The Smart Mom’s Guide to Playing Monopoly
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As a child I loved playing Monopoly. I somehow had no idea how many hours a full game entails. Yes, ignorance is bliss.
Last Christmas we finally had enough kids old enough to play “the real Monopoly,” so that was one of our family gifts. And recently the boys and I have started playing it at night after the girls go to bed.
FishBoy6 isn’t quite up to speed; it’s still boring to him. But, the bigger boys are all over this idea of buying up property and charging people rent. Little do they know what a total pain it is to be a landlord in real life. (But that’s a post for another day….)
I realized after getting started with Monopoly — and actually reading the directions — how quite a time intensive game it is. So much so that we’d be up until midnight if wanted to play a full round. So, I made a few adaptations. Here are the game rules:
The Smart Mom’s Guide to Playing Monopoly
- Set a time limit. We go for anywhere between 20 and 60 minutes. Don’t worry, you’ll complete the full game of Monopoly eventually, just not in one sitting.
- Get to a saving place. You’ve heard those words many times if your kids play any kind of computer or video games. Real life doesn’t often have “saving spots.” But, in this case, it does. When the timer rings, finish the round so that everyone has had his turn.
- Take a photo. If you don’t have a digital camera, you’ll need to take copious notes. Otherwise, just snap a photo of where every playing piece is on the board. Save the picture, label it: “Monopoly,” and know that you can pick up where you left off next time.
- Create “safety deposit” boxes. Give each player an envelope with his or her name on it. This is where each will store his money, deeds and playing pieces. If it’s really important to your kids to keep the same order of turn, mark those on the envelopes as well. Store these in the Monopoly box.
- Come back another time. Now that you’ve stashed the goods and taken a snapshot of where you left off, you can easily pack it up to play another time. My kids love this and it actually enhances the attraction of the game.
While I’ve heard that more recent versions of Monopoly include credit cards and I don’t know what else, I recommend purchasing a more classic version with paper money. While I don’t agree with the game’s stated goal of “making everyone else bankrupt,” I do think it’s a great tool for teaching them about money, expenses, rent, mortgages, etc. It’s been eye-opening to me to see how my kids think about money.
We started with monopoly jr for my kids and it works great for preschoolers. We now play the real thing and set a time limit and who ever has the most money wins period. I heard an interesting story about the inventor of monopoly recently. He could not get Parker Bros. to buy his game and he was producing them himself. He first started making this game on napkins. I forgot his name, but it’s quite an interesting story..
Another shortcut we have used in the past is to let people put houses an hotels on a property even though they only have one. I love your safety deposit box and taking a picture.
Wow, that is a GREAT idea!
the ease of saving and coming back later is a big reason i’ve always been a fan of monopoly on the computer or more recently on the iphone!
I love the idea of saving the game! We have done that for short periods of time, but not for extended play. We do shorten the game a bit by passing out three prop cards per player at the beginning with the money and going from there. this makes it interesting. thanks for the tips! 🙂
good idea! One other tip I’d have is that if you have a board you could play on (like a piece of plywood or some other scrap) you could play on that board and then carefully move it up somewhere high enough and out of the way so that you could just move the board. My husband and I do that with some games (Settlers of Catan) during Saturday naptime when the littles are sleeping. Sometimes we don’t finish the game before they get up!
Thanks for these great tips!
Great post! We used to do the same thing when I spent the night at my grandma’s house as a kid. We actually had huge rubber-banded piles of stuff (her’s was OLD) and extra money because the game ran so long, we ran out of monopoly money quick. I would bet we played like that for a year or more. Thanks for the trip down memory lane :).
@Jen @ Happy Little Homemaker, we used rubber bands too! 🙂
love the tips to take a picture, stash the cash/cards/etc in an envelope and be set to continue the game later. years ago, i remember playing monopoly with my older sister & brother ~ we’d play all day long. =)
My boys have been playing all afternoon with the neighbors. I guess kids have more stamina than adults. 🙂
You should try the card game, Monopoly Deal! It’s a card game they sell at Target or wherever, and it’s usually around $5.00. It has the “essence” of Monopoly but plays so much faster, and since it’s portable you can take it on trips or to waiting rooms. It’s way more fun than the original!
Great tip! Thanks!