Tell me more ×
Board & Card Games Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people who like playing board games, designing board games or modifying the rules of existing board games. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 11 down vote favorite
1

When it comes to Monopoly I know there are ways the gameplay can be altered and I was wondering if this is one of them. Basically everytime I play I'm told you have to go around the board once before you can purchase properties but then I read somewhere else that you can purchase them immediately. Is this true or is this rule just made up?

share|improve this question
Before you can purchase? So are they still put up for auction? Never played like this before but I have played with people that randomly distribute all the properties at the start. – MaskedPlant Jan 9 '12 at 20:14

3 Answers

up vote 13 down vote accepted

Sounds like a house rule to me.

http://richard_wilding.tripod.com/monorules.htm claims to be a copy of the rules from the official rulebook. The section on Buying Property reads only:

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 the title deed card face up in front of you. If you do not wish to buy the property, the Bank sells it at through an auction to the highest bidder. The high bidder pays the Bank the amount of the bid in cash and receives the Title Deed card for that property.

Nothing about having to go round once, and certainly I've never played a game of Monopoly in that way. What would it even achieve, apart from slow what is already a potentially long-winded game down to an even more glacial pace?

share|improve this answer
1  
That is confirmed by the PDF copy of the rules available from Hasbro's site. – Dave DuPlantis Jan 10 '12 at 13:54
1  
As an aside, the game is much less "long-winded" if you remove another pervasive house rule: you're not supposed to be awarded anything for landing on Free Parking. That infusion of cash prolongs the game unnecessarily. – Kevin Jan 10 '12 at 15:26
3  
@Iceman - I've never played with that rule either, but Monopoly does seem to be plagued by many such house rules... seemingly designed to make the game more palatable for children? I do remember that, when I was young, we never auctioned properties off - either you could afford the face value or you couldn't, and if you couldn't, no one else got a chance to bid... – thesunneversets Jan 10 '12 at 15:29
up vote 4 down vote

This may be a house rule but it is certainly a widespread house rule. I've always played using the once around the board rule. With all the various groups of people I've ever played with the issue never arose as to some other possibility. I didn't know it was optional. Is it possible that it was once a rule but is no longer? Anyways, the point of going around once before allowing purchases is to help negate the advantage that going first provides.

share|improve this answer
How does that negate the advantage of going first though? You're still more likely to get round the board first, unless I'm missing something. And if you roll badly and someone else rolls well, doesn't that just that the advantage has randomly been passed on to a different player, and possibly amplified? It's been a while since I played Monopoly, though, so I'm genuinely curious to know if I am missing something... – thesunneversets Jan 10 '12 at 15:32
2  
It may be meant to disperse the player tokens a bit so that they aren't all landing on the same properties. Since it uses two dice, there's a high probability of 6, 7 or 8 being rolled. With everyone starting from the same spot, there's a reasonable chance players 3 and 4 will kind of follow players 1 and 2 around the board landing on many of the same properties (which players 1 and 2 have probably already purchased). I guess going around the board once would mitigate that a little. – Todd Jan 12 '12 at 23:16
up vote 3 down vote

No, you don't need to go around the board before you buy. This is a house rule.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.