Monopoly

[disneyfab]

Never played that way, but the ipad version allows you to make these changes in the options. You can collect taxes only or bank - bank including community chest and chance. Also, you can double your salary if you land on go. You can also start with $1000, $1500, and $2000 and make the salary $400 too.

 

[cheerful chickadee]

We played that way too but we put a $500 bill in the center PLUS

anyone who had to pay taxes or got fined for some reason (when choosing a community chest or chance card) that money also went in the middle

If you landed on free parking it was like winning the lottery!

 

[timmac]

My fiance likes to play that way, or some flavor of it... think it might just be luxury and income tax that she throws into the pot.

Personally, I hate the rule, though as a kid sometimes we played that way. The game is actually pretty well designed to be balanced in certain ways; in particular, the amount net worth that is in play tends to rise at a particular rate through the course of the game, mostly in the form of passing Go and collecting salary. Chance, community chest, and the tax spaces, are a mixed bag of gains and losses, and on average, don't generally increase the net worth of the board, especially early in the game.

Putting the pay portions of those spaces into a pot (which someone sooner or later collects), but having the collect portions still come from the bank throws that system out of balance, on top of creating a hyper-variable distribution of wealth that wasn't originally meant to be included in the game. Though the "winning the lottery" feeling of it is nice in a sense, it adds a great deal of randomness to the game, and makes it much harder to force other plays into bankruptcy due to the large net worth injection it creates.

Many monopoly games include various FAQs with their instructions, one of which comments on the number of houses and hotels included with a standard set. The basic point is that it's quite intentionally not enough to cover every property at maximum development, because if you could, it would be too difficult to eventually force a player into bankruptcy.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the game Monopoly. I think, on one hand, the proliferation of "house rules" such as the one described in the OP, tend to break the game mechanics pretty badly, and make the game much more of a crap-shoot than about strategy. (Which is okay if that's the kind of game you like, but it's just not for me.)

On the other hand, the game has a terrible tendency--especially with smaller numbers of players, and even with house rules in place--to suffer from situations where the game is over long before it actually ends. In spite of randomness of dice rolls and the like, there often comes a point where the property distribution is such that some players are all but guaranteed to win, and some others are all but guaranteed to lose. House rules actually make this worse, since the bleeding takes longer at that point.

Not really related to the rules or anything, and maybe it's just me, but in my experience the game of Monopoly has the amazing ability to cause family members to bicker, yell, and whine immaturely when they don't win. The last time I played, after defeating my DF, I was told (tongue in cheek) that it was only because I "don't play right"; a statement regarding my willingness to engage in trades and deals. I simply pointed out (also tongue in cheek) that, having won the game, it seems I did play right.

 

[pixiewings71]

Yup, that's how we play it too.

 

[DeaverTex]

I have always played Monopoly properly, by the rules. Of course. The rules were meant to make the game fair for everyone.

OK, I had to say that, this being a Dis board! Honestly, though, I've only played Monopoly maybe a dozen times in my life. (Which is quite sufficient, IMHO.) As a kid, playing with other kids, that was the LEAST of the house rules! As an adult, I've found that Monopoly is best used as a drinking game. That way, you don't notice that you're bored out of your skull.

 

[cybrkitn]

Ah yes. The "Jackpot". We always played the game with it. Although, I'm finding that I don't enjoy playing Monopoly anymore b/c it takes too long to play. That an the fact that DH always seems to win that it takes all the fun out of playing.