Rents get higher as you move along the board, ranging from $2 for landing on an undeveloped Mediterranean Ave., to $2000 for landing on Boardwalk with a hotel. Owners can buy up to five houses on each property (with the fifth house being called a hotel) each house increases the rent on the property. Owning a monopoly increases the rent others must pay on each property, and allows to owner to build houses on each space in that color group. Each player's goal is to collect a "monopoly" of one or more color groups, which means owning all two or three properties in that group. (The only exceptions are the four railroads and two utilities.) When a player lands on a property owned by another player, her must pay that player an amount listed on that property's deed. Property values range from $60 to $400 (for the prestigious Boardwalk space), and most properties are assigned to one of eight "color groups" indicated by the color of the space. If a player lands on a property, he may buy it for the price listed on the space. Some spaces instruct players to draw a "Community Chest" or "Chance Card" but most of the spaces on the board are Properties. Players, each give $1500 in Monopoly Money, take turns rolling dice to see how far the move around a 40-space board, and take action depending on what space they land on.
Just about every American knows how to play Monopoly, but I'll run through the game anyway. All in all, over 100,000,000 Monopoly games have been sold worldwide. But of course, you can still pick up the basic set for $10 at your local Toys 'R' Us.
Today, Monopoly is produced in 19 languages, including a CD-ROM version, a Star Wars version, a milk chocolate version, and a $400 version with silver houses and gold playing pieces. Within a year, Parker Brothers had bought the game. His idea was initially rejected, until the company's president bought a set himself and fell in love with it. Darrow formalized the rules and names of the Monopoly game, and attempted to sell it to Parker Brothers in 1934. Darrow, immediately smitten with the idea of the game, handmade his own board out of wood and oilcloth, and soon was making sets for all his friends. The Landlord's game became a fad on northeastern college campuses and gradually evolved into its current form until it reached the hands of Charles Darrow. Beautifully engraved Historic Certificates from the Reading Railroad (1960's), Pennsylvania Railroad (1940's - 1960's), Cleveland Shortline Railway Company (1911), and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company (1940's - 1950's).Ĥ Certificate Package Monopoly was originally derived from a precursor known as "The Landlord's Game," designed in 1904.