YOU’VE BEEN PLAYING MONOPOLY WRONG THE WHOLE TIME.

Yahoo!7July 19, 2013, 11:31 am

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You’ve been playing Monopoly wrong the whole time.

You know how a game of Monopoly can sometimes last for hours, usually only ending when someone throws a tantrum or the banker admits he’s been hiding $1 bills in his undies?

It shouldn't be like that.

It turns out there’s a rule we’ve all been forgetting for years.

Typically, when a player lands on a property but chooses not to buy it, the next person simply rolls the dice and takes their turn.

That leaves the game entirely up to chance, and gives the person going first a big advantage.

It also means games can last for hours, waiting for someone to land on the right property or trying to get enough properties together to build some hotels.

But according to the official rulebook, that neglected property is actually up for grabs for every other contestant in an auction.

“Whenever you land on an un-owned property”, the rulebook states, “You may buy that property from the Bank at its printed price.

“You receive the Title Deed card showing ownership. Place the title deed card face up in front of you.

“If you do not wish to buy the property, the Bank sells it at an auction to the highest bidder.

“The high bidder pays the Bank the amount of the bid in cash and receives the Title Deed card for that property.

Any player, including the one who declined the option to buy it at the printed price, may bid. Bidding may start at any price."

Johnny Nexus from the near Miss Blog says the advantages of sticking to the rules a three-fold:

“Firstly, it speeds up the game as it enables the quicker collection of a matched set of streets (and remember that it’s only when players have collected sets, and can start building houses, that the game moves into its final phase).

“Secondly, it makes the game much more interesting by massively increasing the interaction between players”, he says.

“Thirdly, it makes the game much more skillful, since it is now more dependent on your ability to trick, bluff and manage the other players.’

So there you have it, we’ve all been doing it wrong the whole time.

So this weekend, why not dust off the Monopoly board and see if you can make your family members completely financially destitute?