Monopoly: The Rules. (1972)

The Game of: MONOPOLY

BRIEF IDEA OF THE GAME

The idea of the game is to buy and rent or sell properties so profitably that players increase their wealth — the wealthiest becoming the eventual winner. Starting from "GO", move the tokens around the board according to throw of the dice. When a player's token lands on a space not already owned, he may buy it from the Bank: otherwise it is auctioned off to the highest bidder. The object of owning property is to collect rents from opponents stopping there. Rentals are greatly increased by the erection of Houses and Hotels, so it is wise to build them on some of your Building Sites. To raise more money, Building Sites may be mortgaged to the Bank. Community Chest and Chance cards give instructions that must be followed. Sometimes players land in Jail. The game is one of shrewd and amusing trading and excitement. EQUIPMENT Monopoly Real Estate Trading Game Equipment consists of the board with spaces indicating Building Sites, Railway Stations, Utilities, rewards and penalties over which the player's pieces are moved. There are two dice, tokens of various designs for playing pieces, thirty-two green Houses, twelve red Hotels and two sets of cards for Chance and Community Chest spaces. There are Title Deed cards for every property and "bank notes" of various denominations.

The below rules are a write up of the rules from the 1972 edition of Monopoly. (Above)

PREPARATION

 Place the board on a good-sized table, putting the Chance cards and Community Chest cards face down on their allotted spaces on the board. Each player is provided with one token to represent him on his travels around the board. Each player is given £1,500. All other equipment goes to the Bank. One of the players is elected Banker. (See Bank and Banker.)

MONEY

Each player is given £1,500 divided as follows: two 500 - four £100 - one £50 - one £20 - two £10 - one £5 - five £1 's. All remaining money goes to the Bank.

TO START THE GAME

 Starting with the Banker, each player in turn throws the dice. The player with the highest total starts the play. He places his token on the corner marked "GO", throws the dice and moves his token in the direction of the Arrow the number of spaces indicated by (he dice. After he has completed his play, the turn to play passes to the left. The tokens remain on the spaces occupied and proceed from that point on the player's next turn. One or more tokens may rest on the same space at the same time. According to the space which his token reaches, a player may be entitled to buy Building Sites or other properties - or be obliged to pay rent (if another owns the property), pay taxes, draw a Chance or a Community Chest card, "Go to Jail", etc. If a player throws doubles he moves his token as usual, the sum of the two dice, and the space thus reached is effective (i.e., the player is subject to any privileges or penalties pertaining to that space). Retaining the dice, he throws again and moves his token, as before, and again, the space thus reached is effective. If, however, he throws three doubles in succession, he does not move his token on his third throw but immediately "goes to jail" and his turn ends. (See Jail.) Every time that a player's token either lands on or passes over "GO", while going in the direction of the Arrow, the Banker pays him £200 "Salary".

LANDING ON UNOWNED PROPERTY

 When a player lands on an unowned property (i.e., on a Building Site for which no other player holds the Title Deed) whether by a throw of the dice or by a move forced by the draw of a Chance or Community Chest card, the player has the option of buying that property from the Bank at its printed price. If a player elects to buy, he pays the Bank for that property and receives the Title Deed card showing ownership, which he places face-up in front of him. If the player declines his option, the Banker must immediately offer this property for sale by auction and must sell it to the highest bidder, accepting money in payment and give the buyer the proper Title Deed card as evidence of ownership. Any player, including the one who declined the option of buying at the printed price, may bid. Bidding may start at any price.

LANDING ON OWNED PROPERTY

 When a player lands on owned property either by throw of dice, or by a move forced by a Chance or Community Chest card, the owner collects rent from him in accordance with the list printed on the Title Deed card applying to it. Note: If the Site contains a House or Houses, the rent is larger than it would be for an unimproved Site. If the Site is mortgaged, no rent can be collected. Double rent cannot be collected from a Colour-Group if one Site is mortgaged. A player holding four Stations, but with one mortgaged, may only collect rent from the other three- i.e. he would collect £100 -not £200. Mortgaged property is designated by turning face-down the Title Deed representing that property. Note: If the owner fails to ask for his rent before the next throw of the dice no rent may be collected.

ADVANTAGES FOR OWNERS

 It is an advantage to hold Title Deeds for all Sites of a complete Colour-Group (for example: Mayfair and Park Lane-or Pentonville Road, Euston Road and The Angel, Islington) because the owner may then charge double rent for unimproved Sites of that property. (See "Title Deed" cards.) Houses can only be built on Sites of a complete Colour-Group owned (see Houses). The advantage of owning Houses and Hotels rather than unimproved property is that rentals are very much higher than for unimproved Sites and profit the owner immensely.

LANDING ON "CHANCE" OR "COMMUNITY CHEST"

 A player takes the top card from the pack indicated and after following the instructions printed thereon, returns the card face down to the bottom of the pack. The "Get out of Jail free" card, however, is retained until used. After being used, it is returned to the bottom of the Pack. This card may be sold by a player to another player at a price agreeable to both.

LANDING ON TAX SPACES

Pay all taxes to the Bank. 

LANDING ON "FREE PARKING"

When, in the ordinary course of play, a player's token reaches this space, the player receives no benefit nor incurs any penalty, and moves ahead in the usual manner on his next turn.

BANKER

 Select as Banker a player who will also make a good auctioneer. If, as is customary, the Banker also plays in the game, he must, of course, keep his personal funds separate from those of the Bank. When more than five persons play, the Banker sometimes elects to act only as Banker and Auctioneer.

THE BANK

The Banker preferably uses for the Bank a small side-table placed at his elbow and the game box, or a good-sized container. The Bank holds, besides the Bank's money, the Title Deed cards and Houses and Hotels prior to purchase and use by the players. The Bank pays salaries and bonuses, sells properties to the players and delivers the proper Title Deed cards therefor, auctions Sites, sells Houses and Hotels to the players, loans money when required on mortgages of property at the mortgage value which is one-half of the Site value printed on the board. The Bank will at any time buy back Houses and Hotels from Building Sites at half price. If the Bank runs out of money the Banker must issue 1.0.U.'s for whatever amounts are required. (They can be made out on any small pieces of paper, available, simply write I .0.U. and then the required amount.) These can be exchanged for cash whenever cash is available, otherwise they are simply counted in the assets of the player holding them. Pay to the Bank the price of all properties you buy from it, taxes, fines, money penalties, loans and interest.

JAIL

A player lands in Jail - (1) If his token lands on the space marked "GO TO JAIL-. (2) If he draws a card marked "GO TO JAIL-. (3) If he throws doubles three times in succession. Note: When a player is sent to Jail his turn ends there. He cannot collect £200 Salary in that move since, regardless of where his token is or of the path of the board, he must move his token directly into Jail.

VISITING JAIL

If a player is not "sent to Jail" but in the ordinary course of play reaches that space, he is "just visiting", incurs no penalty, and moves ahead in the usual manner on his next turn. A player gets out of Jail-- (1) By throwing doubles on any of his next three turns after landing in Jail. If he succeeds in doing this he immediately moves forward the number of spaces shown by his doubles throw; he also has another throw of the dice. (2) Purchasing a "Get out of Jail free" card from another player, at a price agreeable to both (unless he already owns such a card by having on a previous turn drawn it from Chance or Community Chest). (3) By paying a £50 fine before he throws the dice for either his next or succeeding turn to play. (4) A player must not remain in Jail after his third turn (i.e., not longer than having three turns to play after being sent to Jail). Immediately after throwing the dice for his third turn he must pay a [50 fine unless he throws doubles. He then comes out and immediately moves forward from Jail the number of spaces shown by his throw. A player may buy and erect a House, sell or buy property, and collect rentals, even though he is in Jail.

HOUSES

Houses can be bought only from the Bank and can only be erected on Sites of a complete Colour-Group which the player owns. (Example: If one player succeeds in owning Pentonville Road, Euston Road and The Angel, Islington, i.e. a complete Colour-Group, he may at any period of his ownership buy a House or Houses from the Bank to erect thereon. If he buys one House, he may put it on any one of these three Sites. The next House he buys and erects must be put on one of the unoccupied Sites of this or of any other complete Colour-Group he may own. The price he must pay the Bank for each House is shown on his Title Deed of the Site. (On the unimproved Sites of his complete Colour-Group he continues collecting double rental from an opponent landing thereon.) A player may buy and erect in accordance with the above rules, at any time, in his turn, as many Houses as his judgment and financial standing will allow, but he must build evenly. He cannot erect more than one House on any one Site of any Colour Group until he has built one House on every Site of that Group. He may then begin on the second row of Houses and so on up to a limit of four Houses to a Site. He cannot build, for example, three Houses on one Site if he has only one House on another site of that Group. Similarly, Sites must be maintained evenly — i.e. if Houses have to be sold they must be removed equally from Sites of a Colour-Group. Houses may not be built on Sites if one of the same Colour-Group is mortgaged.

HOTELS

 A player must have four Houses on each Site of a complete Colour-Group before he can buy an Hotel. He may then buy an Hotel from the Bank to be erected on any site of that Colour-Group, delivering to the Bank in payment, the four Houses already on the Site plus the additional cost of the Hotel (£200 for an Hotel on Park Lane or Mayfair) shown on the Title Deed. (It is very desirable to erect Hotels on account of the very large rental which may be charged. Only one Hotel may be erected on any one Site.)

BUILDING SHORTAGE

 When the Bank has no Houses to sell, players wishing to build must wait for some player to return or to sell his Houses to the Bank before they can build. If there are a limited number of Houses and Hotels available, and two or more players wish to buy more than the Bank has, the Houses or Hotels must be sold by auction to the highest bidder.

SELLING PROPERTY

Undeveloped Sites, Railway Stations and Utilities (but not buildings thereon) may be sold to any player as a private transaction for any amount that the owner can get. No Site, however, can be sold to another player if buildings are standing on any Sites of that Colour• Group. Any buildings so situated must be sold back to the Bank before the owner can sell any Site of that Colour Group. Mortgaged property cannot be sold to the Bank—. only to other players. Houses and Hotels may be resold by players to the Bank only, but this may be done at any time and the Bank will pay one half of the price paid for them. In the case of Hotels, the Bank will pay half the cash price of the Hotel plus half the price of the four Houses which were given in the purchase of the Hotel.

MORTGAGES

Mortgaging properties can be done through the Bank only. The mortgage value is printed on each Title Deed. The rate of interest is 10 per cent, payable when the mortgage is lifted. If any property is transferred which is mortgaged, the new owner may lift the mortgage at once if he wishes, but he must pay 10 per cent interest. If he fails to lift the mortgage, he still pays 10 per cent interest and if he lifts the mortgage later he pays an additional 10 per cent interest as well as the principal. Houses or Hotels cannot be mortgaged. All buildings on the Site must be sold back to the Bank before any property can be mortgaged. The Bank will pay one half of what was paid for them. In order to rebuild a House on mortgaged property the owner must pay the Bank the amount of the mortgage, plus the 10 per cent interest charge and buy the House back from the Bank at its full price.

BANKRUPTCY

A player who is bankrupt, that is, one who owes more than he can pay, must turn over to his creditor all that he has of value, and retire from the game. In making this settlement, however, if he owns Houses or Hotels, these are returned to the Bank in exchange for money, to the extent of half their cost as printed on the Title Deeds, and this cash is given to the creditor. If a bankrupt player turns over to his creditor property that has been mortgaged, the new owner must at once pay the Bank the 10 per cent interest on the loan. At the same time he may at his option lift the mortgage by paying the principal. In case a player is unable to raise money enough to pay his taxes or penalties, even by selling his buildings and mortgaging his property, the Bank will take over all his assets and sell by auction to the highest bidder everything so taken excepting the buildings. The player must then remove his token. The last player left in the game wins.

MISCELLANEOUS

If a player owes more rent than he can pay in cash he may pay his creditor part in cash and part in property. In this case, the creditor will often accept certain property (even if it is mortgaged) at a value far in excess of the printed one so as to obtain additional property for buildings or to block another player from obtaining control of that property. Property owners must watch out for rents due. Do not help other players to watch their properties. The Bank loans money only on mortgage security. Players may not borrow money or property from each other.

RULES FOR PLAYING THE SHORT GAME

 Before commencing, the players stipulate the time at which the game shall end. At the end of the game the richest player is the winner. At the start of the game the Banker shuffles the Title Deed cards and, after having cut them, he deals two cards to each player. The players immediately pay to the Bank the price of the property thus dealt to them. The game then proceeds in the usual manner until the agreed finishing time is reached. No further dealings must take place, but if a player is in actual play when the finish is announced, he is allowed to complete his move, and any transactions in connection with it. Each player then totals up the values of his possessions: (1) Cash in hand. (2) Building Sites, Utilities or Railway Stations owned by him, at the price printed on the board. (3) Mortgaged property at half the price printed on the board. (4) Houses owned valued at their respective cost prices. (5) Hotels, valued at the cost of five houses. The player with the highest total is the winner.