How much money do you start with in Monopoly? Set up game and play
“Don’t pass by, don’t collect $200.” “Go to the Reading.”
These popular phrases and many others are an integral part of the game of Monopoly. Parent company Hasbro, recognized by Guinness World Records as the most popular board game in 1999, prints $30 billion in Monopoly funds every year, CNN reports.
But like many board games, Monopoly needs to be set up – choose your token, decide who goes first, and distribute the money.
If you have high hopes of landing on Boardwalk and Park Place but don’t know how much money to start with, read on.
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How much money do you start with in Monopoly?
According to the Hasbro game guide, players start with $1,500 in Monopoly money. Here’s the breakdown of how much money each player gets:
- Two $500
- Two $100
- Two $50
- Six $20
- Five $10
- Five $5
- Five $1
The rest of the bills go to the bank. A player acts as a banker and is responsible for dividing the money and collecting the fees.
How much money do you start with in Monopoly Junior?
Hasbro founded Monopoly Junior in 1990 to appeal to younger fans. The game differs in its currency, the places on the board, and even the replacement of the prison with a visit to the “quiet room,” as the original Hasbro instructions put it. However, the goal remains the same: collect as much money as possible to be the richest player at the end of the game.
Here’s how much money to issue to each player in Monopoly Junior:
- One time $5
- $4 once
- Three $3
- Four $2s
- Five $1
A Brief History of Monopoly
Elizabeth Magic, known to her friends as Lizzie, created the first version of Monopoly, originally called The Landlord’s Game, in the early 1900s to reflect “the current system of land grabbing, with all its usual results and consequences,” according to the Guardian.
Magic secured a legal claim through the US Patent Office in 1903 and published the game through the Economic Game Company. The Guardian said the game is popular with left-wing intellectuals, a community of Quakers, in the neighborhood and on college campuses.
The early edition was passed from friend to friend until Charles Darrow, unemployed and desperate for money, wrote the rules and sold the game to the Parker Brothers in 1932. The new version, now called Monopoly, was very successful.
Darrow received royalties from the Parker Brothers Edition throughout his life, and magic received $500 for the rights to The Landlord’s Game to preserve Monopoly’s originality. Magic protested the snub in interviews with the Washington Post and Washington Evening Star in 1936 and was publicly angry at Darrow’s monopoly, the Guardian reports.
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What goes in a Monopoly game?
Make sure your newly purchased Monopoly game has all the correct parts before you start playing. The latest version of the popular game includes these items:
- game board
- Eight tokens
- 28 Title Deed or Title Deeds
- 16 random cards
- 16 community cards
- 32 houses
- 12 hotels
- Two dice
- Monopoly Money Pack
- instructions
Monopoly characters have changed over the years. In 2013, the game replaced its classic iron marker with a cat. In 2017, Hasbro again collected opinions on the traditional parts of the game. After more than 4.3 million votes, Hasbro decided to replace the trunk, wheelbarrow and thimble with a T-Rex, rubber ducky and penguin, CNN reports.
