Here are some changes to the rules of Monopoly that I think will make the game more fun. The first two are not new. Everyone I know already plays with them:
- All required payments to the bank for taxes, Chance and Community Chest go to the center of the board.
- When a player lands on Free Parking, they get all of the money on the center of the board.
The next five changes are new:
- Any amount of money a player is required to pay for rent, tax, Chance, or a Community Chest, that they can't pay with their own cash or with money gotten by mortgaging property, is paid by the bank.
- A player always receives the rents for their property, including additional rent for houses and hotels, and doubled rents for monopolies, even if their property is mortgaged.
- A player does not have to sell houses or hotels back to the bank before they can mortgage their property.
- All money paid, when purchasing properties, houses and hotels from the bank, goes to the center of the board, instead of the bank.
- The game ends when the bank runs out of money. Whoever has the most assets - cash plus property plus houses plus hotels minus mortgage debt - wins.
The last change is also new, but I am not sure if it is necessary yet:
- Some of the money in the bank - maybe a few thousand dollars - is removed at the beginning of the game so the bank runs out of money sooner. This would prevent the game from going on for too long, or from one player accumulating enough money that it is clear that the other players can't win.
Apart from these changes, the game should be played with the standard rules, as written. If a player owes money and has unmortgaged property, they must pay as much of the debt as they can by mortgaging property, but Rule 3 implies that a player doesn't have to sell houses and hotel back to the bank. Players may buy, sell or trade properties amongst each other. A player may not build houses on a property unless all properties of the same color are not mortgaged. Once all houses and hotels have been purchased from the bank, no more may be bought.
Because of Rule 3, I'm calling Monopoly with these rules "Bailout Monopoly". Probably the worst part of traditional Monopoly is the slow, inexorable loss of assets that you experience when you are losing. Rule 3 prevents that from happening. If you can't pay, the bank bails you out. Also, no one can go bankrupt, so everyone gets to stay in the game until the end.
The most fun part of Monopoly, in my opinion, is collecting rent - especially when you have a monopoly and houses. With Rule 4, you can always collect rent on your property, and because of Rule 6, you don't have to give up houses once you've built them.
Rules 1, 2, 6 mean that a lot of money can be gotten by chance. That, and the luck normally involved in landing on properties, will make it impossible, at least in some games, to predict who will end up with the most money, and therefore who will win, until the end of the game.
There you have it. If you try it and like it, maybe leave a comment. Or leave a comment if you don't like it, or if you think of an improvement.
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