Monopoly
The object of Monopoly is to own as many properties on the board as possible, thereby bankrupting your opponents. The game is turn based, so you can only perform in game actions when it is your turn. Your turn begins by rolling two dice to determine the number of spaces you will move around the square Monopoly board. At the beginning of the game, you start on Go, which is one of the corner spaces of the board. Whenever you pass or land on this space you collect $200. Initially, you start off with $1500. There are a number of types of spaces you can land on.
Properties
If you land on a property, a number of things can happen. If the property is not owned by anyone, as is the case for all properties at the beginning of the game, you may buy it from the bank at a certain price. If you cannot afford a property, you can raise cash for it by selling houses or mortgaging properties if you wish. Moving around the board from Go, properties become progressively more expensive. If the property is owned by another player, you must pay them rent. Rent is based on the value of the property, as well as the houses or hotels on the property (explained later). If you own the property, nothing happens.
Chance and Community Chest
You can also land on Chance or Community Chest spaces. A number of these spaces are spread throughout the board. Landing on one results in you drawing a Chance or Community chest card. These cards will tell you to do something, for example, collect money or pay money to other players, move a certain number of spaces, or move to a certain property.
Jail
If you land on the Jail space, you are considered to be just visiting. However, if you land on the Go to Jail space or draw a "Go to Jail" card, you go directly to Jail, without passing Go. When it is once again your turn, you can either pay the $50 fine to get out of jail, use a "Get Out of Jail Free" card if you have one, or try to roll doubles. If you use 3 turns without rolling doubles, you will be forced to pay the $50 fine.
Mortgaging and Unmortgaging Properties
Should you ever need to generate a little extra cash, you can mortgage any property you own to the bank, in exchange for half its value. While mortgaged, you still own the property, and nobody can take it from you. However, you may not collect rent from others landing on your mortgaged properties. Furthermore, if you mortgage a property, none of the properties in that color group may have any houses or hotels, and none may be built on any of those properties until all of them are unmortgaged. When you want to unmortgage a property, you pay the mortgage value of the property back to the bank, plus 10% interest.
Monopolies
The properties on the board are divided up into color groups. If you own all the properties in a particular color group, you are said to own a monopoly in that color group. Any time you own a monopoly, the rent you collect from others landing on those properties is doubled. You may also build houses and/or hotels on a property once you own a monopoly.
Houses and Hotels
Once you own a monopoly in a color group, you can buy houses or hotels to put on those properties. Each property can have up to four houses, or one hotel. A hotel costs the same as five houses. The more houses or hotels you have on a property, the more rent you will collect from others landing on that property. You must build evenly. For instance, if you have two houses on one property in a group, you may not put any more houses on that property until the other properties also have two houses. You may sell houses off a property at any time, for example, when you need to generate some cash to get out of debt. However, you will only receive half what you paid for them.
Building Shortages
There are only thirty-two houses and twelve hotels available in the game. When there are no more houses/hotels available, or when the number is lower than what a player wants, this is called a building shortage. During a building shortage, no, or very few, houses/hotels may be purchased until some houses/hotels become available, either by a player selling them, or going bankrupt.
Going into Debt
Quite simply, you can not go into debt. Any time you must pay more cash than you have at the moment, you must generate the needed cash by either mortgaging properties, selling houses or hotels, or trading with someone else. If you still cannot generate the needed cash, you are considered to be bankrupt, and out of the game. In this case, everything you have of value is turned over to the creditor (the person you are required to pay). If you are required to pay taxes, fines, or some other payment not related to any other player, you turn over everything you have to the bank. In either case, all the houses and hotels on all your properties are turned back over to the bank.
Trading
You may initiate a trade with any other player in the game. You may trade properties or "Get Out of Jail Free" cards, and you may offer, or ask for, cash in the deal. No houses or hotels may be traded. If you want to trade, or receive, a property that has houses or hotels on it, those houses or hotels must be sold back to the bank first. Properties and "Get Out of Jail Free" cards may be traded at any price agreeable to both parties.
Please note, in this version of monopoly, there is no opportunity for a proprety to be put up for auction and sold to the highest bidder as in the official version.
Also, if you land on a property of another player, the money owed is automatically debited. The more houses or hotel is on that property, the more money will be automatically debited from your cash whether you have it or not.