How to Play Monopoly Deal

This article was reviewed by Ashton Wu and by wikiHow staff writer, Janice Tieperman. Ashton Wu is a Board Game expert at Shelfside. After delving into the Yugioh tournament community while growing up, Ashton launched himself into the board gaming community in 2014 and went into reviewing board games as a career full-time in 2019. His YouTube channel Shelfside has over 35K subscribers and over 4 million views, assisted by written reviews on the Shelfside website and BoardGameGeek.com. He also consults with gaming companies to build high-quality gaming products. Ashton is a tournament commentator, board game playthrough director, and host of the Shelfside Podcast, where he talks about board games with his business partner, Daniel. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in addition to the Technology Management Certificate.

There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

This article has been viewed 61,104 times.

Like the traditional board game, Monopoly Deal offers the exciting combo of competition and risk—but it moves a lot faster. Instead of having a board, paper money, and game pieces, Monopoly Deal condenses gameplay into a 110-card deck. Don’t worry—it only takes a few minutes to learn the rules and get the hang of it, so you'll be wheeling and dealing in a few minutes. Read on for our quick and easy crash course!

Setup

• For reference, each Monopoly Deal deck has 4 quick-start cards, 34 action cards, 28 property cards, 13 rent cards, 20 money cards, and 11 property wildcards. Double-check that each deck has this exact number of cards if you’re playing with more than 1. [1] X Research source
• Each deck has a specific ratio of action cards: 2 “Deal Breaker” cards, 3 “Just Say No” cards, 3 “Sly Deal” cards, 4 “Force Deal” cards, 3 “Debt Collector” cards, 3 “It’s My Birthday” cards, 10 “Pass Go” Cards, 3 “House” cards, 3 “Hotel” cards, and 2 “Double The Rent” cards.
• Each deck also has a specific number of money cards (counted in millions): one 10M card, two 5M cards, three 4M cards, five 2M cards, and six 1M cards.

• If you’re playing with lots of people, multiple players may need to share quick-start cards.

• You’re welcome to look at the cards in your hand, but don’t sneak a peek at anyone else’s. Keep these cards face-down when you’re not holding them.

Place the rest of the deck face-down in the middle of the play area. This is known as the “draw pile,” and is where you’ll grab new cards from throughout the game. [4] X Research source

Select a player to go first and rotate the gameplay clockwise. Ironically, Monopoly Deal doesn’t actually have a dealer—instead, the game is completely turn-based. Pick any player to go first, and go clockwise around the circle of players. [5] X Research source

Your Turn

• Pick up 5 cards if you ran out of cards on the previous turn.

• For instance, you might play 1 action card, move 1 card to the bank, and arrange 1 card in a property set. Or, you could place 3 cards in your bank pile on your turn.
• You don’t have to play a card if you don’t want to! However, you’ll have to get rid of extra cards if you have more than 7 in your hand at one time.

• A typical match of Monopoly Deal can be fast-moving, with your fellow players charging you rent on their properties. When you save money in your bank pile, you’ll be able to pay back other players quickly and easily.
• For example, if you place a 3-million dollar money card and 1-million dollar action card in your bank, you’d have 4 million dollars at your disposal.
• Once your cards are added to the bank pile, you can’t use them for anything else.

• Wildcards have 2 solid-colored bars on opposite ends, and can work with 2 types of property sets. However, you can only apply a wildcard to 1 card set. Flip the card upward so it matches the other cards in the corresponding property set.

• Steal a full property set with a Deal Breaker card, or charge another player 5 million dollars with a Debt Collector card.
• Switch properties with another player using a Forced Deal card, or steal a single property with a Sly Deal card.
• Add 3 million dollars to a property set’s total rent value with a House card, or add 4 million with a Hotel card.
• Force all players to play you 2 million dollars with an It’s My Birthday card, or use a Just Say No card to get out of any forced action.
• Pick up 2 extra cards from the draw pile with a Pass Go card.

• You can only charge 1 player per rent card.
• You can use split-color rent cards if you have at least 1 of the property colors in your property sets.
• You can only use the “Double The Rent” action card when also using a rent card. However, a “Double The Rent” card would be counted as the second action in your turn.

• Playing up to 3 cards each turn helps you get the most out of your hand.
• You can discard any type of card from your hand.

Other Player’s Turns

• Some action cards let other players steal or trade properties with you. Unless you have a “Just Say No” action card, you’ll have to comply with whatever card or cards they put down.
• You can’t get change back in Monopoly Deal—If you don’t have the exact amount of rent money, you’ll have to overpay the player. For instance, if you’re charged 2 million but only have 3 million in the bank, you’ll pay the player the full 3 million.

• Only pay with properties if you don’t have enough money in your bank.

Continue playing in a clockwise direction. Work your way around the circle of players, giving each player a chance to play up to 3 cards on their turn. Keep assembling property sets, storing money in your bank pile, and/or playing action and rent cards of your own as the game continues. [15] X Research source

End the game when a player has 3 full sets of properties. Keep in mind that you can only declare your victory on your own turn—not in the middle of another player’s. Once a player announces that they have 3 full property sets, the game is officially over! [16] X Research source

Community Q&A

This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Yes! Monopoly Deal is available to download for free through the Microsoft store. You can play it online with other players or against the computer in offline mode.

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Like any game, it takes practice. There are certain strategies you can keep in mind, such as playing money instead of property early in the game and keeping track of which cards have been played. For instance, if you know that you have one Deal Breaker card in your hand and the other has already been played, that means you can safely play complete sets of property without having to worry about someone else using Deal Breaker on you.

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

A lot of it is luck, but there’s definitely some skill involved. In this respect, it’s a lot like gambling—having some basic strategy will definitely improve your chances of winning.

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Transfer lots of cards to your bank throughout the game! This way, you’ll be ready to go if any other player charges you rent or plays another type of action card. [17] X Research source

Your property sets don’t have to have all unique properties—there can be duplicates! [19] X Research source

You can only pay players with cards that are face-up on the play space. Unfortunately, the cards in your hand don’t qualify as payment. [20] X Research source

You can’t put cards back in your hand once you’ve laid them down in the play area. [21] X Research source

Another player can’t decide how you’re going to pay them. Only you get to choose which bank cards or properties go into your pile. [22] X Research source

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1. ↑http://monopolydealrules.com/index.php?page=cards#
2. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
3. ↑http://monopolydealrules.com/index.php?page=play
4. ↑http://monopolydealrules.com/index.php?page=play
5. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
6. ↑https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0XrTjmCV8&t=0m32s
7. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
8. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
9. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf

1. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
2. ↑http://monopolydealrules.com/index.php?page=rent#top
3. ↑http://monopolydealrules.com/index.php?page=play
4. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
5. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
6. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
7. ↑http://monopolydealrules.com/index.php?page=play
8. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
9. ↑https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0XrTjmCV8&t=3m20s
10. ↑https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0XrTjmCV8&t=1m46s
11. ↑https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Deal%20Rules.pdf
12. ↑https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0XrTjmCV8&t=2m40s
13. ↑https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0XrTjmCV8&t=2m52s

About This Article

This article was reviewed by Ashton Wu and by wikiHow staff writer, Janice Tieperman. Ashton Wu is a Board Game expert at Shelfside. After delving into the Yugioh tournament community while growing up, Ashton launched himself into the board gaming community in 2014 and went into reviewing board games as a career full-time in 2019. His YouTube channel Shelfside has over 35K subscribers and over 4 million views, assisted by written reviews on the Shelfside website and BoardGameGeek.com. He also consults with gaming companies to build high-quality gaming products. Ashton is a tournament commentator, board game playthrough director, and host of the Shelfside Podcast, where he talks about board games with his business partner, Daniel. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in addition to the Technology Management Certificate. This article has been viewed 61,104 times.

Monopoly Deal is a fun, shorter card game version of classic Monopoly that can be played with 2-5 players. The goal of the game is to be the first player to collect 3 full property sets. To set up the game, first remove the rules reference cards from the deck and distribute one to each player. Shuffle the deck and deal 5 cards face-down to each player. Players can look at the cards in their hand, but must keep them hidden from their opponents. Place the remainder of the cards face-down in a pile in the middle of the table to create the draw pile. Then, choose one player to go first. On a player's turn, they draw 2 cards from the draw pile and add them to their hand. Then, they may choose to play up to 3 cards from their hand. There are 3 ways to play a card: first, you can play money cards or liquidate action cards to fund your personal bank by setting them face-up in a pile in front of you. The money cards tell you how much they’re worth, while the action cards have a small dollar value listed in a circle on the corner of the card. If you do put an action card into your bank, you can no longer use it to perform the action described on the card. Second, you can play property cards face-up in front of you. Creating 3 sets of matching property sets means you win the game. A set is any 2-3 properties of the same color, depending on the set. The number of cards needed for a particular set is listed on each property card for that set. The cards in a set do not need to have different names. Finally, you may play action cards by setting them face-up in the discard pile and following the instructions on the card. If an action card requires other players to pay you rent, they can take the funds out of their bank and you may add them to your bank, or they can give you properties of their choice which automatically go into your property sets. The property values are listed on the corner of each card, and the sum cost of the property values must add up to the rent owed. If a player is incapable of paying rent, they do not pay at all. Once a player has played up to 3 cards and all action cards have been resolved, their turn ends and play continues clockwise. Players are not allowed to hold more than 7 cards in their hand. If a player ends their turn with 8 or more cards, they must discard cards of their choice until they’re back to 7 cards. If a player ends their turn with 0 cards in hand, they start the next turn by drawing 5 cards instead of 2. Play continues until one player makes 3 matching property sets and wins the game!

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