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I have a question in regards to a rule, that I and a lot of family friends have always played by in monopoly, but a few new comers don’t get that rule, and I can’t find it in writing.

We play by the rule that if a third party interferes or makes a comment and throws someone under the bus they have to pay $50 into the middle (for free parking).

For example: if I own pall mall, John lands on pall mall and I don’t notice, and then Jane tells me they John landed on my property, Jane would have to pay $50 into the middle.

The same with bidding, so if I’m making a deal with John and Jane interrupts and goes “no” “don’t do it” she has to pay $50 into the middle.

Is this an actual rule? Or did we make it up?

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    In the end I think that is a bad rule as it prevents more experienced players from helping newer players when another player is trying to take advantage of their lack of experience (or age)
    – Joe W
    Apr 4, 2020 at 14:30
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    Note that "free parking money" is itself a house rule that makes the game go on much, much longer because it prevents the overall reduction of money that would bankrupt players sooner.
    – chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-
    Apr 5, 2020 at 8:24
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    @Mast Taking advantage of players of equal experience is different than taking advantage of younger or new players.
    – Joe W
    Apr 6, 2020 at 12:25
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    These rules will also hinder some more advanced negotiations - for example I could make a deal with you "Whenever you forget to collect rent from someone and I remind you, I get 10% of the rent because I notified you" - or in the other example, I could buy someone off so he will not bid on an auction. -- all this should be possible with free negotiating at the table.
    – Falco
    Apr 6, 2020 at 12:59
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    @Mast Why make an exception so you can make a house rule? Why not just play the game as written and not provide help to other players if you don't want to? Reminding someone else that they have rent owed can also help the person doing the reminding as it could prevent someone else from buying a bunch of houses/hotels.
    – Joe W
    Apr 6, 2020 at 14:12

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That is a house rule as there is nothing in the base rules about communicating with other players and there is also no such thing as paying free parking. Honestly it is a rule that hurts less experienced or younger players as it discourages others from helping them play when other players may try and take advantage of their inexperience/age.

While the rules do say that you can't collect rent if you don't notice before the next two players throw the dice it does not say that other players can't remind you to collect the rent you are owed.

Rules

PAYING RENT…

When you land on property owned by another player, the owner collects rent from you in accordance with the list printed on its Title Deed card. If the property is mortgaged, no rent can be collected. When a property is mortgaged, its Title Deed card is placed face down in front of the owner. It is an advantage to hold all the Title Deed cards in a color-group (e.g., Boardwalk and Park Place; or Connecticut, Vermont and Oriental Avenues) because the owner may then charge double rent for unimproved properties in that color-group. This rule applies to unmortgaged properties even if another property in that color-group is mortgaged. It is even more advantageous to have houses or hotels on properties because rents are much higher than for unimproved properties. The owner may not collect the rent if he/she fails to ask for it before the second player following throws the dice

Free parking is just a safe space on the board and you don't gain anything from it.

“FREE PARKING”…

A player landing on this place does not receive any money, property or reward of any kind. This is just a “free” resting place.

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  • While the rules do say that you can't collect rent if you don't notice before the next two players throw the dice...SHOULD READ While the rules do say that you can't collect rent if you don't notice before the next player throw the dice...
    – Martin Charette
    Apr 8, 2020 at 7:59
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    But then it would be wrong, because two players have to roll the dice for their turns before rent is forfeit, it is not lost on the turn immediately after. @MartinCharette
    – Nij
    Sep 30, 2020 at 22:20
  • @MartinCharette I'm sure they give 2 turns intentionally to prevent people from gaming that system, to have two players one after the other in turn order playing quickly to avoid paying rent since the next player throws the dice as soon as the previous one has finished moving their piece when they would land on the third player's property. 3 people colluding this way is possible, but far less likely, and even if they are, you have the duration of one player's turn to notice.
    – Andrew
    Sep 18, 2021 at 15:12
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This rule is a house rule, because any rule that involves putting any amount of money under Free Parking is a house rule. As @Joe W quoted:

"FREE PARKING": A player landing on this place does not receive any money, property or reward of any kind. This is just a "free" resting place.

-The Rules of Monopoly (1935), p. 6

It is understandable that you would end up with a house rule like this (or any other house rule), though, because the 1935 rulebook has no diagrams, is rather dense, and, IMO, is poorly organized. After acquiring Parker Brothers and thus Monopoly, Hasbro has attempted to rectify this problem in newer editions of the game by rewriting the rulebook from the ground up, keeping the actual rules the same, but using more modern language, adding diagrams and figures for every major concept, and ordering concepts in a more visually intuitive way - for instance, this rulebook that comes with modern editions of Monopoly Classic. These new rulebooks, either next to or in place of the 60-90 minute "Short Game Rules", also contain explicit advice against using house rules, giving a few examples of very common house rules and advising that they usually make the game last longer:

TOP TIPS:

To keep games short and sweet, don’t use house rules!

Always auction when someone doesn’t want to buy the property they’ve landed on.

Never loan money to other players or make deals not to charge each other rent.

Never put cash in the center of the board; you don’t get a bonus for landing on Free Parking!

-Monopoly Classic Rules (2017)

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    Alas, the new rules still have problems. For example, in the "Try to raise money" section: "Sell Hotels to the Bank for half the cost price and exchange them immediately for 4 Houses." It doesn't explain what you do if there aren't 4 houses available.
    – Kyralessa
    Apr 6, 2020 at 9:11
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    @Kyralessa That's why the best strategy has always been "Build as many houses as possible and never build any hotels". You end up strangling the market and your opponents can never get ahead because there are no houses left. Note: Your friends will hate you for this.
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Apr 6, 2020 at 14:36
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    @Kyralessa Admittedly, yes. There is a clause a few pages away that says "No buildings left? You can't buy any until someone sells theirs back" but it doesn't say what to do in that specific edge case you mentioned (the original rules say that all of the hotels on a color group can be sold all at once without going through intermediate houses).
    – TheHans255
    Apr 6, 2020 at 17:59
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    @DarrelHoffman you're playing monopoly - this game already makes friends hate eachother and ends friendships, that's part of the game XD
    – Andrew
    Apr 7, 2020 at 20:36

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