From: philipd@cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Philip Dutre)
Subject: Re: Monopoly Rules
Organization: Dept. Computerwetenschappen
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 10:20:58 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.235315.22990@bcrka451.bnr.ca>, mdm@bnr.ca (Diane MacMartin) writes:
|> 
|>
|> 4.  Getting out of jail - if your third roll in jail is not doubles,
|> you pay $50 and MOVE THAT ROLL.  This is in the rules, but some
|> people play that you get one more turn in jail before having to
|> move.

I don't think this is correct. The rules say you can spend three full turns in 
jail. If you are not throwing doubles a third time, pay $50 and move the next
turn. If you roll a double to get out, you move that number.

The different interpretation comes from the fact that a 'turn' is not defined
in the rules. Is a turn only your opportunity to play, or is it a whole cycle
where all players could move? Depending on what you think it is, you stay
in jail 3 full rounds or 4.

|> 5.  Free Parking - as kids, we used to either place one of each
|> bill in free parking, or pay misc. dues (income tax / luxury tax /
|> etc) to the center, or both; if you landed on free parking you
|> got the money.  To my knowledge this has never been written in
|> the rules.  How did this custom become so widespread?

In "Winning Monopoly" (K. Darzinskis), the author says this rule became 
a variant rather quickly. It has probably to do with the fact that Parker
had an expansion kit "Stock Market". The free parking space is replaced with
a stock market tile, where you can buy shares in companies etc...

|> 
|> Are there other variable rules anyone else plays?
|> 

A lot of them. I think it's due to the fact that very few people have
actually read the rules. Most people saw the game playing, participated in it,
and never cared checking out the rules. It's amazing to see how many people
think the free parking variant actually is in the rules. I never play
with this variant, but if a player shouts "Hey, it's in the rules", I always
ask him to look it up for me. Gives you a slight psychological edge during
actual play.

Other rules variants:

1. You can build hotels immediatly. This is actually wrong. You first have
to build four houses before you can place a hotel. If there are no houses
available, bad luck.

2. You can sell title deeds to the bank. This also is against the rules, because
you can only mortgage title deeds or sell them to another player (not the bank).

3. Collect double income when landing on "Go". Wrong, of course.

4. You can only trade when all title deeds are sold.

5. You can only build houses when all title deeds are sold.

Something about auctions: there is no minimum bid to start an action once
a player says he doesn't want to buy a property. However, it's clear
you should never let a player buy a property for less than the mortgage
value.

A last note: versions in other languages often have variant rules themselves
(apart from the title deed names).
e.g: 
10% income tax is just replaced by "pay $200 income tax".
different chance/community chest cards.
reordering of railway stations in according to the "go to" chance cards.


-- 
| Phil Dutre                            Dept. Computer Science              |
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