The Monopoly Board

I made this video of The Monopoly Board using Animoto. It was actually pretty easy to do. After I took all the pictures, all I had to do was upload them, choose the music and then I was done. And if the pictures were already on Flickr, I wouldn't even have had to upload them. And see for yourself, Animoto does a great job.

Monopoly Video

This is awesome. It's a stop motion video of a game of Monopoly set to the music of Pink Floyd. Very nicely done.

Monopoly Pants

When I started this Monopoly blog, the goal was to focus on the rules of the game. But since I've starting posting, I'm finding all kinds of cool Monopoly news and stuff that I want to share.

Like these Monopoly Lounge Pants. You know how some Monopoly games last forever? Well when you're playing the same game for hours the last thing you want to worry about is uncomfortable pants. These Monopoly pants look so comfortable that you could probably use them as pajamas.

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.

Monopoly Shoes

Hasbro, the makers of the board game Monopoly and Reebok, those sneaker guys are teaming up to create a new line of Monopoly themed shoes.

This article reports that the sneakers will feature designs based on the Monopoly gameboard. So I guess, they'll have pictures of the properties or Free Parking or something on them.

That sounds good and I'm sure they'll sell well but they should have made a Get Out of Jail Free sneaker with a picture of the Monopoly Guy running.

Or another idea could have been to choose a few properties to model the shoes after. For example left foot is Park Place and right foot is Boardwalk. And when you're playing Monopoly and have all the properties of a color what can you do? That's right, you can build on it. Hasbro/Reebook could have sold jibbitz just like they do for Crocs shoes. Only these jibbitz would look like houses, hotels and game pieces.

An additional line of Monopoly themed sneakers will be released in November. So we can only hope that they take my advice.