How to Play Monopoly Deal

For years I loved playing Monopoly, and I still do when the rare opportunity presents itself.

Hasbro’s new spin on the proven classic is Monopoly Deal. There have quite a few a spin-off’s of the Property Tycoon game, and I never thought I’d enjoy any of them as I am quite the traditionalist 🙂

That was until I played Monopoly Deal; three minutes into my first game and I was hooked!

(Click Monopolyto buy the game for as low as $2.40, or to browse other versions of the game)

Monopoly Deal rules follow the same basic principles of the original monopoly in that the aim of the game is to collect properties of the same colour until you have a full set or a ‘monopoly’. The winner is the first player who has collected three full sets.

(The initial Monopoly Deal rules distributed by Hasbro were worded slightly differently as they are today. I have checked all the relevant sites for the webpage age and authority to deliver the most comprehensive and up-to-date set of rules below. Whether you choose to play by the other rules or by the new, clearly defined method is up to you.  The following post has therefore been updated to be as relevant as possible. I’ve also updated some of the Q&A so that it makes sense and flows from the article)

How to Play Monopoly Deal

There are three types of cards in the game, and on every turn you are allowed to play any combination of three cards. (play them in any order)

  1. Property Card
  2. Money Card
  3. Action Card

Shuffle all the cards together and deal out. Each player is dealt 5 cards, the remaining cards are played in the center face down; this is the draw pile. Play starts to the left of the dealer and continues clockwise.

When it your turn:

Take two cards from the Draw Pile.  (later in the game, if you have no cards left, pick up 5 cards instead of just two)

Now you get to play your cards: Property, Money and Action. Remember you can play a maximum of three cards on every turn, and in any order. But you can also choose not to play any cards if you prefer. As long as you don’t have more than 7 cards in your hand at the end of your turn. So you can play 0 or 1 or 2 or 3 cards per turn.

PROPERTY CARDS

Put down property cards in front of you to build up your property sets (monopolies) . You may play up to three property cards per round. Each card shows you how many properties there are to collect in it’s colour-set/monpoloy. e.g. Green needs 3 properties, Brown needs two, Black (Railway Stations) need 4.

Start collecting as many different colour sets as you like, but you need 3 Monolpolies (3 full colour sets) of different colours to win the game.

Note: you can collect the same colour set as another player e.g. if another player is collecting Red properties, you may also start a collection of Red properties, and because of the wild cards it is possible that both of you will complete the set.

You can only reorganize your property collection on your turn. If you realise you’ve won during someone else’s turn, you need to wait until it’s your turn to say so.

MONEY CARDS

You make money by playing action cards which charge other players for rent on your properties or for your birthday etc.

You will need to build up a money pile in front of you. If someone charges you rent you can only pay with what’s out in front of you, not from your hand! If you do not have enough money to pay them, you’ll have to pay with some of your properties as well (each property has a monetary value assigned to it.)

ACTION CARDS

As mentioned above, action cards allow you to do things such as charge other players rent, swap and steal properties with them, or receive money for your birthday.

Action cards can also be played as money into your money pile. Each action card has a monetary value assigned to it. Once an action card has been played as a money card, it is then designated as money for the rest of the game and cannot be used as an action. Even if it is paid to someone else, they must put it in their money pile and cannot use it as an action.


Some other rules:

Once a card is played onto the table, it can never go back into a player’s hand.

If you need to pay someone you pay them with properties or money (only from what is on the table). You choose how you pay, not the player being paid.

Change is never given. So, if someone charges you $3m for rent, and you only have a $5m card, you have to pay with that and not receive any change.

If you pay with Property Cards they go into the other players property collection, not their money pile.

If you don’t have enough to pay the full amount, then you just pay what you can. If you don’t have anything in front of you, then you don’t pay anything at all.

You should never have more than seven cards in your hand by the end of your turn. If you do, then you must discard the extra cards at the bottom of the draw pile.

When you charge rent you can also combine it with a ‘Double the Rent’ card. This would count as two cards played. You can also add another ‘Double the Rent’ card on top of that if you have two of them. That will count as your three cards played and will quadruple the amount of the initial rent charged.

You can play a ‘Pass Go’ card to pick up two new cards. You can play up to three of these cards at one time (to pick up six new cards) – Just remember not to have more than seven cards at the end of your turn.

Here are the cards in more detail:

 

If the rules sound a little confusing, just start playing the game and it will make sense. This game seriously hooked me in, and I love it. It’s great for carrying around, and for taking on picnics, road trips, a coffee visit, or train and plane journeys. I’m sure you’ll love it!

So a quick recap of how to play Monopoly Deal:

  • Deal 5 cards each
  • Take two on your turn
  • Play any three cards from property, money or action card (if you want, you don’t have to play anything)
  • Throw away if you have more than seven cards
  • First player with 3 full colour sets wins the game

ENJOY!!

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If you have questions (or comments) regarding any of the cards or rules of Monopoly Deal, leave a comment below and we’ll try help you out.

43 Comments on “How to Play Monopoly Deal”

  1. Thanks for the question, Rit.
    If an opponent charges you more than you have in money and property combined, then you just give him everything you have on the table, and nothing more.
    You don’t have to give anything from your hand, and you don’t owe him anything in future rounds.
    You can only pay with what is on the table in front of you.

    ~ Rory

  2. what happends when your oponent dont have money and only has a propiety set (monopoly), and he needs to pay $3M??? sorry for my gramman

  3. No worries about your grammar, Santiago 🙂

    If your opponent only has a monopoly (full set), he will have to break up that set to pay you.

    For e.g. if he has a set of three yellows (each valued at $3m), and he owes you $3m, he will have to break up that set and give you one of his yellow properties.

    ~ Rory

  4. Pingback: No Deal
  5. Hello,

    If at the beginning of my turn I have 7 cards and take two from the pile. Can I decide to don’t play any card and discharge two cards? or I have to play two cards?

  6. Hi,
    This might sound silly
    If its my turn, and I switch the wild card from yellow property to red property, does that count as 1 action on my turn?

    Regards,
    Jeremy

    1. That’s actually a very common question Jeremy.

      The answer is: No, it doesn’t count as your action. You can switch your yellow wild card to red, and then charge rent on your red properties. You can even then change the wild card back to yellow before ending your turn.

      Just remember that you can only change the colour of your wild card while it is your turn, and not in between turns.

      Have fun, and thanks for visiting the site.
      ~ Rory

  7. Hi Rory,

    Thanks for your info here. Can the monopoly deal wild card be switched if if you steal it from another player?
    Thanks.
    Phil

    1. Pleasure Phil,

      Yes, if you steal a wild card which is currently being used on a blue set, you can place it on any colour set in your collection.

      Also, if you use a Deal Breaker to steal a complete set which includes a wild card, you can use that wild card anywhere on your other sets.

      Enjoy.

      Rory

  8. hello,

    what if in the there are no more cards in the draw pile and no one has completed the 3 full sets, how will you determine the winner?

    1. Hi Etienne,

      In that case you shuffle up the played cards in the action pile, turn them over to start a new draw pile, and continue playing until there is a winner.

      This will make it really interesting as obviously it means there will only be action cards being drawn, so cards such as the ‘deal breaker’ and ‘just say no’ will come back in to play.

      All the best,

      ~ Rory

  9. Hi so does this mean I can’t charge rent twice?.. All this time we’ve been pulling out 1 to 3 action cards but I guess we interpreted the rules incorrectly. Though, it is much fun to play 2-3 action cards. It really turns the tables!

  10. [updated]
    Yes, the rules permit you to charge rent up to three times per turn. Obviously you can play a “Double the Rent” card with your rent card, and this will use up an extra card of your allocated three for the turn.

    You could also play two ‘Double the Rent’ cards on a rent card. That will count as three cards played, but will quadruple the amount of rent owned.

    ~ Rory

    1. [Updated]
      You can play a maximum of three cards per turn.
      Those three cards can be any combination of Money, Action and Property.

      You don’t have to play three cards on every turn, e.g you can play property and money and choose not to play an action.

      You would just have to make sure you don’t hold more than seven cards at the end of your turn.

      ~ Rory

  11. [updated]
    You can charge rent up to three times per turn. Obviously you can play a “Double the Rent” card with your rent card, and this will mean that you’ve played two cards out of your three.

    You could also play two ‘Double the Rent’ cards on your rent card. This will mean you’ve played 3 cards, and you won’t be able to play any more cards on that turn.

    ~ Rory

      1. [updated] Yes, if you only play one ‘Pass Go’ as an action for the turn, you can still play any other two cards. So you could still play another action card (or two).

        ~ Rory

  12. hello Rory for when you use rent and double the rent you are saying it only counts as 1 action card not 2 and you can still play your money card and property card that turn

  13. Hi Brandon,
    [updated]
    In Monopoly Deal you can use Double the Rent with a Rent card (well, you have to, you can’t use Double the Rent on it’s own), that will count as two cards for the turn.

    You can then still play one more card on that turn; any money, property or action card.

    You could also play two ‘Double the Rent’ cards on a rent card. That will count as three cards played, but will quadruple the amount of rent owned.

    Thanks for the question.

    ~ Rory

    1. Thank you Henry.
      I’ve checked around with all the webpage ages and authorities and I see that some wordings have changed over the versions. I’ve updated the above post to be as accurate and correct as possible.
      Thanks for visiting and for your comments.

      ~ Rory

      1. thanks for the answer Rory
        but i still doubt, may i put 3 property card on my turn or only one, and how about if in my turn i put an action card become money into my bank and then may i put an action card again to rent or etc?.
        thanks

        1. Hi Henry,

          Yes, you can put three property cards down in one turn. But then you won’t be able put down any other cards on that turn.

          If you play an Action Card as a money (i.e. put it into bank) you can then still play an Action card to charge rent or something else.

          You can play any three cards on your turn, in any order.

          I hope that answers your questions. If anything is still unclear, please let me know.

          Thanks.
          ~ Rory

          1. thanks for the answer Rory
            it’s clear now and i can put any card not just one action, one property and one money but i can combine of them like 2 action, 1 property and something else LOL it’s more fun 😀
            thank u

            Henry

    1. Hi Sarah,
      Thanks for the question. Sorry, I’m not quite sure what you mean.

      When do you have to divide money between two players?
      Do you mean when you charge rent from two players?

    1. Yes, you can steal a Wild Card using the Sly Deal.
      As long as it’s not part of a completed set, then it is free to be taken with a Sly Deal or Forced Deal.

  14. Hello Rory , I have few questions and I need a clear n Guaranteed answers please :
    – Could I move a card from a full set I made ?
    – Is it possible to complete a set from Property Wildcards and a Wild Card ?
    – What happens when someone played 1 extra card by mistake (=4) Does it get burnt or he gets it back ?
    – Could a player see how much money (the bank) does another player has ?

    And by the way I have the monopoly deal ( Hong Kong )
    That has more cards ( Go to Jail , You inherit , You Infinity, Double Sly )
    You better buy it if you haven’t , Much Fun.

    1. Hi Hamad,

      Thanks for your questions.

      1) Yes you can move a card from a full set you have made. You can only move it on your turn. This doesn’t count as one of your three moves.

      2) You can use wildcards to complete a set, but there always needs to be at least one standard Property card in the set.

      And you can’t put two multicoloured wildcards (the ones with all 10 colours across the top) to count as a full set on their own. They have to be used with a 2-colour wildcard and/or a standard Property card.

      3) He just takes the extra card back. Property and Money can be taken back and changed before the end of a turn. However, once an Action card is played, it cannot be reversed.

      4) Yes, your ‘bank’ should be displayed like your property, so other players can get a good idea of how much money you have.

      Thanks for the tip about the Hong Kong Monopoly Deal, I’ll definitely look out for it.

      Enjoy the game!

      ~ Rory

    1. Hi Salem,

      Yes, you can play two of the same action cards in one turn. For example, you can charge rent on the same property twice in a row.
      Enjoy.

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