Express Monopoly

A Quick Guide to the Card Game

Objective

Be the first player to score 50 or more points by collecting property sets (Monopolies).

Setup

  1. Assemble Board: Snap the four puzzle pieces together to form the game board.
  2. Deal Cards: Find the summary and coupon cards and set them aside. Shuffle the remaining cards and deal four to each player.
  3. Draw Pile: Place the rest of the cards face down to create the draw pile.
  4. Scorekeeper: Choose a player to keep score on a sheet of paper.
  5. Start Player: The player to the left of the dealer goes first.

How to Play

The game is played over several rounds. On your turn, follow these two steps:

  1. Draw Cards: Start your turn by drawing cards from the draw pile until you have five cards in your hand.
  2. Play a Card: You must play one card from your hand. Place it under the matching property section on the game board. If other cards are already there, stack them so all cards are visible.

Play passes to the player on your left (clockwise).

Completing a Monopoly

A "Monopoly" is a complete set of four property cards. The property groups are shown on the board (color-coded sections, railroads, and the four corners).

  • The player who plays the fourth and final card to a group completes that Monopoly.
  • When you complete a Monopoly, you immediately take all four cards from that group and place them in a face-down pile in front of you for scoring at the end of the round.
  • You can play multiple cards on your turn only if doing so completes a Monopoly. However, you can only complete one Monopoly per turn.

Special Cards

  • Steal One Card: You can play this card at any time. When you play it, choose an opponent and take one random card from their hand. The "Steal" card is then discarded from the game. After playing it, you must still play a regular card to the board.
  • Chance / Community Chest: These act as wild cards for properties. Play them to any matching property group. The unique ability is that once played, they can be moved to another matching group to help complete a different Monopoly. Once used to complete a Monopoly, they are collected and cannot be used again.

End of the Round & Scoring

A round ends when all cards from the draw pile and players' hands have been played. Players then count their points based on the Monopolies they collected.

Monopoly Point Values

  • Purple Monopoly1 point
  • Light Blue Monopoly2 points
  • Pink Monopoly3 points
  • Orange Monopoly4 points
  • Red Monopoly5 points
  • Yellow Monopoly6 points
  • Green Monopoly7 points
  • Dark Blue Monopoly8 points
  • Railroads Monopoly8 points
  • Four Corners Monopoly8 points

Bonus Points

  • +5 Bonus Points if you collect both Monopolies on one side of the board.
  • +5 Bonus Points if you collect both the Railroads and the Four Corners Monopolies.

After scoring, if no player has reached 50 total points, a new round begins. The player who scored the most points in the previous round deals next.

How to Win

The game ends at the conclusion of a round where at least one player has a total score of 50 or more points. The player with the highest total score wins the game!