I’ve had quite a lot of fun with the Monopoly board game on this here website over the years. In case you’re new to this back porch, or your brain is as old-fartish as mine, see here for an explanation of Poor Man’s Monopoly, here for Feministical Monopoly, here for some updated Chance / Commmunity Chest cards, and of course we have our old favorite, Black Monopoly:
Now we have this kind of Monopoly:
Going back to the original Monopoly for a moment, we now discover this seldom-exercised yet official rule:
“Whenever a player lands on an un-owned [vacant] property he may buy that property from the Bank at its printed price. If he does not wish to buy the property it is sold at auction by the Banker to the highest bidder.”
I’m interested in the terminology “…it is sold at auction” — it doesn’t say “can be sold”.
Does this mean that the auction is mandatory?
I invite the Powdered Wigsters among my Readers to debate the jots and tittles, in Comments.
How about Obama and Biden Monopoly, you know the one where you crunch and crush up a bunch of working cars and get a small down payment on a new car while everyone else pays more in taxes also you collect your health insurance after paying your premium and someone else’s.
Kamala Harris monopoly where you vote for Kamala and then collect a kiss from her while you state Willie Browns balls on your lips.
Another good one is illegal immigrant monopoly where you pay higher property taxes so that illegals immigrants can be fed, clothed and housed at taxpayer expense.
These fine games brought to you by Democrats and RINO’s.
Given that the origins of the games started as protest against capitalism and excessive rent on poor people, it’s quite appropriate that the modern game is used to protest various other societal ills.
Yes. The auction is mandatory. Either a property is sold when someone lands on it or rent is due. There is no free parking except free parking. (In the official rules. It keeps the game moving.)
Correct. The bush lawyers in our family have studied the rules in great depth and this is correct, you don’t have to buy it, but if you don’t it goes on the block at $1.00. In our interpretation of the rules, if you triggered the auction you can still bid.