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The Monopoly rules state that if your debt to another player is greater than the cash at hand, you can give property at its original (or higher, if mutually agreed) price to the person you owe.

However, if you have, say, 3 stations (worth 600) and 100 at hand, and you have to pay a debt of 500 to another player, and no other player wants to buy them from you (or no other player exists). Can you force the player you owe to take 2 stations plus 100, or even 3 stations, to pay your debt, or is it at his will, in which case he/she can refuse the deal, and declare you bankrupt to him/her, and take all 3 stations and the 100? (Since mortgaging is inadequate.)

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    What rulebook do you have? What version/year? I have never seen it written that way in the rules.
    – Colin D
    Jan 13, 2015 at 14:21
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    I have the usual rulebook for the deluxe edition, maybe I understood it wrongly.
    – ghosts_in_the_code
    Jan 13, 2015 at 14:28

3 Answers 3

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I cannot find anything close to what you have quoted in any of the rules I have looked at online.

However, the general rule is: Whenever you would owe money, you have the opportunity to do trading with other players to raise the funds, including with the person who you owe money to, but they are not obliged to accept.

This site backs this up and claims it is from official tournament rules.

http://mospaw.com/monopoly/some-obscure-monopoly-rules-explained/12/information#comment-5

If you do not have enough cash to cover rent, you may sell any other asset you have in the game, such as unimproved properties to raise the rent. You can sell the properties for whatever amount the market will bear.

You may also make a trade of unimproved properties (or properties and cash) to the landlord, which is effectively selling the properties to that person for the amount in question.

The only time a sale cannot take place is if a player will be cheated. For example, Player A lands on Boardwalk with hotels and owes $2,000 to Player B. Player A cannot raise enough cash or make a trade with Player B, so he is effectively bankrupt and should turn over all assets. Player A would not be able to make a deal with Player C to sell some properties for less than their value (say the red properties for $1) since that would cheat Player B. He could sell them for more than their purchase value, however.

There is a lot of flexibility in how you can finance your debts. Most limitations are that the deal is limited to the game (you can’t trade a cookie or a kiss) and that you don’t cheat the player due money by making a deal with another player when owing money. Other limitations involve the inability to grant immunity to someone. It’s simply not allowed.

Further, from the official rules on the Deluxe edition of Monopoly has this to say and supports the general rule I mention above:

Using a Mortgaged Property to pay a debt: If you owe money to any of your opponents, you can offer them a piece of mortgaged property to cover all or part of your debt. Your opponent has the option of deciding whether or not to accept it. If you opponent accepts, he/she must immediately pay 10% of the mortgaged value.

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

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  • "You can sell the properties for whatever amount the market will bear." -> If the market will not buy the properties at any price, you are out of luck.
    – Kevin
    Jan 13, 2015 at 16:54
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You can't "force" a creditor to take your property at full (or higher) value.

Your "fallback" option is to "mortgage" property to the bank for HALF price.

You can, in theory, sell property to other players (including the creditor) for more than the half price you can get from the bank. (Or sell mortgaged properties for whatever they will bring.) The creditor may agree to this to keep your property out of the hands of a third player.

If these maneuvers succeed in raising enough cash to pay the debt, you can continue. If not, the "trades" have to be "undone," and you have to turn over everything you have to the creditor and leave the game.

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  • I think this is the most accurate answer and far more concise.
    – Clumsy
    Jan 14, 2015 at 1:18
  • can you source the 'undo trading' part? trades can happen at any time during the game and it is only polite to wait until in between peoples turns/actions. This rollback could theoretically involves tons of cash, all players on the board, and the bank.
    – Colin D
    Jan 14, 2015 at 12:58
  • @ColinD: Trades "stand" unless one of the traders is in/threatened with bankruptcy. If the debtor owes 1000 and can only raise 950, the "status quo ante" has to be restored, meaning all the trades that s/he did on that one (bankrupt) turn, are cancelled. (All previous trades stand). Then the debtor has to hand over the property and leave the game. As a practical matter, all the trades should be put into a separate "pile" so they can be undone.
    – Tom Au
    Jan 14, 2015 at 15:00
  • @TomAu I was asking for a rules citation or reference. Players are not restricted from trading, mortgaging/unmortgaging, or building houses/hotels on other players turns. unwinding complex trades seems like they could get incredibly messy. for example: the bankrupt player trades a property to an opponent who then wants to develop it, inciting a bidding war for the last few houses available from the bank. If that trade gets undone, how do you resolve the fact that secret information (how much people are willing to spend on houses) was leaked to other players?
    – Colin D
    Jan 14, 2015 at 18:48
  • @ColinD: The other people can't build or do anything with the trades until the debtor's turn ends, and the debtor's turn can't end until the debt is either paid off, or the debtor pays the creditor what s/he had at the beginning. (The latter implies unwinding the trades.) That's what the rules say, and that's the source.
    – Tom Au
    Jan 14, 2015 at 20:51
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I think that when he doesn't want to make a deal you are obliged to take mortgage on your property. If every property you have has mortgage and you still haven't enough you are bankrupt.

Edit:

To disprove your assumption that property must be given a minimal of the original price I quote this rule I found in this rulebook http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/monins.pdf. (which is on hasbro's site so I think it is valid)

Unimproved properties, railroads and utilities (but not buildings) may be sold to any player as a private transaction for any amount the owner can get

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    Is that the generally accepted rule, or is it just your interpretation? The original rules don't state it that clearly.
    – ghosts_in_the_code
    Jan 13, 2015 at 14:19
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    @Rainbolt. Yes I do think that "this is a site where people come together to think about what the right answer might be". Wrong answers can also be usefull and eventually those answers taht are backed up by rules will be accepted so no harm is done
    – Ivo
    Jan 13, 2015 at 14:37
  • @IvoBeckers I both agree and disagree. I agree with having answers build off one another so we end up with the best quality answers. But generally if an answer is present and has up-votes, it discourages others to contribute. Maybe your original answer text should have been a comment?
    – Colin D
    Jan 13, 2015 at 14:56
  • True. I am beginning to doubt whether my answer is really true too. I do believe that you can't force a deal. But you are not obliged to take a mortgage I think. But doing so would be your best option usually. Not sure whether to edit this answer or to add a new one and/or delete this answer
    – Ivo
    Jan 13, 2015 at 15:00
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    @IvoBeckers Since you immortalized a small portion of my comment by quoting it after I deleted it, I have to re-explain. The original revision of your answer consisted of two sentences and began with "I think". You failed to explain why your answer was correct. Also, my issue was not with you. My issue was with the six users that chose to reward speed over quality. That said, I do think that you should consider saving your answer until you have something to back it up, be it rules, logic, a quote from some site, etc. Anything is better than nothing.
    – Rainbolt
    Jan 13, 2015 at 20:19

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