10 Ways Kids Try to Cheat at Monopoly

Monopoly is a great game for teaching kids about life, finances, property and taxes. It is Capitalism 101 with a lot of luck thrown in through the rolling of the dice. Just as in real life, many people try to avoid paying more than they have to and try to keep from losing the ‘financial game,’ kids will do the same in this well-loved board game. Sometimes that will mean actually cheating at the game and here are ten ways they have found to do that.

1. Make up their own rules – If you don’t have the rules handy, it is easy to tell someone who hasn’t played before that you “forgot to tell” them about that rule or to suddenly add a few new rules in the middle of the game. Even if the written rules are readily available, there’s always the excuse that “we play it differently at our house.”
2. Roll the dice off the table – “Whoops! I’ll just pick that die up and set it right on the table the same way it fell.” It’s amazing how lucky they are on the numbers that can come up when one of their dice happens to roll off the table and onto the floor. Why would you want to roll them again?
3. Miss count their move – If others aren’t counting along with you, it’s pretty easy to move your piece a space ahead or behind where it was actually supposed to land. One space can make a big difference, especially if it means the difference between paying out money on Boardwalk or taking in money on the Go square.
4. Distract the other players – If you don’t want to pay rent when you land on other people’s property, the trick is to distract them with conversation so that they don’t notice that you’ve parked on it. Simply keeping them from noticing until the next person rolls the dice is usually enough to get a free stay.
5. Move houses to other properties – A little distraction can come in handy for this little cheating scam too. When you see that someone is about to land on the piece of your property with less houses, you might quietly slide one extra one over from the property next door. That’s probably where you originally planned to put it anyways, right?
6. Charge rent on mortgaged properties – When you’ve mortgaged your property in the game of Monopoly, you are supposed to turn that property card upside down to show that it is mortgaged and not collect rent on it when someone lands on that mortgaged piece of property. “Forgetting” to turn the property card over and continuing to collect rent on that mortgaged piece of property would, yes, be considered cheating.
7. Try to collect after the fact – In Monopoly, property owners are expected to keep tabs on their property and request the rent due when someone lands on a piece of their property. If you aren’t paying attention and don’t collect before the next turn is played, you are supposed to forfeit the rent. Many kids try to break this rule and demand their rent after the fact.
8. Overcharging – When landing on someone’s property, the property owner generally tells you how much the rent is for that property. Since the rent varies from one property to another it is pretty easy for a child to quote a different amount than is proper and overcharge those who aren’t familiar enough with the game to notice.
9. Take advantage of newer players – As with any type of game, newbies can easily be taken advantage of by those who know the game better. It makes cheating quite easy, but it could also make for a shorter game of Monopoly, which some people would be in favor of.
10. Skip out on taxes – Property rent isn’t the only thing to spend your money on in the game of Monopoly; just like real life, there are taxes to pay occasionally. There are luxury taxes, income taxes and property taxes. If the other players aren’t paying close enough attention and the tax payer doesn’t mention his taxes due, they might slip by without turning the money into the bank.

Monopoly has been a hit, ever since its inception. There a few homes that you can find without this popular board game available.

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