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GOALS | RULES | CONTROLS | SCORING | STRATEGY | DID YOU KNOW?

Game Goal

Build your empire! You have five minutes to turn empty city properties into real-estate monopolies and maximize your income!

Game Rules

Start Screen & Game Options

After the game loads, you'll see a series of fun "Did You Know?" facts and informational tips on how to play. Click the next button to view the tips. Next, you'll see the Start screen, which contains a "Click to Begin" button and a "Game Options" button. Clicking the "Game Options" button allows you to adjust the volume for background music and sound. Once you're ready to play, go ahead and click on "Click to Begin"!

Game Play

The game consists of two levels, representing two different areas of the city. Each level has four properties, plus an additional utility or railroad block. Each of the properties has a grid, on which you can lay down building pieces. Certain squares of the grid start with areas already filled in, such as parking lots or parks. You cannot place pieces within these areas.

When the game starts, you already have the first building piece at the tip of your cursor. You can move the piece over the empty grid, and then place it by using the left mouse button. The piece can also be rotated by clicking the right mouse button, scrolling up or down on the mouse wheel, or by using the left and right arrow keys. The piece will only snap into position if it is able to fit completely into the area below. If it can be placed, your cursor arrow will be yellow. If something is blocking the piece, the arrow will be red, and the sections of the piece that are blocked will flash.

Your goal is to complete the city properties. A property is considered finished when it can't fit any more buildings. The smallest building piece is two spaces long, meaning that a property is complete when it is either completely full or when only single grid spaces remain. When you complete a property, a Title Card will appear above it.

• If the property is completed with open spaces, the Title Card will show a "No Bonus" sign.
• If you complete a property and fill in all spaces, but fail to build a house on that property, the Title Card will show a check mark.
• If you successfully build on every space and you correctly build any houses or hotels, the Title Card will show any houses/hotels that you have earned within that property.

The Hopper

On the left side of the screen is the hopper. This shows a preview of the three upcoming buildings. When you place a piece onto a city property, the bottom piece in the hopper becomes the active piece, and a new piece drops in at the top. However, if you do not place a piece quickly enough, the hopper will advance automatically. Every six seconds the hopper will discard the bottom piece and you will lose money! The three warning lights at the bottom of the hopper will light up in succession over the final three seconds to let you know this is about to happen.

The hopper only includes buildings that can currently fit on the board. After you place a building on the board, any pieces in the hopper that can no longer be played disappear from the hopper in a puff of smoke and are replaced by valid pieces.

The Dumpster

Underneath the hopper is the dumpster. This is where unused pieces go. Additionally, if you do not like your current active piece, you can click on the dumpster to discard it. As when you play a piece, the bottom piece in the hopper will then become the active piece. Using the dumpster is a great way to get to a piece you really need. However, using the dumpster isn't free. Every time you use the dumpster it costs money, so use it wisely.

Chance and Community Chest

Every 10 seconds, a Chance or Community Chest icon will appear somewhere on the board. Chance is represented by a question mark, and Community Chest by a little chest. If you build on top of these icons with any piece, you'll earn a bonus card. These cards give you extra cash, and each time you earn a card, the value increases!

You can only earn three bonuses per level. If you've already earned three cards on the current level, the Chance and Community Chest icons will no longer appear.

Houses and Hotels

On each of the two maps, you have the ability to build four houses and one hotel to earn bonus money. One of the tiles in each of the four properties will display a green rotating house icon over it. The most valuable property will have a second green house. Occasionally, some of the building shapes from the hopper will be green rather than yellow. If this green building is placed on top of the house icon, that property becomes eligible for a house bonus. If you instead place a yellow piece on the house icon, this bonus opportunity is lost!

To actually earn the bonus, you must create a monopoly for that property. The special green pieces do not appear right away, but only after a number of yellow pieces have been placed. Therefore, to maximize your score you should avoid placing yellow pieces on the house icons, or you'll lose the bonus opportunity. Instead, play around them until the green pieces show up.

If you successfully build on four houses, the fifth house will turn into a red hotel. From then on, red pieces appear in the hopper instead of green ones. Any green pieces already in the hopper will turn red. Placing a red building piece that covers the hotel icon will build a hotel. As with the house, you must create a monopoly on that property to earn the hotel bonus.

The most important thing to remember with houses and hotels is that it is a two-step process. First, you must place the like-colored piece on top of the icon to build the house or hotel. Next, you must complete a monopoly on that property to earn the bonus money.

Game Controls

• Use the mouse to position building pieces over the game board.
• Click the left mouse button to place the active building piece. Every section of the piece must be above an empty tile. If the piece can be placed, your cursor arrow will be yellow; otherwise, it will be red.
• Click the right mouse button to rotate the piece 90 degrees. You may also rotate the piece by scrolling up or down on the mouse wheel, or by using the left and right arrow keys.
• Move the mouse over the dumpster and click the left mouse button to discard the piece currently on your cursor. The bottom piece in the hopper will become the new piece. The Delete key can also be used to dispose of buildings.

Game Scoring

• $2 per unit of a building placed on the first level.
• $4 per unit of a building placed on the second level.
• $200 for Passing GO! This is automatically earned by completing the first level.
• The value of a monopoly depends on the specific property:
  • $50   Utility
  • $60   Brown
  • $70   Light Blue
  • $80   Purple
  • $90   Orange
  • $100  Railroad
  • $110  Red
  • $120  Yellow
  • $130  Green
  • $140  Blue
• The value of the Chance and Community Chest bonuses increase every time you get one. The first one is worth $10, and then they increase by the following progression: $25, $50, $75, $100, $150.
• $50 per house on a block that is converted into a monopoly.
• $100 for a hotel on a block that is converted into a monopoly.
• A time bonus of $5 per second remaining.
• $6 is removed from your score for every piece disposed in the dumpster!

Game Strategy

• Avoid playing yellow pieces on houses or hotels, or you'll lose the opportunity to earn the bonus.
• Avoid placing buildings that would leave isolated single spaces. As there is no single-space building piece, doing so means you've lost the chance to create a monopoly on that property.
• To maximize your score, always try to complete the monopoly on every property.
• Drop green pieces on house icons and red pieces on hotel icons to build these special buildings. Then finish creating a monopoly on that property to earn bonus money.
• Properties in the second level are worth a lot more than those in the first, so play fast enough to finish both levels!
• The hopper will only give you pieces that fit on the board. Use this to your advantage by filling in the big areas early so that the large pieces no longer appear.

Did You Know?

• The object of the game is to place buildings over every empty square on the ten properties as quickly as you can.
• You can rotate the piece you are placing with your mouse wheel, by clicking the right mouse button, or by using the left and right arrow keys.
• Completely fill in all of the empty squares on a property to earn a MONOPOLY Bonus. Without this bonus you cannot earn House or Hotel Bonuses.
• Build on top of the spinning green houses with green building pieces. When you earn the MONOPOLY Bonus for that property you will then earn the House Bonus.
• You can place yellow building pieces on top of houses and hotels but you will then lose the chance to earn your House or Hotel bonus.
• Once you place a building that creates an isolated square on a property you have lost your chance to score a MONOPOLY Bonus for that property.
• You may build on top of a spinning Chance icon or Community Chest with any piece to receive a bonus. You can earn three such bonuses per level.
• You may click on the dumpster to throw away undesired shapes. You will receive a small score penalty each time you waste a piece.
• If you wait too long the pieces in your queue will drop down one at a time into the dumpster, slightly penalizing your score.
• You can press the Delete key to dispose of a piece instead of clicking on the dumpster.
• You will never be asked to place a piece that will not fit anywhere on the board.
• Fireworks over a property mean that you have earned a MONOPOLY Bonus for that property.
• Each Community Chest and Chance Bonus is worth more than the previous one.
• Not all MONOPOLY Bonuses are the same. The bonus values correlate with the MONOPOLY property values.
• MONOPOLY was patented in 1935 by Charles Darrow although its roots can be traced back to 1904 when a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips created "The Landlord's Game."
• The original properties were named after locations found in or near Atlantic City New Jersey.
• In 1978 the retailer Neiman Marcus sold an all-chocolate version. Everything was edible including the money dice hotels tokens and playing board!
• In 1941 the British Secret Service commissioned an edition of MONOPOLY for World War II prisoners of war. Distributed by the Red Cross these games contained hidden objects useful for escaping!
• A real-world monopoly is a situation where one seller or producer controls an entire market.
• Standard Oil at one time controlled 91% of the oil production in the United States. When that monopoly was dissolved in 1911 the president John Rockefeller emerged as the richest man in the world!