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Monopoly is one of the most-played board games around the world. The pastime is not only licensed in 114 countries but translated to at least 47 languages. Since its official publication in 1935, the game of Monopoly had since gained popularity globally. So much so, it has at least 1000 editions.

So, how do you play this fun game? And more importantly, what popular editions should you consider? Read on to find the answers to your inquiries. Also, you will learn the origin of Monopoly and as it grew over the years.

History of Monopoly

Though published in 1935, the origin of the famous board game dates back to little over a century ago. Do you know that Monopoly is a derivative of another game, The Landlord’s Game? In 1903, Lizzie G. Magie created a game to explain Henry George’s tax theory. The idea was that Magie’s The Landlord’s Game would educate the American populace of the benefit of diversified economies (anti-monopoly) as opposed to the rigid private Monopoly. How?

The landlord’s Game had two scenarios. The first scenario is the anti-monopoly outlook wherein a player purchases land and properties to later resell and create wealth. On the other hand, the second scenario, the monopoly outlook, requires a player to crush his opposition by hoarding all lands and properties.

Lizzie G. Magie’s product would only gain large following later in 1932. However, fame isn’t the only thing that happened to The Landlord’s Game that year. It was also distributed under a new name, Monopoly, by Mr. Darrow.

By 1935, The Parker Brothers bought Monopoly copyrights from Darrow and Magie. With a better game design, The Parker Brothers then marketed Monopoly to Americans. The game would later spread beyond the shores of America to other countries post-1935. In 1941, the Monopoly board game got a special edition modelled to help prisoners of World War II escape their respective camps.

Today, Monopoly had spread across different continents and cultures to be arguably the populous board game in the world.

How to play?

Monopoly, like other board games, involves rolling a pair of dice between 2 and 8 players. As regards rules, all editions of Monopoly follow similar ones. Besides, players can always find the rule book in their monopoly boxes.

So, to start, the player with the highest number after the roll of dice gets the nod. However, players can only begin their monopoly journey from any of the four spaces below:

• Free parking
• Go
• Go to Jail
• Jail

The board itself has 40 spaces in total. Those 40 entries entail properties, companies, taxes, rail stations, and waterworks. And depending on the version or edition of Monopoly, players get varied playing pieces.

Regardless of the playing piece, each player gets an equal amount of money to start the Monopoly game. They, the players, can then earn or lose their money via the community chests and chances cards.

Landing Options

If a player settles on a free piece of land, he proceeds to buy it from the Banker. And once you own any property space, you start generating revenue from rent whenever other players land on your property.

However, if a player lands on the chance or community (COC) card, he must do what it says. The usual options of the COC cards are:

• Advance to go
• Directly to jail
• Go to jail

One of the best landing options is free parking. Free parking is a space. What that means is that players don’t pay rent for landing on a free parking space.

The Roll-Double Challenge

Whenever a player rolls double (realizes the same number on a pair of dice), he has to re-roll the dice. If, unfortunately, a player rolls double thrice consecutively, he goes to jail. But no need to panic. To get out of jail in Monopoly, you can either use the card ‘get out of jail free” or pay a $50 fine. There’s a third option to get out of jail. It requires that a player do a roll double in three trials. If not, he pays the fine.

Winning and losing

To win at Monopoly board game, a player must accrue enough land and properties to be the wealthiest player.

To lose, on the other hand, a player will go bankrupt. In other words, such a player does not have the cash to either own or buy a property.

In all, the last player on the board wins the bragging rights: the monopolist.

Editions of Monopoly

Monopoly comes in 47 different languages across 114 countries. As such, the pastime has numerous versions to satisfy the needs and preferences of its players. Some recent editions include:

• Monopoly 85th anniversary edition
• Monopoly Super Mario celebration edition
• Monopoly: Star Wars the Complete Saga
• Monopoly Game Stranger Things
• Ms. Monopoly Board Game

FAQs about Monopoly