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Monopoly is one of the best-selling commercial board games in the world. Players compete to acquire wealth through stylized economic activity involving the purchase, rental and trading of real estate using play money, as players take turns moving around the board according to the roll of the dice. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly, the domination of a market by a single seller.
Patent drawing for Lizzie Magie's board game, 01/05/1904.
According to Hasbro, since Charles Darrow patented the game in 1935, approximately 500 million people have played the game, making it "the most played board game in the world" (though this fact is heavily disputed).
Variations on the game of Monopoly were developed and played during the early part of the twentieth century.
These included various homemade games adapted to the places where players lived. A frequently cited example: in 1904, Georgist (that is, a supporter of political economist Henry George) Lizzie Magie patented a game called "The Landlord's Game" with the object of demonstrating how rents enrich property owners and impoverish tenants. She knew that some people could find it hard to understand why this happened and what might be done about it, and she thought that if Georgist ideas were put into the concrete form of a game, they might be easier to demonstrate. In 1936, Parker Brothers bought the rights to The Landlord's Game from Magie for $500[3] with the understanding that they would promote the game alongside Monopoly.
Although The Landlord's Game was patented, it was not taken up by a manufacturer until 1910, when it was published in the U.S. by the Economic Game Company of New York. In the UK it was published in 1913 by the Newbie Game Company of London under the title Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit. Despite the title change, it was recognizably the same game.
Apart from commercial distribution, it spread by word of mouth and was played in slightly variant homemade versions over the years by Quakers, Georgists, university students and others who became aware of it. As it spread, its rules were changed, most notably in dropping the second phase of the game during which a Land tax was introduced to replace the other taxes, and the shortened game became known as "Auction Monopoly". It was often localized, with the original fanciful property names being replaced by street names from the cities where the players lived. By the late 1920s it was known simply as "Monopoly" and was played very much as it is now.
One version of the game, commonly played in the Philadelphia area, had Atlantic City street names; this game was taught to Charles Darrow, who then began to distribute the game himself. Darrow initially made the sets of the Monopoly game by hand with the help of his first son, William Darrow, and his wife. Charles drew the designs with a drafting pen on round pieces of oilcloth, and then his son and his wife helped fill in the spaces with colors and make the title deed cards and the chance and community chest cards. After the demand for the game increased, Darrow contacted a printing company, which printed the designs of the property spaces on square carton boards.
Darrow took the game to Parker Brothers, who then sold it as his personal invention. Parker Brothers subsequently decided to buy out Magie's copyright, and the copyrights of other commercial variants of the game, in order to claim that it had legitimate, undisputed rights to the game.
Monopoly was first marketed on a broad scale by Parker Brothers on November 5, 1935 with international licensing rights given to Waddington Games of the United Kingdom (both of which are now part of Hasbro). Waddington's version (with locations from London) was first produced in 1936.
On the original Parker Brothers board (reprinted in 2002 by Winning Moves Games), there were no icons for the Community Chest spaces (the blue chest overflowing with gold coins came later). Nor were there property values printed on spaces on the board. The Income Tax was slightly higher (being $300 or 10%, instead of the later $200 or 10%). The Chance and Community Chest cards were reprinted in their original 1935 form, without "Rich Uncle Pennybags", who was introduced in 1936.
Parker Brothers then promoted Darrow as the game's sole inventor. Decades later, when they attempted to suppress publication of a game called Anti-Monopoly, designed by Ralph Ansbach, the trademark suit went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1983, and the court found in favor of Ansbach because Darrow had merely copied an existing game that was known as "Monopoly" by those who played it.
This USPS stamp honors Monopoly's first commercial promotion in the 1930s
The original Monopoly game had been localized for the cities or areas in which it was played and Parker Brothers has continued this practice. Their version of Monopoly has been produced for international markets, with the place names being localized for cities including London and Paris, and for countries including the Netherlands and Germany, among others.
In recent years, different manufacturers of the game have created dozens of versions in which the names of the properties and other elements of the game are replaced by others with some theme. There are versions about national parks, Star Trek, Star Wars, Disney, various particular cities (such as Las Vegas or Bath) and villages (such as "Calumetopoly" for Calumet, Michigan), states, NASCAR, and many others.
In July of 2000, in a major marketing effort, Hasbro renamed the mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags to "Mr. Monopoly", felt by some to be a more bland name.
Computer and video game versions have been made available on many different platforms; they have been produced for PC, Amiga, Mac, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and mobile phones.
Equipment
All twelve tokens from the U.S. Deluxe Edition Monopoly.
Each player is represented by a small pewter token which is moved around the edge of the board according to the roll of two dice. The twelve playing pieces currently used are pictured to the right and are as follows (from left to right): a wheelbarrow, a battleship, a sack of money (1999 editions onwards), a horse and rider, a car, a train (Deluxe Edition only), a thimble, a cannon, an old boot, a Scottie dog, an iron, and a top hat.
Originally, the battleship and cannon were from a Parker Brothers war-based game that failed on the market; the premade pieces were recycled into Monopoly usage. Hasbro recently adopted the battleship and cannon for Diplomacy.
In 1999, a token representing a sack of money was added following an online vote. The other two options were a biplane and a piggy bank. Unlike the tokens introduced in special themed editions, this token was added to the base set. More recently, a train has also been added to the possible lineup (pictured).
Early localized editions of the standard edition did not include pewter tokens but instead had generic plastic head-shaped tokens (not unlike the MSN Messenger logo). These plastic tokens can be seen in the German Monopoly set pictured at the beginning of this article.
Also included in the standard edition are:
The dice in Britain were replaced with a spinner through a lack of materials due to World War IIA pair of six-sided dice.
A Title Deed for each property. A Title Deed is given to a player to signify ownership, and specifies purchase price, mortgage value, the cost of building houses and hotels on that property, and the various rent prices depending on how developed the property is. Properties include:
22 streets, divided into 8 color groups of two or three streets. A player must own all of a color group (have a monopoly) in order to build houses or hotels.
4 railways. Players collect higher rent if they own more than one railway. Hotels and houses cannot be built on railways.
2 utilities. Players collect higher rent if they own both utilities. Hotels and houses cannot be built on utilities.
A supply of paper 'money'. The supply of money is theoretically unlimited; if the bank runs out of money the players must make do with other markers, or calculate on paper.
Thirty-two wooden or plastic houses and twelve wooden or plastic hotels. (the original and the current 'Deluxe Edition' have wooden houses and hotels, the current 'base set' uses plastic buildings) Unlike money, houses and hotels have a finite supply. If no more are available, no substitute is allowed.
A deck of 16 "Chance" cards and a deck of 16 "Community Chest" cards. Players draw these cards when they land on the corresponding squares of the track, and follow the instructions printed on them.
Hasbro also sells a Deluxe Edition, which is mostly identical to the classic edition but has wooden houses and hotels and gold-toned tokens, including one token in addition to the standard eleven: a railroad locomotive. Other additions to the Deluxe Edition include a card carousel, which holds the title deed cards, and money printed with two colors of ink.
The F.A.O. Schwarz in New York City sells a custom version called "One-of-a-kind Monopoly" for USD$100,000.[6][7] This special edition comes in a locking attaché case made with Napolino leather and lined in suede, and upgrades include:
18-carat (75%) gold tokens, houses and hotels
Rosewood board
street names written in gold leaf
emeralds around the Chance icon
sapphires around the Community Chest
rubies in the brake lights of the car on the Free Parking Space
the money is real, negotiable United States currency
Rules
Two to eight people may play Monopoly, but the game dynamics are ideal with six players. With more than six players, it is too likely that an individual will not have the opportunity to purchase significant property, and be bankrupted without ever having been in contention. With four or fewer players, there are not as many possible combinations of property ownership, and the importance of astute trading and negotiation is diminished.
Each player begins the game with his token on the Go square, and $1500 ( £1500, €1500, etc.) in cash divided as follows (This list uses U.S. currency) :
2 each of:
$500 bills
$100 bills and
$50 bills
6 $20 bills
5 each of:
$10 bills
$5 bills
$1 bills
All property deeds, houses, and hotels are held by the bank until purchased by the players.
Official rules
Players take turns in order, as determined by chance prior to the game. A player's turn consists of rolling two dice and advancing on the board the corresponding number of squares clockwise around the track. Depending on where he lands, he takes any of a number of actions.
Setting up the game
To begin, each player selects a token. Only when his first turn to move arrives, he places it on the Go space on the board. One player becomes the Banker, who distributes assets from the Bank to the players. Each player receives $1500. Earlier versions specify denominations of one $500, seven $100, two $50, five $20, seven $10, five $5, and five $1. Later versions specify two $500, two $100, two $50, six $20, five $10, five $5, and five $1. The Bank has 32 houses and 12 hotels, but never runs out of money. If necessary, the Banker can create more money to give to players. The Banker keeps his assets separate from those of the Bank.
The game board
A player's turn consists of rolling two dice and advancing on the board the corresponding number of squares clockwise around the track. Depending where he lands, he takes the following additional actions:
If the player lands on an unowned property, he may buy it for the price listed on that property's space. If he agrees to buy it, he pays the Bank the amount shown on the property space and receives the title deed for that property. If he declines to buy it, the property must be immediately put up for auction. All players are eligible to participate in the auction, including the player who declined to buy it, and the bidding may start at any price. The highest bidder wins the property and pays the Bank the amount bid and receives the property's title deed. Railroads and utilities are also properties.
If the player lands on an unmortgaged property owned by another player, he pays rent to that person, as specified on the property's deed.
If the player lands on his own property, or on property which is owned by another player but currently mortgaged, nothing happens.
If the player lands on Luxury Tax/Super Tax, he must pay the Bank $75/£100.
If the player lands on Income Tax he must pay the Bank $200 or 10% of his assets (i.e. cash on hand plus the value of all buildings owned and the prices of all properties owned). The player must decide which to pay before totaling his assets. (The 10% option is not available on the British board.)
If the player lands on Chance, he receives a Chance card that has instructions on it which must be followed. Most of these involve moving, e.g. "Take a ride on the Reading/Take a trip to Marylebone Station", which means the player must advance his token to the Reading Railroad/Marylebone Station square, paying the owner the applicable rent, and collecting $200 if he passes Go. An oft-quoted Chance card is the one that reads, "Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200". If the player lands on Community Chest he receives a card as with Chance, except that most Community Chest cards involve money, and are usually favorable to the drawing player, e.g., "Bank error in your favor. Collect $200". If the player draws a Get Out of Jail Free card, he keeps it and can use it later or sell it to another player.
If the player lands on the Go to Jail square, he must move his token to Jail (without passing Go). If the player has a Get Out of Jail Free card or can buy one from another player, he moves his token to the "Just Visiting" part of the square.
If the player lands on or passes Go he receives $200 from the bank, unless he is going to Jail.
If the player lands on Jail he is "Just Visiting" and does nothing. No penalty applies. However, if a player is directed to go to Jail by a card, or from having landed on the Go To Jail square, or by virtue of having rolled doubles three times consecutively, he lands in the Jail proper and can get out by paying a $50 fine, using a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, or by rolling doubles. If a player refuses to pay the fine and fails to roll doubles, he loses his turn. If a player in Jail refuses to pay the fine three consecutive turns, and each turn fails to roll doubles, the $50 fine is assessed anyway, and he moves the number of spaces on his last unsuccessful roll.
If the player lands on Free Parking nothing happens.
Doubles
A player who rolls doubles takes another turn after completing the first one (unless he/she was in Jail). If he rolls doubles again, he takes a third turn after completing the second. If, on the third turn, he rolls doubles again, he does not take that
Properties, Rents, and Construction
Properties are arranged in "color groups" of two or three properties. Once a player owns all properties of a color group (a monopoly), that player may purchase either one to four houses or one hotel (which is equivalent to five houses) for those properties, which raise the rents that must be paid when other players land on the property. The properties in a color group must be developed evenly, i.e. each house that is built must go on the property in the group with the fewest number of houses on it so far. If the number of houses built on the color group is not evenly divisible, then one or two properties may have one extra house. For example, houses in a group may be distributed (2,3,2) or (0,1,1) or (4,4,3) but not (1,2,3) or (0,4,4).
A hotel may be built on a color group only after all properties in the group have four houses. A player purchases a hotel by paying the price of an additional house, and returning the four houses on that property to the bank in exchange for a hotel. If there are not enough houses in the bank for a player to build four houses on each property before building a hotel, the player may not skip directly to buying a hotel by paying the full price at one go.
The bank has a fixed supply of 32 houses and 12 hotels. If more players decide to build more houses at the same time than there are houses in the bank, the houses are auctioned off one at a time to the highest bidder. This rule favors the owners of expensive properties, for which the houses cost more in the first place, because the auction price of a house is not tied to the value of the property on which it will be placed.
At any time a player may, to raise cash, return hotels and houses to the bank for half their purchase price. If there are sufficient houses in the bank, hotels may also be "broken down" into a number of houses for the corresponding percentage of their purchase price. For example, hotels in one color group may be replaced by two houses each, and for each hotel thus broken down, the player receives half the cost of three houses. Also, properties with no houses or hotels may be mortgaged for half of the property price. A property does not collect rent while mortgaged and may not be developed. To de-mortgage a property a player must pay "interest" of 10% in addition to the mortgage price. Whenever a mortgaged property changes hands between players, the new owner must immediately pay another 10% interest on the mortgage price, and if he doesn't pay off the mortgage immediately he must pay another 10% when he does.
Trades
Players may freely make trades amongst themselves, involving cash and/or properties. This is often done to obtain all the properties in a particular color group. In tournament games a player may not loan money or trade anything for future consideration.
Bankruptcy and Resignation
A player continues playing until he owes the bank or another player more than the amount of cash he can raise and is thus "bankrupted". When a player is bankrupted by a debt to the bank, (or if he resigns), all of his money is returned to the bank, and the property is auctioned off to the remaining players. When a player is bankrupted by a debt to another player, all of the bankrupt player's property is given to his creditor. The winner is the last player left solvent.
Because of the transfer of assets when a player leaves the game, it is tempting for a player on the verge of insolvency to play kingmaker. For example, a player who owes a larger rent than he can pay to a player he detests might say, "You wouldn't trade with me earlier when I needed it, so before I go out, I'm selling everything I own to a different player for one dollar, and that's all you are getting out of me!"
To prevent this sort of behavior, tournament rules usually forbid a player who has just incurred a debt to sell or trade anything unless he thereby raises enough cash to pay off the debt in full. Alternately, some interpretations of the tournament rules allow the bankrupt player to choose to trade away to other players instead of giving all to the debtor, but these trades must be conducted in the best interests of the debtor, ideally getting at least the printed value of each property.
Alternatively, a player whose chances of winning have been destroyed by incurring a large debt may be tempted to leave ungracefully by handing everything over intact to his creditor without having been technically bankrupted. This also is forbidden in most tournaments. Before going bankrupt, a player must sell all houses and all hotels, and then mortgage all his properties in an attempt to pay off the debt. Thus a player who comes into property by bankrupting someone else never receives anything other than mortgaged and undeveloped property.
These bankruptcy rules are an effort to enforce fair play, but in spite of them there are many ways within the rules by which a losing player can substantially affect the balance of power between the players left in the game.
House rules
Many casual Monopoly players are surprised and disappointed to discover that some of the rules they are used to are not part of the official rules. Many of these house rules tend to make the game longer by giving some players more money. Some of the more common house rules include:
Free Parking jackpot, which usually consists of an initial stake plus collection of fines and taxes that would otherwise be paid to the bank. A player who lands on Free Parking wins the jackpot, which may then be reset with the initial stake (if any). The jackpot is usually put in the center of the board.
Players in jail not allowed to build and/or collect rent.
A bonus amount for landing directly on "GO" (commonly an additional $200).
Unlimited houses and hotels.
Not having auctions when a player passes on their chance to buy the property they land on, or neglects to stake their claim.
Delayed Start, Players must pass "GO" before they can buy property.
Double Rent, even with mortgage/with no mortgage. Even with mortgage allows yourself to collect double rent even if one or more properties' colour group are mortgaged.
Strategy
Monopoly involves a substantial portion of luck, with the roll of the dice determining whether a player gets to own key properties or lands on squares with high rents. Even the initial misfortune of going last is a significant disadvantage, because one is more likely to land on property which has already been purchased, and therefore be forced to pay rent instead of having an opportunity to buy unowned property. There are, however, many strategic decisions which allow skilled players to win more often than the unskilled.
One common criticism of Monopoly is that it has carefully defined yet almost unreachable termination conditions. Many players' childhood memories of Monopoly involve giving up playing the game after a seemingly endless series of hours playing. This problem can be resolved by playing with a time limit and counting up each player's worth when the time is up.
Add-ons
Numerous official and unofficial add-ons have been made for Monopoly, both before its commercialization and after. The best-known expansion to the game is the Stock Exchange Add-On, published by Parker Brothers in 1936. Originally released in 1936, it was later redesigned and rereleased in 1992 under license by Chessex, this time including a large number of new Chance and Community Chest cards (more info).
In the Stock Exchange add-on, the Free Parking square is replaced with the Stock Exchange. The add-on also contained three each of Chance and Community Chest cards directing the player to advance to the Stock Exchange. The 1992 add-on also included seven other Chance cards and eight Community Chest cards (to play with the 1992 add-on, one Community Chest card - "From sale of stock you get $45" - is removed).
The add-on also included thirty stock certificates, five for each of the six different stocks, differing only in its purchase price, ranging from $100 to $150. Shares, like properties, can be considered to be tradeable material, and could also be mortgaged for half their purchase price. Shareholders could increase the value of their shares by buying up more of the same company's shares.
When a player moves onto Free Parking, stock dividends are paid out to all players with any unmortgaged shares. The amount to be paid out to each player is determined based on the number and kind of shares owned. Specifically, a player receives dividends from each stock based on the following mathematical formula:
(purchase price of share / 10) × (number of shares owned)2
The player who lands on Free Parking can also choose to buy a share if any remain—should the player decline, the Bank auctions a share off to the highest bidder. The 1936 rules are ambiguous with regards to the stock that is put up for auction, and convention has it that the winner of the auction chooses the stock to be received.
The Stock Exchange add-on serves to inject more money into the game, in a similar manner to railroad properties, as well as changing the relative values of properties. In particular, the Yellow and Green properties are more valuable due to the increased chance of landing on Free Parking, at the expense of the Light Purple and Orange groups.
The game was again reengineered in 2001, this time adding an electronic calculator-like device to keep track of the complex stock figures (more info).
"Playmaster", another add-on, kept track of all player movement and dice rolls as well as what properties are still available. It then uses this information to call random auctions and mortgages that will be advantageous for some players and a punishment for others, making it easier to free up cards of a color group. It also plays eight short tunes when key game functions occur, for example when a player lands on a railroad it will play I've Been Working on the Railroad. See the BoardGameGeek database for more.
There have also been several unofficial Monopoly addons, some of which are able to be played on their own as well as in addition to Monopoly.
Spinoffs
Monopoly Tycoon is a PC game in the Tycoon series that takes the luck factor out of Monopoly and makes it a strategy and speed game. Being a computer game, it is the only true "improvement" that this game has had. Moreover it allows online multiplayer possible.
Games with the Monopoly name
Parker Brothers has also sold several games which are spinoffs of Monopoly. These are not add-ons as they don't function as an addition to the Monopoly game, but are simply additional games in the flavor of Monopoly.
Monopoly Junior board game, a simplified version for young children
Advance to Boardwalk board game
Monopoly: The Card Game
Water Works card game
Free Parking card game
Don't Go To Jail The MONOPOLY Dice Game
A short-lived television game show, Monopoly, ran for twelve weeks in 1990 before being cancelled.
In North America, a variety of slot machines have been produced with a Monopoly theme.
Themed Monopoly games
Over the years, several speciality Monopoly editions have been released, including:
Arsenal F.C. Monopoly (UK)
Manchester United F.C. Monopoly (UK)
Bath Monopoly (UK)
Australian Football League Monopoly (Australia)
Disney Monopoly (At least two different versions)
50th Anniversary Chevy Corvette Monopoly
Chicago White Sox World Series 1917-2005 Monopoly
Europa Monopoly, sold in Germany, using Euros for currency and different European nations as the colored properties.
Garfield Monopoly
Hard Rock Cafe Monopoly (with international locations this essentially serves as a global monopoly game).
Harley Davidson Monopoly
Looney Tunes Monopoly
Lord of the Rings Monopoly
Marshall Field's Monopoly, sold exclusively by the department store chain.
New York Monopoly
NASCAR Monopoly
National Parks Monopoly
NHL Monopoly
Peanuts Monopoly
Pokémon Monopoly
Powerpuff Girls Monopoly
Spider-Man Monopoly
Red Sox Monopoly
The Simpsons Monopoly
Seattle Monopoly
Star Trek Monopoly (one version for each of the first four series)
Star Wars Monopoly (with versions for the "Original Trilogy" and the "Prequel" movies)
Here and Now Limited Edition Monopoly (UK 70th anniversary edition updating the properties)
Vaughan Monopoly, released by the mayor of the City of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, as a PR item
and dozens more
National Monopoly games
Several Monopoly games featuring locations for several countries have been officially released, sometimes as limited editions, including:
Monopoly Australia
Monopoly Canada
Monopoly Finland
Monopoly France
Monopoly Ireland
Monopoly Germany
Monopoly Latvia
Monopoly New Zealand
Monopoly United Kingdom
Monopoly USA
Local Monopoly games
Several Monopoly games are based on cities, towns, or regions within countries, again sometimes as special editions:
Monopoly Bath
Monopoly Birmingham
Monopoly Brighton
Monopoly Bristol
Monopoly Cambridge
Monopoly Cornwall
Monopoly Coventry
Monopoly Derbyshire
Monopoly Devon
Monopoly Edinburgh
Monopoly Essex
Monopoly Glasgow
Monopoly Gloucestershire
Monopoly Hull
Monopoly Jersey
Monopoly Kent
Monopoly Leicestershire
Monopoly Liverpool
Monopoly Manchester
Monopoly Northern Ireland
Monopoly Norwich
Monopoly Nottingham
Monopoly Oxford
Monopoly Reading
Monopoly Southampton
Monopoly Sunderland
Monopoly Swansea
Monopoly Wigan
City in a box
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(City) in a box is a series of Monopoly-inspired games that are themed off of major cities through America. This theme was introduced in the 90's. Cities include:
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Atlanta
Detroit
St. Louis
Philadelphia
Similar games
There are games which are "Monopoly-like".
"Fast Food Franchise" is a board game by TimJim games which shares Monopoly's core mechanic, but through careful design guarantees that it will actually end.
Variants
Because Monopoly evolved in the public domain before its commercialization, Monopoly has seen many variant games. Most of these are exact copies of the Monopoly games with the street names replaced with locales from a particular town, university, or fictional place. Some notable variants include:
Anti-Monopoly, written by Ralph Anspach in 1974.
Dogopoly [8], created by Spahits Games in 1977 with a 25th anniversary edition released in 2002.
Solarquest, a popular space-age adaptation, was released by Golden in 1986.
Ghettopoly, released in 2003, caused considerable offense upon its release. The game, intended to be a humorous rendering of ghetto life, was decried as racist for its unflinching use of racial stereotypes.
The Mad Magazine Game, a Mad Magazine themed board game in which the object of the game is to lose all your money, play is counter-clockwise, and the dice must be rolled with the left hand. Released by Parker Brothers in 1979.
Atlantik is a Monopoly-based computer game for KDE on Linux, again, with the street names changed. It maintains the same set of rules for Monopoly while adding multiplayer support across a LAN or the internet.
Galactic Magnate [9], a version modified to minimize the impact of luck and having reachable termination conditions.
City in a box series games were themed with named properties from major cities throughout the USA.
There are also numerous Monopoly versions featuring locations of other cities and countries, including San Francisco, CA, Canada, several UK regions, and several European countries, but these versions are rare outside their intended location. See Localized versions of the Monopoly game for more on these.
Late for The Sky produce a huge range of Monopoly based games with the same rules and board layout as Monopoly but with a large selection of special themes. Some of these presumably make Monopoly more interesting for children and other specific market segments. They also offer Monopoly based games based on your own theme.
In the 50th anniversary edition, it comes with another special piece, a bronze bag of money.
Popular culture
A common dismissive comment about a currency is to call it "Monopoly money", for instance as Americans sometimes refer to the more colourful Canadian dollar, or the British the "lower value" euro.
McDonald's Monopoly is a sweepstakes run by the fast-food chain, with a theme based on the board game where you receive a prize if you collect all the properties of one color section. The playing pieces are often found on medium to large drinks and french fries, as well as other selected menu items. For example, in the Fall 2005 incarnation, game pieces could be found on their "Premium Chicken" items.
CNBC TV anchor James Cramer, a Monopoly fan who was a co-host with Lawrence Kudlow on Kudlow & Cramer, has referred to railroad stocks as "the Readings and the Short Lines" on his TV program Mad Money. Like Monopoly patentor Charles Darrow, Cramer is from southeastern Pennsylvania, specifically Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.
The arch rival of The Simpsons' character C. Montgomery Burns is Uncle Pennybags, who has been featured in a few episodes. Also, in another episode titled "Brawl in the Family" [10], the Simpsons try to decide what game to play, going through a list of Monopoly clones including: Edna Krabopoly, Gallipolopoly, and Star Wars Monopoly. Later a family fight breaks out when they discover Bart using red Lego pieces as hotels; one of the police officers later said: "Another Monopoly-related violence, chief. How do those Parker Brothers sleep at night?"
The Monopoly Pub Crawl is a popular pub crawl of London (or any city having a Monopoly Board).
"Do not pass go; do not collect 200 (dollars, pounds, etc.)" has entered popular culture as a phrase used with various meanings.
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