Friday, July 23, 2004
By: Matthew Doucette
Hasbro states, "In order to qualify for the championship, MONOPOLY enthusiasts either competed in a previous National Championship or scored 90 percent or higher on a MONOPOLY quiz that tested their game-playing savvy and knowledge of MONOPOLY lore."
The Problem:
Most Monopoly-educated players will fail this quiz. Even if you know the answers, the ambiguity of the questions will more than likely make you fail this quiz, as you only need 3 wrong to fail. Some answers that you believe are correct, or even shown on Hasbro's own web sites to be correct, may be wrong. This is sometimes due to different rules during tournament play, which this quiz is not based on. It is also sometimes due to the ambiguous, irrelevant, or non-specific nature of the questions. The quiz effectively does not test the true knowledge of the player. If posting the answers to this quiz is a problem to Hasbro, then this page will be removed immediately. Until then, as a fan of the game, I feel that I am promoting Monopoly with this page, not harming it. Please feel free to contact me and leave comments and/or suggestions.
It is my intention that this web page causes you to think about the game, not just blindly copy the answers.
Besides, there should be no quiz. Hasbro should be educating Monopoly players around the world on what the real rules are. The game is more enjoyable when played with the real rules, as opposed to many popular house rules such as landing on Go gives you $400, land on Free Parking gives you $500 + taxes paid to the bank, and borrowing money from the bank (that's what mortgaging already covers). The original rules are not descriptive enough. Why should we be quizzed on something we have never been told or taught? We want to know the details. Just tell us what they are!
The Quiz:
If you want to try the quiz before seeing the answers, click the link below. You are allowed to take this quiz over and over again, but only once per day:
http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/pl/page.quiz/dn/default.cfm
Scroll down further for the answers...
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The Answers:
(Correct answers are bolded.)
1. When a building shortage exists, which players may buy houses from the bank?
a) players wishing to break down hotels
b) any player who wants to buy houses, but there will be an auction
c) the banker
d) the person whose turn it is
2. When only two players remain, no further trades or deals are permitted.
a) true
b) false
In tournament play the answer is true.
3. The number of houses and hotels for sale by the bank in a Monopoly game totals:
a) 32
b) 28
c) 44
d) 46
There are 28 properties that can be purchased in the game. There are 32 houses and 12 hotels.
4. If three hotels and three houses remain in the bank and you acquire the yellow color-group, you can:
a) buy the three hotels provided that you have enough money to pay for the equivalent of four houses and the hotel for each property
b) buy only the three houses remaining in the bank
c) buy houses from another player at an agreed to sum
d) all of the above
5. As part of Monopoly's 50th anniversary, Parker Brothers created a new game that celebrated which of these game board spaces?
a) "GO"
b) "Free Parking"
c) "Boardwalk"
d) "Go to Jail"
The game was called, "Advance to Boardwalk". There was also a "Free Parking" game that came out a few years later.
6. The only time Chance and Community Chest cards are shuffled is...
a) at the beginning of a game
b) never
c) every time you go through the deck
d) a and c
7. How much money is in a standard Monopoly game?
a) $1,500
b) $10,200
c) $15,140
d) $20,210
8. In the rules of a standard Monopoly game, how many paragraphs are there about how trading works?
a) 14
b) 3
c) 1
d) 0
Several paragraphs in the standard Monopoly rules mention the details of trading, but no paragraph is specifically written for the explanation of trading and only trading.
9. What conditions can cause an auction?
a) bankruptcy
b) landing on an unowned property
c) housing shortage
d) all of the above
10. What is the most common roll when throwing two dice?
a) 3
b) 8
c) 7
d) 12
Simple math. Two, the lowest roll, plus twelve, the highest roll, is fourteen. Fourteen divided by two, the average roll, is seven. Also, no matter what roll of the first die, from one to six, the second die can, possibly, roll to make that number a seven. No other number can be achieved this way. For more information, check out Statistics of Dice Throw.
11. Why does the standard Monopoly game include battleship and cannon tokens?
a) Charles Darrow's family had a long military tradition
b) most games in the late 1930s included tokens that referenced the First World War
c) George Parker's family had a long military tradition
d) Parker Brothers cancelled a war game in 1937 and this was a way to use the tokens in the warehouse
12. Is it possible for one player going bankrupt to force another player into bankruptcy?
a) yes
b) no
c) only during auctions
d) only in tournament play
How is it possible? When you go bankrupt due to a debt you owe another player that you can not pay off, then your properties go to that player. Although highly unlikely, it is potentially possible that the player you go bankrupt to has very little money left as well. Now, if you have mortgages on any of your properties, then the player you go bankrupt to must pay off the interest owing on those mortgages, or 10% of the property's value. For example, if you had Boardwalk mortgaged and went bankrupt to me, I have to immediately pay $40 (10% of $400) to receive that property (or $240 to receive it unmortgaged). It takes at least $31 to put anyone under who can still pull in rent because they must own something that is unmortgaged, which means at least Mediterranean Avenue which pulls in $30 after mortgaging.
2015-APR-14 EDIT: Thanks to John Carter for correcting a mistake I had here (for over 10 years!) where I claimed the mortgage percentage was 5%, rather than the correct value of 10%. I am not sure how I went wrong with that one. I have known it to be 10% every time I play! Thanks for catching this one and apologies to anyone I misled in the meantime. The answer to 12 is still "yes".
13. If you acquired Boardwalk by forcing another player into bankruptcy, and didn't unmortgage it at that time, how much would you pay to transfer the ownership of the property?
a) $0
b) $200
c) $20
d) $220
14. What property is landed on most often in Monopoly games?
a) Boardwalk
b) Jail
c) Go
d) Illinois Ave
Illinois Avenue is the most landed on property in the game, but "In Jail" is the place you end up most often: Probabilities in the Game of Monopoly®
15. How much money should a player get for landing on Free Parking the first time?
a) $0
b) $200
c) $500
d) $1000
16. What happens if the bank runs out of money?
a) no more money enters the game
b) the game ends
c) the game continues using homemade money
d) everyone gives the bank $1000
17. Which one of these deals is allowed when conducting a trade?
a) a "free ride" on a future turn
b) promising to trade property you don't own on a future turn
c) trading just money for money
d) including a "Get out Jail Free" card in the trade
18. Which color group typically has the lowest rate of return on investment?
a) purples
b) light blues
c) greens
d) dark blues
Probabilities in the Game of Monopoly® shows that Mediterranean Avenue & Baltic Avenue (the "purples", even though St. Charles Place, States Avenue, and Virginia Avenue are also purple) have the worse ROI without houses or hotels, with one house, with two houses, and with three houses. However, Pacific Avenue, North Carolina Avenue, and Pennsylvania Avenue (the "greens") have the worse ROI with four houses and with hotels.
Although ROI has nothing to do with the amount of money spent (it is a ratio of money spent and money earned), you should realize the amount of money spent to get those properties with houses and hotels, as that is the only way to understand what they mean by "typically". Mediterranean Avenue & Baltic Avenue with hotels cost $560 in total. Pacific Avenue, North Carolina Avenue, & Pennsylvania Avenue without houses or hotels cost $920 in total. 64.3% more! In other words, you can easily "get by" the bad ROI on Mediterranean Avenue & Baltic Avenue with a little money; Much less money than it costs to purchase all of the "greens". The correct answer is definitely "c".
19. If you land on Income tax on your first turn, what is the least amount of money you can pay?
a) $100
b) $150
c) $172
d) $200
10% of your $1,500 initial net worth is $150. The break even point is when your net worth is $2,000, as 10% of $2,000 is $200 which exactly equals your other option of paying $200.
At the beginning of the game, your approximate net worth goes from $1,500 to $1,700 to $1,900 to $2,100, as you pass Go and collect $200 income each time. This approximation of net worth is not entirely accurate, but accurate enough. The approximation above has to be off by more than $100 before it becomes incorrect as $1,900 and $2,100 are exactly $100 off from the break-even net worth of $2,000. For example, if you incorrectly assumed you have approximately $1,900, but actually have $100 more ($2,000), and chose 10% then you have to pay $200, which is the same as if you chose to pay the other option of $200!
Assuming the approximation is accurate enough, you should always choose 10% until you pass Go 3 times, at which your approximate net worth surpasses $2,000 (approximate $2,100 net worth; $1,500 + first $200 = $1,700 + second $200 = $1,900 + third $200 = $2,100).
Now, let's talk about the inaccuracies of the approximation. First off, as you purchase properties, your net worth does not change. If you purchase Boardwalk for $400, then you lose $400 in cash buy gain $400 in property worth. It evens itself out. Remember this when keeping track of your net worth for the income tax square.
The only change is when you have to pay rent or taxes or other things in the Community Chest and Chance cards. Just make sure that you keep track of whether you have paid out or brought in $100 or more. For example, if you collect $200 from the bank from a Community Chest or Chance card, then you should be able to quickly append that to your approximate net worth. If you land on luxury tax of $75 and then win a beauty contest with a price of $10, then do your math properly to figure out that you lost $65 ($75-$10). It is very easy... besides, even if you are slightly off, it doesn't matter all that much:
Even if the "$1,500 to $1,700 to $1,900 to $2,100" assumption is wrong, because you made a mistake in keeping track of your net worth due to rents and Community Chest and Chance cards, chances are it will be so close that it will not matter that much. For example, if you gain $145 from Community Chest and Chance cards, so your net worth is $2,045 instead of the expected $1,900 the second time you come around go, and then you choose 10%, then you have to pay $204 (or do you round up to $205?) instead of $200. You lose $5 at the most. It is no big deal.
20. You've built 12 houses on the red color-group and are considering buying hotels. There are 10 hotels in the bank, but only two houses. You have plenty of cash. Two of your opponents have just traded and formed their first color-groups. They also have lots of cash. What should you do?
a) buy three hotels and return your twelve houses to the bank
b) buy two hotels and return eight houses to the bank
c) buy one hotel and return four houses to the bank
d) sit tight
The Answers (Plain):
1.b)
2.b)
3.c)
4.b)
5.c)
…
6.a)
7.c)
8.d)
9.d)
10.c)
…
11.d)
12.a)
13.c)
14.d)
15.a)
…
16.c)
17.d)
18.c)
19.b)
20.d)
Contact us or discuss in our forums.
Fan Emails:
I wanted to share this email from John Carter as he helped catch a mistake I had in the explanation of question 12 and also provides useful links:
John Carter
Mar 23
to matt
Hi Matt. I was just reading you website (http://xona.com/2004/07/23.html) about the Monopoly quiz. The answer for question 12 seems wrong to me. It mentioned paying a transfer tax of 5% on traded mortgaged property. The number shown in the official rules is 10% (http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/00009.pdf).
[...]
By the way, some clarification on rule ambiguities can be found in the old tournament kits provided by Parker Brothers and then Hasbro. I found a link to a site that pdf of the tournament kit you might find interesting:
http://www.tmk.edu.ee/~creature/monopoly/download/official_rules_gathering/official_tournament_kit_tournament_guide.pdf
[...]
Thanks,
John
Thanks, John!
About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.