Monopoly (1987)

• Three players in this game:
  • Claire, who has the red dog
  • Larry, who has the yellow car
  • Isie, who has the blue hat
• Each player starts with a bank of $5,000. Displays are used rather than Monopoly money.
• Before the game, each player rolled the dice. The highest number got to choose from three envelopes, the second highest from two and the lowest took the leftover. Each of those envelopes contained either seven or eight properties.
  • Claire was assigned a monopoly of orange properties, 2 of the light blue properties, one of the purple properties and Boardwalk.
  • Larry received monopolies in both yellow and dark blue, 2 of the purple properties and one of the red properties.
  • Isie had a green monopoly, 2 red properties, one of the light blue properties and Park Place.
• Observation: Nice set-up here, making sure that each player had one monopoly with a second player having two but not having a stake in Boardwalk/Park Place. Additionally, three of the other four non-monopolized properties are all in 2-to-1 ratios for one player, except for Boardwalk/Park Place. Sorry about that, back to the insanity.
• "Rich Uncle Pennybags" assigns one house to each of the monopoly properties. Each player had the option of adding two houses if they so desire. Note that Marc had to explain all of this before the game began.
• Now that the game begins, the first player rolls their dice and the unnamed assistant moves their piece. Several things can happen here.
  • If a player lands on an owned space that is part of a Monopoly, they simply pay rent to the owning player if they don't own the property.
  • If a player lands on an owned space that is not part of a Monopoly, the player who owns two of the three properties is asked a trivia question with two possible answers. If the player is correct, they receive the third property. If the player is correct, the other player receives the two properties to complete the monopoly. In either case, the new owner of the monopoly can improve it with up to two sets of houses if they desire, paying the normal game rates for the wanted amount of houses for that property.
  • If they land on Free Parking, they win the money currently in the Free Parking pot, further angering Monopoly purists who know that there is no such thing as a Free Parking pot.
  • If they land on a railroad, the player will be moved to a different space depending on the result of a mini-game. In round one, the mini game involved a player choosing from three hidden selections, with the chance of refusing one selection but being stuck with the next one. In round three, the mini game involved a player picking a letter in the word "monopoly" and moving to the designated space.
  • If the player is assigned to jail, on their next turn they are asked a trivia question with two possible answers. If they are correct, they are released. If they are incorrect, they pay $500 to Free Parking and they are released.
  • If the player lands on Community Chest, they are asked a trivia question with two possible answers. If they are correct, they win a set of houses. If they are incorrect, they lose a set of houses.
  • If the player lands on Chance, they are asked a trivia question with two possible answers. If they are correct, they go to Free Parking. If they are incorrect, they move to Luxury Tax and lose $100 times the roll of the dice.
  • Doubles gives the player another roll of the dice.
• For Round 2, players during the commercial could add two more houses on any of their monopoly properties, as long as their bank did not go below $2,000. Additionally, $250 was added to Free Parking.
• For Round 3, players during the commercial could improve as much as the want, as long as they could afford it. Additionally, some rules changed:
  • All players received the cash values of their properties and improvements as an augment to their current banks. They kept the properties.
  • $250 more added to Free Parking.
  • Chance and Community Chest were now wagering spots, where players could add or lose money in their bank based on their bets on a three-choice trivia question.
  • All rents doubled.

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