Monopoly Free Parking

Rules of Free Parking
Nothing happens when you land on Free Parking. No prizes, no bonuses, no nothing. It’s in the official rules and that’s all there is to it.

Now you might be saying to yourself, huh, I always thought that Free Parking is when you receive all the money that’s been placed at the center of the Monopoly board. Well you’re right too.

One of the most commonly adopted House Rules is to place all taxes and fees in the center of the board to be awarded to the first person that lands on Free Parking. Why, I’ve even seen people put all the money owed to the bank for buying properties, houses and hotels in the center of the board. And that’s fine because, House Rules are House Rules. But if you want to play by the official rules, Free Parking is just a rest space where nothing happens.

House Rules
The problem with this Free Parking House Rule, is that to makes the game take longer to play. How many times have you seen a player, down on his luck, tons of mortgaged properties, nearly bankrupt and then he lands on Free Parking and he’s not only back in the game but he winds up winning. Without that fresh infusion of cash from Free Parking, that player would gone bankrupt and spent the rest of the game getting snacks and drinks for the rest of players. And who doesn’t like to have a snack while playing Monopoly?

So if you enjoy a marathon session of Monopoly, then by all means, use a Free Parking House Rule. But the official rules, which were created to speed up the game, state that nothing happens on Free Parking.

Monopoly Jail

The Rules of Jail
There are three ways that you could wind up in Monopoly Jail.

1. By rolling three doubles in a row
2. Landing on the Go To Jail space on the Monopoly Board
3. Drawing a Change or Community Chest card that says Go To Jail

When one of the above three things happens you must go directly to jail, you do not pass Go and you definitely don't collect your $200.

If you land on the actually Jail space on the board (not the Go To Jail space), there's no penalty or fee to pay, you just park your piece in the Just Visiting section of the space and proceed as usual on your next turn.

Now a lot of people think that when you're in jail that you can't collect rent. That's not true. According to the official rules of Monopoly, you can collect rent and buy and sell hotels and houses while in jail.

How To Get Out Of Jail
There are several ways to get out of jail.

1. Rolling doubles
2. Using a Get Out of Jail Free card
3. Paying $50

If none of the above happens before your third roll of the dice, you must pay $50 and proceed the number of spaces on the dice. For example, if your third roll isn't doubles, say it's a 2 and a 1, then you pay $50 and proceed three spaces.

If you do roll doubles before your third try, you proceed the amount of spaces shown on the dice but you don't get to roll again as you normally would when rolling doubles.

Jail Tip: Since you are allowed to conduct business while in jail, try buying a Get Out Of Jail Free card from one of your opponents.

Jail Factoid: The Policeman on the Go To Jail space is named Officer Edgar Mallory

Basic Monopoly Rules

If you're like me and learn things quicker by watching videos, then this video by Matt Young on Monkeysee will get you playing Monopoly in a hurry.

How Much Money Does Each Player Get In The Game Monopoly

First thing you'll need to know to play Monopoly is how to get started. Pick a player to be the banker. As you might think, the banker's job is to deal with the money.

The first thing the banker needs to do is give each player their starting money. The starting money totals $1500 but needs to consist of the following bills:

2 - $500 bills
2 - $100 bills
2 - $50 bills
6 - $20 bills
5 - $10 bills
5 - $5 bills
5 - $1 bills

The banker will also pay each player $200 every time they pass Go and collect the money needed to buy real estate. Towards the end of the game when players can't afford to pay rents on the properties that they stay at, the banker also handles bankruptcies. But we'll get to that in another post.

If your Monopoly board is old and worn out, (like mine) you may not have the instructions in the box anymore. If that's the case, then knowing how much each player gets when you start playing Monopoly is important to remember.