
- A player who owes more than they can pay is bankrupt and leaves the game. If the debt is to a player, they hand over everything they have (their buildings sold back to the bank at half price). If it is to the bank, the bank immediately auctions their sites.
- The last player still in the game wins.
- Stopping the game at an agreed time, the richest player winning, is a table custom, not found in the classic rulebook.
House rules and pitfalls
Auctions are in the official rules and change everything: a property someone declines never stays unowned.
- Auctions are in the official rules and change everything: a property someone declines never stays unowned.
- There is no jackpot on the Free Parking space: it is the most widespread house rule in the world, and the one that makes games drag on the most.
- You cannot build a hotel without first placing four houses, nor build unevenly within a group.
Going further
Variants · Frequently asked questions · In the same family · Play with the game assistant
Variants
End of game
Until bankruptcy
Play until only one solvent player is left.
At the agreed time
Set a finishing time: the richest player wins, buildings included.
choose them when you start a game: the scorer adapts
Frequently asked questions
Is there really a jackpot on Free Parking?
No. No official version has fines pile up there. It is a universal house rule, and it is what makes games last: money that should leave the game comes back into it.
What happens if nobody wants to buy a property?
It goes straight to auction, starting at any price, and the highest bidder wins it. Many tables ignore this rule, which slows the start of the game considerably.
How do you get out of jail?
By rolling a double on one of your next three turns (you then move, without rolling again), by using or buying a Get Out of Jail Free card, or by paying 50 before rolling, on either of your next two turns. On the third turn without a double, you pay 50 and move by the roll. While in jail, you keep collecting rent, buying and building.
Can you build a hotel straight away?
No. Every site in the group needs four houses, and building must stay even: never more than one house of difference between two sites of the same colour. You then return the four houses to the bank when paying for the hotel.
What happens when the bank runs out of houses?
None are created: you wait until a player sells some back. If several players want the last houses available, they go to auction. The housing shortage is a real strategy.
Does a mortgaged site earn rent?
No. You receive the mortgage value printed on the title deed when you mortgage it, and it earns nothing until you lift the mortgage by repaying that sum plus 10 % interest.
Can players trade sites with each other?
Yes, at any price agreed. But no site in a group with buildings can be sold until the buildings of that group have been sold back to the bank, at half their price. A mortgaged site may be sold: the buyer immediately pays 10 % interest to the bank.