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Monopoly has long been a complicated, rule filled endeavor. I believe we solved that as children in Pasadena in the 1970's. First of all, you must play the short version. It is so much simpler this way- I have never lasted through an entire Monopoly game using the long version, have you? You have to keep in mind a standard of exchange: Dark purple and light blue have the same values, orange and purple, the same; red and yellow, the same, and green and dark blue, the same. Trades can be padded by money and as long as every player has approximately equal monopolies, the game can begin.

Our issue with Monopoly was always that it wasn't fair to everyone... so we endeavored to make our chances equal. For example: Instead of selling back your houses at half their value, exchange at full value. Yes, this does mean that you can collect your houses off of, say the light blue properties after your opponents have passed them; and re-placing them on, say, the yellow or red properties your opponents have not passed yet. Of course you would have to pay the difference to put them on the higher priced properties, but that part is easy. They go up in increments of $50.00 as you travel each side- dark purple and light blue are $50.00 per house, purple and orange are $100.00, red and yellow are $150.00 and green and dark blue are $200.00. This makes it possible for a person who doesn't have as much money as the other(s) to have a chance to eventually win. It is a lot of work (and there were many groans as the exchanges of money and houses continued on every turn) but it is well worth the effort!

Another rule we included was the free parking money spot... the bank would provide a $500.00 bill, and all monies from fines went into the middle of the board, until someone landed on free parking and got all that cash. The second time the bank provides two $500.00 bills and it continues to accumulate all the monies from fines until somone lands again on free parking. The third time is a repeat of the first, the fourth a repeat of the second, etc... Oh! It should be noted that you might need extra paper money- we just took the money from the old worn out game and that worked out fine.

These are simple rules that made a complicated game far better- even now I play the same, teaching everyone I know how to play with my simplified rules. Enjoy!

Learn more about this author, Penelope Anne Trick.
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