The format of proceeding around a square board is suggestive of staying in one city, buying up real estate. But business is global now. The board could be replaced by some 3 dimensional device, or could be software to play online. There needs to be some way to create a global network. But that's just the beginning! I would like to see it be more about class struggle, with a way for "small" people to unite, change certain laws (rules) e.g. disallow monopolies above a certain size; maybe have a means for the "big" players to bribe officials. You know, more like the real world. Perhaps there could be some new card options, like: "you;ve just won a lawsuit against the richest player and he/she has been divested of 50% of his/her wealth" or "you've just made a deal with a 3rd world dictator, and the business of your choice just tripled in worth--take that much $ from the bank, etc. Perhaps winning would mean achieving equality of wealth. Who knows!

Throwing dice, proceeding according to the dice throw (but in 3D); piles of cards.

Fran

1. Rule 1--No player can be eliminated from the game.

2. Players by whatever method they choose can change any rule they wish except Rule 1. Otherwise existing rules are in effect.

3. Players at the beginning of game are categorized by lot: i.e. one player is chosen as a gold player--they receive Broadway and Park Place immediately, they also receive $500 for passing Go. Two players are chosen as silver players. Each receives two railroads at the beginning of the game and $300 for passing Go. All other players are bronze players and receive nothing at beginning of game and only $200 for passing Go.

4. The Object of the game is to make it interesting for all by rules changes given these constraints.

5. I call this revised game "Monopolity" .

All elements not changed by the above rules changes.

N.B. I have used this version in three different classes of students taught over a period of three years with very interesting results.

Charles

While we enjoy playing Monopoly in my house ~ my biggest issue with it, unfortunately lies at it's core. To WIN you must Bankrupt the other players...it's a little too reflective of the financial woes of our time ~ :)

The dog and the Hat. Those are my favorite pieces!

rebecca

The premise of purchasing land is too out of date and should be updated. Over the last 50 years, the real monopoly process has been with business (internet, movies, music, toys, sales, telephony, cable, etc.) so the game should be moderized to reflect that. As the players move around the board, they still purchase available areas...but this version has businesses. Which each business, a person draws a "Corporate Secret" card that indicates whether the business has a strong/weak leader, the level of consumer popularity, and the overall monetary worth. Once the business is owned, a colored token is placed on it to indicate ownership. As the game progresses, owners merge businesses with other player's business to form a partnership...thus increasing dollar values, popularity and percentage of partnership. At the time of the mergerer, negotiations are made over cash, popularity and/or percentage of ownership. Cards are drawn throughout the game that impact the values and ownerships. Landing on a property owned by someone else still requires a payment...based on the number of businesses within the monopoly group. If a player is out of the game due to no cash, the person can still be part of the negoitaions and dealings for properies owned. The ulitmate goal is to build the biggest monopoly within a given time, someone gains 200 popularity points or until one person owns more than half the businesses. At that time, the highest valued player wins.

To be called Monopoloy, it is required that there is a board with players moving around buying and paying. And there needs to be fun moving pieces but these should be updated to things representing today's toys like a cell phone, a laptop, a Porche or Hummer, a video camera, a bling-ring. You also need CHANCE and RISK and the image of Mr. Moneybanks on the board. Jail should be used but updated to Minimum Security Prison.

Dwayne

Since rail travel isn't as prevalent as when the game was designed, I would replace the railroads with airlines.

Don't have an opinion on this.

Gwen

listening to this story, my most emotional reaction was heartfelt agreement that the game becomes only fun for one person. Inevitably, you reach a point where it's one to one, and it's pretty clear who the loser will be. It can still take a very long time for that person to go ahead and lose.
Therefore, I think the loser should be allowed a fighting chance. Considering this is about fighting a monopoly - a very powerful entity that has all the money in a game that is all about money - the person in second place will have to resort to crime. Player 2 can recruit people eliminated in the earlier hours of the game as thugs, or the players eliminated earlier can form an organized crime family. Or two organized crime rings, which battle against each other in support of player 1 and player 2. These guys benefit play 2 in obvious ways - they can burn down hotels! They can shoot up houses! They can start a smear campaign so no one wants to do business with player 1! They benefit player 1 by offering muscle against player 2's thugs.
But additionally, they benefit themselves. Obviously they can charge ever increasing rates to player 1 and player 2, depending on the stakes. This money can put them back in the game. In fact, through strategy and ruthlessness, players who were out early can become the winners!
Of course, this would take much longer to play than normal Monopoly. But hey, it's an online world. On the internet, a days-long game isn't exactly unheard of.

Keep the pieces, the money, the cards, even the board. But add two new pieces to represent factions of players that reinstate themselves - a gun and a book of matches.

Shannon

Nobody being perfect and as we are a French couple we would like to make a tremendous change and orienting Monopoly to sex. Have you ever thought of that ? You don't need to change the name into Sexopoly but just get a new orientation. It would not be any more for children but only reserved to adults.
The look would be slicy different: make up your mind and the rules...hummm...

Keep the streets it does not matter. Keep houses and hotels. And then fill them up with people: instead of money there would be two kinds of vouchers. One would represent women and the other one men. Try to recruit, hire, invite a lot of people in the houses you should have build. 1-room houses till 4-rooms and up to hotel !
And let's begin the party !
We promise you a lot of fun and tons of pleasure. At last...

Kate & Alain

Add another set of 3 cards that you get to keep once you acquire them by landing on these places (newly added spaces).

Card #1: Hire a skilled Accountant (least expensive card)
If you possess this card, you pay 0 taxes when you land on taxes-due.

Card #2: Hire a Lawyer (moderately expensive card)
If you possess this card, you can build Hotels right-away without needing to wait for even development). Additionally, you pay only half the amount than regular because your lawyer would help you establish the fact that your construction is for low income people and thus it should get federal/state help.

Card #3: Hire a Politician (most expensive card)
If you possess this card, you can declare any one of your competitor's property illegal and he/her would have to give away that property back to the bank. It will help you by breaking your competitor’s color-group (if any) which will automatically make his/her constructions illegal as well. You get this control when you throw a particular combination of dice, in addition to having this card. (the special combination of dice 6-6 is equivalent to your politician winning the election).

I like pretty much everything about it except the fact that going to jail becomes desirable at the end of the game to avoid paying rent to others. If there is no property left to buy, going to jaail should be restricted to no extended stay. This way, even if you go to jail, you do not stay there. You rather pay the fine and come out right away (or if you get double, your fine is waived).
Railroads can be removed for obvious reasons.

Rajeev

Hmmmmmm..... Why not design a science fiction game that involves American corporate interests, who invade a
wilderness planet in order to seize natural resources from the natives?
Well, if that sounds too much like "Avatar," let today's environmentalists rework the game with
today's economy in mind. Developers compete with each other to control the world's drinking water supply, food production, transportation, and energy production. The big winner gets rich. Everybody else gets driven off the land and into a slum in one of the developing nations. Call the game "Greed."

Going to jail should be a matter of luck. Maybe you're guilty, maybe you're innocent, but, hey, does it really matter? Some money placed in the right hands can buy your release.
That's the way that the system works.

Roberto

I love monopoly just the way it is in it's current form and I would not muck with a game that has , in my case, contributed to loss of two friendships. Consider just how a game like Monopoly can bring power and money , even if it's only a game , can corrupt and drive people apart. ( in it's current form) What I wouldd like see is game modules - add ons- that allow you to add changes through building change ( like what happens in life ) aka modern day culture , business , politics etc also it would be nice to be able to redesign the board with overlays and different cards decks.

I don't want to see any part of monoply changed

nothing should be eliminated - changes should come through' progress ' (subjective) and change should come through level building
by adding overlays for the board ( like layers of culture buz stc) and new groups of pieces and card upgrades. Perhaps pieces and chnge also come to the board to the board by subscription !
Steve Gallery13: I'm doing an exhibition on monopoly.

Stephen gallery13

Patents should be incorporated, with a facility for patent trolls. Or to put it another way, there should be a possibility that when you buy something your ownershipcan be disputed, either immediately or later.

The banker should also be a player in the game as a role unto itself, not just as a passive bookeeper, but rather someone who makes money off being the banker. This of course then requires the possibility of multiple competing bankers.

And lastly, there must be some sort of speculative market, such as commodities futures. Ones which can be affecdted by random events such as hurricanes, drought, or revolutions.

Paper money, or some way for one player to think they have an idea of how much money each other player has.

Gary

I taught a Cultural Analysis class at Juniata College in Pennsylvania a couple years ago called Beyond Tolerance. For the class students are required to design a workshop that experientially explores some major topic area from the course materials (racism, classism, heterosexism, etc). One of the best, which with a bit of tweaking, I actually still use today in workshops, is a redesigned version of Monopoly.
The game runs very similar to the classic game with a few major twists, namely the fact that each player begins the game with a different amount of money and a profile. Along the way players make choices about what comforts and/or necessities they would like to have and have to pay bills for those things, each turn around the board as well.
Some people are wealthy and/or middle-class and generally breeze through the game, buying up property and going to college, while other, poor and/or working-class players struggle to pay their bills each time they pass “Go” and practically fall apart when a "chance card" gets thrown their way.
In this version, are more like real life and can be anything from “You found money on the street collect $10 if you live in a middle-class neighborhood, $5 in working-class, and $1 In a poor”, to “You just found out you are pregnant. Add $100 to your bills each time you pass go, or pay $200 now to have an abortion”. One of the most difficult for students was “You found a very sick puppy on the street who will likely dies without attention. Make a choice a) take him to the vet $100, b) take him home and try to care for him add $20 to your bills each week, c) leave him there to die.
Because of the difficult nature of making a decision to do something like have an abortion for a student who is staunchly pro-life or else face other devastating outcomes, student’s quickly realize that money makes a huge difference in the “options” and resources available to people. It may not change their belief system, but it encourages them to examine their beliefs critically instead.
The students designed the game to favor those who choose to invest in education. This way even the poor who manage to get a college degree can increase their income (when passing the space to get paid) and increase their standard of living.

Basic structure, rules and "class-based" neighborhoods.

Rosalie

What about a game that combines Monopoly and Risk to make a game called Imperialism? - with arbitrage, trade, defense spending, natural disasters, political coups, and nations in default?

Most - just combine with Risk

John

Regarding Monopoly: It should have each player as a bank Presidents. Of course the game would need the Glass Steagle Act in place or it wouldn't have any real limits.

Each player would compete with the other players as banks against banks. You could start off as a standard local bank and with successive degrees of game-play you would become a different type of bank with new financial options available beyond a mortgage.

Or perhaps each player would be a different entity, Federal Reserve Player, Legislative Branch Player, Venture Capitalist Player ...

You need to have turn based play. You need dice for randomness. You need a stack of cards that represent emergencies like "The unemployment rate is at a record low; inflation is canceling out your profit this year ... you lose 1 million dollars" or another deck of cards that might have "New Regulations in effect; inflation is low and you've earned greater profits".

Asension

In 2005 I redesigned and restructured an actual monopoly board for myself as a collage (it is one of three such actual boards I've done over the past 20 years.) Incorporting acrylic paint & gels to build up the surface, I turned it into a "greenway", which I labelled "Condo-opoly". I also repainted all the "properties" in pastel tones resembling abstract expressionist paintings, often overpainting the titles to contract the letters into various playful words that already existed within them. (see "ARK")

I kept all the hotels & houses and reassembled them into a community around a lake I painted on a hilly golf course-like setting. Each house & hotel got a new paint job as well. I also ran one of the railroad tracks across the entire greenway to facilitate mass transportation. Clearly,this is an aesthetic as well as an environmental improvement over the original board. (I hope the image of the "Condo-opoly" board downloaded, if it did not please let me know, and I'll resend it...Thanks, EJW)

Ejay

I'd like to see the game played out to its "bitter" end, where the "winner" has bankrupted all his opponents and he has no one to rent his properties to, but must keep going around the board! How long will he last, paying his bills, till he too is bankrupt?

Or will he just continue to circle the board--ALONE? Is he still a "winner"?

I'd like to change the rules so that the winner is the
player who helps keep as many people playing for as long as possible -- sort of like Jimmy Stewart's Bedford Falls Monopoly rather than Pottersville Monopoly!

Those lovely playing pieces; most of the rules - i.e. those covering the selling of deeds, etc.

Elsa

First, I'd rename it "Monopoly and Class War". when one player approaches a monopoly, the other players can form a cartel to oppose it. Instead of "Go to jail" there could be a square called "worker's revolution" where the capitalist loses everything and is forced to go into exile in Dubai—-the capitalist paradise. Change all the locations to reflect the global nature of monopoly capitalism, for example, where does the Chinese juggernaut figure in? One square might represent the export of jobs, impoverishing the player but making the banks richer.

Get rid of the top hats and use a golf club instead. Also, instead of just material things, you should have a trophy that represents a trophy wife. Keep the rest

Eric

Many years ago, when Atlantic City became a gambling mecca, a friend and I added casinos to Monopoly. If you own a hotel, pay the cost of a second hotel to convert it to a casino; players would have to bet the rent.

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Henry

Why always houses and hotels? Why not factories.

keep it all

Chris

Sample all the new rules received. Make sets of them. Randomize the ordering of the rule sets. Each game play has a different rule set. Each game represents real life: learn/play as you go. Use credit alternating with the new Wall Street algorithms. Sometimes experience can be applied, sometimes it must be learned. Use different levels of play: beginner, novice, player, enterprise, etc. This sets up the complexity of game rules desired and applied.

Keep the standard and offer it as the Classic/Original rule set. Alternate with the New rule sets that are received.

Lee