I will forever shout it from the rooftops. Monopoly is a 30 minute game, regardless of how many players you have. If you play by the actual rules, and none of the house rules you’ve made up for yourself, it’s really quick and really fun. No families need to be shattered over the game. No friendships lost. Just play by the actual rules!
Monopoly has one great rule (or lack of specificity), that it doesn’t put any restricting on when you are able to trade (doesn’t even say it has to be your turn!). This creates a great ten minutes or so when most of the properties are bought and people are making interesting deals with each other.
Everything else in the game is bad because there are very few interesting decisions to make. The dice tell you where you go and the space you land on tells you what to do. Strictly you “decide” whether or not to buy an available property if you land on it, but it’s virtually always a good idea. In the rare auction case you can decide your bid. You can decide which order you mortgage off your properties if you are out of money. I think one of the chance/CC cards has a choice on it? Even buying houses is kind of dull since you have to build them evenly across the block.
Real life is still worse though. Imagine being added to an already-in-progress game of Monopoly where you start with no money and everyone else already has hotels on every property.
Games have to put playability over realism even if they are trying to make a point. You can randomize the initial money for each player if you want the full experience.
True that, it can be boring, personally I own an expanded version called Cheaters Monopoly, that one has some fun stuff like there is a card that says to not say anything, just take 150 from the bank and if anyone questions what you are doing they owe you 100. When in jail you literally get a handcuff put on you thats connected to the board and if you manage to take it off without anyone noticing and a player makes completes his turn you can get out of jail for free, you can steal houses and hotels and with the same rule if no one notices you can place it on your property.
This is it! Everyone I’ve ever met that hates monopoly doesn’t play by the rules. They don’t auction, they put all the money under free parking, and I’ve even had some people that increase the $100 when you pass go once all of the properties are bought. Of course you hate the game, you’ve been playing it wrong.
I’d love to know where the free parking thing cane from. I distinctly remember not doing that as a kid but then suddenly I don’t know why in my teens(I think) it appeared in a way like it was not doing it was incorrect.
The Pass Go thing came from a friend of the family that came over for Christmas dinner one year. It went from $100 to $300 once all the properties were bought, and the reason was “so everyone can afford to land on hotel spaces.” So, yeah, completely defeating the point of late stage of the game.
Exactly, play by the original rules, and play aggressive as all hell. You don’t need almost any property, it’s just fine to mortgage everything but your main set, the goal is to get one very developed set ASAP.
Not only is this a pretty effective way to win (a conservative player who lands once on a very developed property is basically out of the game), it also makes the game progress much faster, especially if other players are willing to concede before the bitter end. 2 or 3 players like this, and you’ve actually got a recipe for a decent time.
I will forever shout it from the rooftops. Monopoly is a 30 minute game, regardless of how many players you have. If you play by the actual rules, and none of the house rules you’ve made up for yourself, it’s really quick and really fun. No families need to be shattered over the game. No friendships lost. Just play by the actual rules!
Have you tried to play literally any other board game?
Monopoly has one great rule (or lack of specificity), that it doesn’t put any restricting on when you are able to trade (doesn’t even say it has to be your turn!). This creates a great ten minutes or so when most of the properties are bought and people are making interesting deals with each other.
Everything else in the game is bad because there are very few interesting decisions to make. The dice tell you where you go and the space you land on tells you what to do. Strictly you “decide” whether or not to buy an available property if you land on it, but it’s virtually always a good idea. In the rare auction case you can decide your bid. You can decide which order you mortgage off your properties if you are out of money. I think one of the chance/CC cards has a choice on it? Even buying houses is kind of dull since you have to build them evenly across the block.
It’s a critique of capitalism, there not being many choices and alway accruing capital that’s limited in supply is the exact point of the game.
Real life is still worse though. Imagine being added to an already-in-progress game of Monopoly where you start with no money and everyone else already has hotels on every property.
Games have to put playability over realism even if they are trying to make a point. You can randomize the initial money for each player if you want the full experience.
100% true. Note that I was responding to someone who called it quick and fun, so the lack of choices seemed like a relevant point there.
True that, it can be boring, personally I own an expanded version called Cheaters Monopoly, that one has some fun stuff like there is a card that says to not say anything, just take 150 from the bank and if anyone questions what you are doing they owe you 100. When in jail you literally get a handcuff put on you thats connected to the board and if you manage to take it off without anyone noticing and a player makes completes his turn you can get out of jail for free, you can steal houses and hotels and with the same rule if no one notices you can place it on your property.
This is it! Everyone I’ve ever met that hates monopoly doesn’t play by the rules. They don’t auction, they put all the money under free parking, and I’ve even had some people that increase the $100 when you pass go once all of the properties are bought. Of course you hate the game, you’ve been playing it wrong.
Or they’ve tried any other modern boardgame released in the last couple decades
I’d love to know where the free parking thing cane from. I distinctly remember not doing that as a kid but then suddenly I don’t know why in my teens(I think) it appeared in a way like it was not doing it was incorrect.
Never heard of the pass go thing though.
The Pass Go thing came from a friend of the family that came over for Christmas dinner one year. It went from $100 to $300 once all the properties were bought, and the reason was “so everyone can afford to land on hotel spaces.” So, yeah, completely defeating the point of late stage of the game.
Monopoly: Communism Edition
Sounds more like Monopoly: Social Democracy edition to me. Though either way, you’d need to add a tax for the rich to explain the $300.
Exactly, play by the original rules, and play aggressive as all hell. You don’t need almost any property, it’s just fine to mortgage everything but your main set, the goal is to get one very developed set ASAP.
Not only is this a pretty effective way to win (a conservative player who lands once on a very developed property is basically out of the game), it also makes the game progress much faster, especially if other players are willing to concede before the bitter end. 2 or 3 players like this, and you’ve actually got a recipe for a decent time.