Talk:Monopoly (game)

Free Parking official?

Question about free parking - I don't know if this is just the way our family played or if it's a common variant. When paying Income Tax and other fees and fines owed to the Bank, we placed the money in the center of the board. Then whoever landed on Free Parking would collect the money. Don't remember if the rules allowed this, but it sure could make the game even more exciting! -- Marj Tiefert, Thursday, July 11, 2002

It's not a part of the official rules but it is very commonly done. When played strictly by the rules Monopoly can be a pretty rough game. Eclecticology, Friday, July 12, 2002

Yeah, some people do stuff like this. But we played it like this sometimes: when you land on Free Parking, you get the £1 that has been placed in the centre of the board. Then the next note up, £5, is put in its place. And the next person to land on Free Parking gets it; the amount keeps going up till you hit £500 -- after £500, it goes down to £1; and so on. Just another variant! -- Sam

Removed this text from entry: "Add links to official Monopoly pages, and tournaments?" I think links to tournaments would be a good idea. I added the link to Monopoly's official site. Frecklefoot 18:27 Nov 6, 2002 (UTC)

Too American

This artilce is abit Americanized, as its the American Board, and on the british board there is no luxery tax its supper tax and you pay £100, I have nothing against, haveing a copy of teh baord here or refrence to it, but there are a number of different country versions of the baord, so it may get untidy. Any siggestions. -fonzy

I think this is a big problem with Wikipedia in general. Do we use the American spelling (e.g. color) or the British spelling (e.g. colour)? In the case of this article, I don't know what to do. Having two boards is a bit cumbersome and I think creating different entries for each version is also a bit much. I don't know of a better way of dintinguishing between the two. Perhaps a caption with the British conversions? Anyone else? -Frecklefoot 18:15 Jan 3, 2003 (UTC)

The spelling problem in Wikipedia is "solved" by allowing both. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style. Face it, there is no way to avoid it. The style guide does suggest that Brit spelling is best for Brit subjects and American spelling for American subjects. That rule is not much help here, granted, but Monopoly is an American game after all. Ortolan88

It may be an American game, but arguably the British version is more widespread (for example, in Australia the British version is the "standard", the Australian version a variant, and the American version unheard of). ShaneKing 05:18, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Strategy section

Shouldn't there be a strategy section?

Sure. Go ahead and add it. :) -Frecklefoot

These pictures are way too big. -- Zoe

The images look perfect at 1024x768 and higher screen resolutions, but doesn't it go a bit beyond fair use to list all of the property names? Mkweise

US vs. British versions

What is special about the american and british version of monopoly? As far as I know, the game has different versions for different places. Wshun

There are also different versions for different cities in the United States. RickK

Woah! What is up with this article? How did it get a table of contents and "edit section" links? I've never seen those on any other article in the 'pedia (and I don't see anything special in the source that would make those markers). Anyone know or can point me to the docs? —Frecklefoot 13:54, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC)

They're the result of a software update. See Wikipedia:Software updates for the grizzly details. You can turn both the table of contents and the "edit section" links off via your user prefs, by the way. --Camembert

Thanks, Cam. You know, you'd think they'd post an announcement or some such thing after making such a huge change. I heard some rumblings about a mailing list of some sort that discussed changes like this one. Anyone know how to get on it? —Frecklefoot 14:19, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I'll answer on your talk page (if nobody else has). --Camembert

Georgism

The game was originally designed to promote Georgism, as the losers would resent the evil landlord winner. I don't know whether this is non-NPOV, or whether it's a drollery. Sometimes, though at the very antipodes of common sense, humorless seriousness and wit shake hands. Wetman 05:23, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Um, I'm not sure what Wetman means (sorry), but I move to remove that reference. Whether it's intended as humor or not, I can't find any evidence that it's true. Notice there is no other reference to it anywhere else in the article. —Frecklefoot 15:07, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Okay, I removed the statement. It was unsupported by any research I've uncovered. All I can think is it was added by a Georgism advocate. If someone really wants it back in, find and post the reference. —Frecklefoot 15:59, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Brown properties?

The "Relative values of each color group" section refers to "brown properties." Since the author also refers to "orange properties." I know he is not confusing the brown with the orange. I don't see any brown properties on the board. From the context, it looks like they mean the dark purple properties (Mediterranean Avenue, Baltic Avenue). Does this seem reasonable? I want to fix it, but I don't want to screw it up. :-S Any other opinions? —Frecklefoot 16:49, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I also believe the dark purple properties were what was being talked about, but I don't know that for a fact. Just throwing in my opinion in case nobody else knows and it comes to that. :) Bryan 01:29, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Hi, I'm the author of that bit! OK, in the UK version of the game there are two very cheap brown-colo(u)red properties immediately after Go called Whitechapel Road and Old Kent Road - in the US version it does indeed look like they're dark purple, Mediterranean and Baltic. Ooops! I'll make the edit - thanks for pointing it out! Toby W 09:32, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Why was the British board taken out? The standard British edition has existed for a very long time and is familar to millions. Mintguy (T) 09:45, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The US version was the original, but I agree, the UK version is familiar to most people outside the US. See discussion above under "Too American". Toby W 09:47, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I've restored the British board using the new wiki tables markup, I hope i haven't made any mistakes. Ashas already been pointed out the British board is probably more familiar to people outside ofthe US, where it was the "standard edition". Mintguy (T) 10:27, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Too many boards!

Ludraman added the Dublin version of the game board. I'm sorry, but this is overkill! Didn't we decide to just include the UK edition and the North American version? There are dozens of localized versions of the game—we can't include them all. In fact, we have a whole article on them. While I think having these versions of the game is valuable, putting them in the main article if just too much. I propose we move them to the localized article or create links from there to the table representing the localized version of each board (better—that way that article won't get too bloated). Comments? —Frecklefoot 15:32, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

The Atlantic City board is the original sold in the US, and the London board was sold internationally from 1936, so they should be in, but if you put the Dublin board in you have to have every other city in the world (and Star Wars etc..). There is a page for these other boards [localized versions of the Monopoly game]] Mintguy (T)

There is an article called Chessboard that is all about the board that chess is played on, how about Monopoly board as a repository for all of these? Also, all of the same information is presented on the table in Localized versions of the Monopoly game, so we should only really need one full-sized board to show people where everything goes. I was the guy that created the first Monopoly board table, and I feel like I've created a monster now that it's replicating. :) Bryan 15:49, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I think that that both the original boards should be in this article, particularly given the history surrounding the London board. But the localised page needs to be refined so that we can fit in all the different games without having a huge table. Why can't we just list the streets in the appropriate colour font, in the correct order following GO->. Mintguy (T) 15:56, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I see the point you all are making. Critiscism accepted. Ludraman 19:00, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I'm not convinced about the value of a "monopoly board" page over and above the existing Localized versions of the Monopoly game. Bryan, you might be creating a monster again with that! :o) (It's not like Chessboard because there aren't dozens of different chessboard variants.) I say stick with the localized page, and take Mintguy's suggestions for compacting the tables into a better format, using short lists and coloured fonts. Toby W 16:04, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I like Mintguy's suggestion of having a blank board with just the colors. Each space could be labelled with a letter or number and each localization could include a description of what is apropriate for each spot. E.g. A = Bambooga Street. Keep the two on this article and the "blank" one on the localized page with legends for each version? —Frecklefoot 16:09, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Yes, good plan. Toby W

SO COOL!

Can I just say that having the tables/boards with the colors is the COOLEST. THING. EVER. jengod 20:26, Mar 16, 2004 (UTC)

*blush* This is the kind of comment that makes all the hassle and heartbreak worthwhile. :) Bryan 08:45, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I was amazed such a thing could be created using just table tag. Tomos 17:13, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Copyright status?

Japanese Wikipedia now has a copy of the board layout. And we came to wonder if there is any copyright issue here. I mean, can a third party sell this board as GFDL permits? Or should we consider this a quote or fair use?

From reading the article, I figured the earliest version came into market around 1935. Am I correct in assuming that's what's shown as an example? Tomos 17:13, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Earlier versions were reasonably common as Georgist or socialist teaching aids from the early 1900s. The socialists started to call it Monopoly (rather than The Landlord's Game). Before Parker Brothers took it over, the boards were more likely to be home-made and localised for the area. Charles Darrow was first introduced to it by an Atlantic City Quaker group in 1932 and the only changes he made to what he was shown were accidental -- that's why the Parker Brothers version has Atlantic City streets. -- Derek Ross