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When was the last time you played Monopoly? If your family is anything like mine then it's been a while because you can never finish a game before someone gets heated, but it turns out almost 50% of us have made up rules that actually DON'T exist in the game.
According to new research, there are actually ten common rules people have made up entirely for the game that when it was originally created weren't a thing. The main culprit is "Free Parking" where most people assume whoever lands there gets whatever taxes were placed in the middle of the board, but it's not a rule at all.
You can see the other ten most popular made-up rules in Monopoly below, but we'll just stick with the "house rules" either way:
- tax payments and fines are paid out to the person who lands on Free Parking – not a rule! Officially, Free Parking simply gives players a break
- Skipping spaces such as tax squares – it’s not allowed
- Collecting $400 instead of $200 for landing directly on Go – again, not a rule
- Not being able to collect rent when you are in Jail – not according to the rulebook
- Avoiding auctions – officially if a player lands on a property and doesn’t want it, the property goes straight to auction
- Always having auctions – officially the person landing on it has first choice to buy, but some players think it should go to an auction straight away
- Ending early – officially the game ends when one person owns everything, and everyone else is out.
- Buying hotels after three houses – the rulebook says four houses
- Getting out of jail early – some players say you get out after one throw. Officially it’s three
- Starting with properties – some like to start with three properties, even though officially you start with zero
(Express)