One of the greatest constants in the game of Monopoly (made by Parker Brothers) is that everyone seems to have their own "house rules". If you're playing the game with new people, be sure to determine ahead of time what house rules you're playing with. Alternate rules do not necessarily make the game more fun, but they do make it different. Here's a sampling of some favorite house rules:

FREE PARKING:

1. A the beginning of the game, $500 is placed in a pot. Any taxes or fines incurred by any of the players during the game must be placed in this pot. Whoever lands on Free Parking wins all of the money in the pot. The pot is then re-seeded with $500.

2. Get out a deck of cards from Trivial Pursuit or another trivia game. If a player lands on Free Parking, they must answer a trivia question. If they get it right, they may move to any space on the board that they choose. If they get it wrong, their turn is over (variation: they must pay $20 to each player).

DICE ROLLING:

1. If a player rolls a pair of ones (snake eyes), they receive $100 from the bank.

2. If a player rolls a pair of sixes, they receive $500 from the bank.

3. A player may, at any time, choose to roll only one die instead of two. However, if they roll a 1, they go to jail.

BUYING PROPERTY:

1. Any time a player lands on a property, it is auctioned off openly between all of the players.

2. Any time a player lands on a property, all players hold a "silent auction" where they write their maximum bid on a piece of paper.

3. Players cannot purchase any property at the beginning of the game until at least one player has passed Go.

RAILROADS:

1. Players may play the utilities like railroads, and use the same fines, fees and prices of the railroads for each utility.

2. Players may travel railroads. If they land on a railroad, they may move to any other railroad owned by the same player. They may not travel to railroads that are unowned or owned by a different player. They still must pay their fee. The railroad owner can opt out of taking the fee and force the player to stay on the railroad where they landed.

BUILDING HOUSES:

1. Players may build houses and hotels without owning the monopoly.

2. Players may immediately build hotels without building houses first.

3. Players may build unevenly on their monopoly, meaning they could put a hotel up on one property but no houses at all on another.

4. Add all of the houses and hotels from other Monopoly sets to allow for unlimited housing.

BORROWING MONEY:

1. Players may trade rent immunity with another player, either for the purposes of clearing debt or building alliances.

2. Players may loan money to other players at high interest rates.

3. Players may at any time borrow $500 from the bank, and for the next 6 times they pass Go, collect only $100.

JAIL:

1. A player in jail may not conduct any business until they are out, including collecting rent.

2. A player who lands on jail may immediately pay $100 to avoid any punishment at all, they simply go to "Just Visiting".

3. If you go to jail, you must remain there for at least one turn.

OTHER:

1. If any player lands directly on Go, they collect $400 instead of $200.

2. If you have less than $100 in cash at the beginning of any turn, you receive $100 from the bank.

3. Change cards in the Chance and Community Chest to say alternate things, for example, "Win Second Prize in Beauty Contest, Move to Any Desired Property."


What house rules does your family have? Discuss them in the forum!