Monopoly: Cthulhu

Monopoly: Cthulhu Rulebook

Table of Contents

Set It Up!

What's Different?

Houses and hotels are renamed Crypts and Mausoleums, respectively.
BOAT, TRAIN, DREAMSCAPE TRAVEL and AUTOMOBILE replace the traditional railroad spaces.
Shuffle the KNOWLEDGE cards and place them face down on the board.
Shuffle the SANITY cards and place them face down on the board.
Game board spaces and corresponding Title Deed cards feature creatures from H.P. Lovecraft's darkest stories. All property values are the same as in the original game.

The Bank

Holds all Insanity Points and Title Deeds not owned by players.
Pays salaries and bonuses to players.
Collects taxes and fines from players.
Sells and auctions properties.
Sells Crypts and Mausoleums.
Loans Insanity Points to players who mortgage their property.

The Bank can never "go broke". If the Bank runs out of Insanity Points, the Banker may issue as much as needed by writing on ordinary paper.

The Banker

Choose a player to be the Banker who will look after the Bank and take charge of auctions.

It is important that the Banker keeps their personal Insanity Points and properties separate from the Bank's.

Each Player Starts the Game With

2 x 500 Insanity Points
4 x 100 Insanity Points
1 x 50 Insanity Points
1 x 20 Insanity Points
2 x 10 Insanity Points
1 x 5 Insanity Points
5 x 1 Insanity Points

Choose from six collectible tokens designed with the Cthulhu fan in mind: Necronomicon, Cultist's Tablet, Cthulhu Statuette, Shining Trapezohedron, The Hound Amulet or Dagon Dagger. Place your token on the GO space.

How Do I Win?

Be the only player left in the game after everyone else has gone bankrupt.

Do this by buying properties and charging other players rent for landing on them. Collect groups of properties to increase the rent, then build Crypts and Mausoleums to really boost your Insanity Points.

Who Goes First?

Each player rolls the two dice. The highest roller takes the first turn.

On Your Turn

Roll the two dice.
Move your token clockwise around the board the number of spaces shown on the dice.
You will need to take action depending on which space you land on. See Where Did You Land? below.
If your move took you onto or past the GO space, collect 200 Insanity Points from the Bank.
If you rolled a double, roll the dice again and take another move (steps 1-4).

Watch out! If you roll doubles 3 times on the same turn, you must Go to Jail.

When you finish your move and action, pass the dice to the player on your left.

Where Did You Land?

1: An Unowned Property

There are three types of properties: Creatures, Transports, and Miskatonic University & Insane Asylum.

You can buy the property you land on for the listed price on the board space. Pay the Bank, then take the Title Deed card that matches the property and place it near you, face up.

If you don't want to pay the listed price, the property goes up for auction.

When buying property you should plan to acquire groups. For example: if you buy a green creature, you should try to get the other two green creatures during the game. Owning groups earns you more rent when other players land on them and lets you build on your creature for even bigger profits.

2: A Property Owned by Another Player

If you land on another player's property you must pay rent to them as shown on the Title Deed card. You do not pay rent if the property is mortgaged (its Title Deed is face down).

Important: the owner must ask you for the rent before the player to your left rolls the dice. If they forget to ask, you don't have to pay!

Creatures

The rent for an unimproved creature is printed on the matching Title Deed card. This is doubled if the owner owns all creatures in its color group and none of them are mortgaged. If the creature is improved with Crypts or Mausoleums, the rent will be much higher, as shown on the Title Deed card.

Important: you cannot build on a creature if any creature in its color group is mortgaged.

Transports

Rent depends on how many Transports the other player owns.

Transports owned	1	2	3	4
Rent (Insanity Points)	25	50	100	200

Miskatonic University & Insane Asylum

Roll the dice and multiply the result by 4. This is the rent you must pay.

If the owning player owns both Miskatonic University & Insane Asylum, multiply the result by 10!

3: Sanity or Knowledge

Take the top card from the appropriate pile, follow the instructions on it immediately, then return it face down to the bottom of the pile. If it is a Get Out of Jail Free card, keep it until you need to use it or sell it to another player.

4: Research Fee / Investigation Fee

If you land on one of these spaces, you must pay the Bank the amount shown.

5: Go to Jail

If you land on this space, you must move your token to the Jail space immediately.

Important: You do not collect 200 Insanity Points for passing GO if you are sent to Jail. As soon as you are sent to Jail, your turn ends. Pass the dice!

Other ways to end up in Jail:

Draw a SANITY or KNOWLEDGE card that tells you to Go to Jail.
Roll three doubles in a row on your turn.

6: Jail (Just Visiting)

Don't worry! If you finish your normal move on the Jail space, nothing happens. Make sure you put your token on the JUST VISITING section.

7: Free Parking

Relax! Nothing bad (or good) happens.

8: A Property That You Own

Nothing happens. But you're not collecting any Insanity Points!

Help! I'm in Debt!

If you ever owe the Bank or another player more Insanity Points than you have, try to raise Insanity Points by selling Crypts and Mausoleums and/or mortgaging properties.

If you still owe more than you have, you are BANKRUPT and out of the game!

Pay whatever Insanity Points you were able to raise.
If the debt is to another player, give them all your mortgaged properties and any Get Out of Jail Free cards. The player must pay 10% interest on each mortgaged property, even if they don't want to pay off the mortgage yet.
If your debt is to the Bank, all your mortgaged properties must be put up for auction. These are sold unmortgaged (face up). Return any Get Out of Jail Free cards to the bottom of the appropriate piles.

Don't Wait for the Dice!

You can do the following even when it isn't your turn, even if you're in Jail!

1: Collect Rent

If another player lands on one of your unmortgaged properties, you can demand rent from them as shown on the Title Deed. See Property Owned by Another Player above.

2: Auction

The Banker holds an auction when:

A player lands on an unowned property and decides not to buy it for the listed price.
A player goes bankrupt and turns over all his or her mortgaged properties to the Bank, which are auctioned unmortgaged (face up).
There is a Crypt/Mausoleum shortage and more than one player wants to buy the same Crypt(s)/Mausoleum(s).

Auction bids can only be made in Insanity Points. Any player can start the bidding for as little as 1 Insanity Point. If no one makes a higher bid, the last player to bid must buy the property.

3: Build

When you own all the creatures in a color group, you can buy Crypts/Mausoleums from the Bank and put them on any of those creatures.

i. The listed price of each Crypt is shown on the creature's Title Deed.

ii. You must build evenly. You cannot build a second Crypt on a creature until you have built one on each creature of its color group.

iii. You can have a maximum of 4 Crypts on a single creature.

iv. When you have 4 Crypts on a creature, you can exchange them for a Mausoleum by paying the listed price on the Title Deed. You can only have one Mausoleum per creature and cannot build additional Crypts on a creature with a Mausoleum.

4: Sell Crypts/Mausoleums

Crypts/Mausoleums can be sold back to the Bank at half the listed price. Crypts/Mausoleums must be sold evenly in the same way that they were bought. Mausoleums are sold for half the listed price and immediately exchanged for 4 Crypts.

Crypt/Mausoleum shortage? If there are no Crypts/Mausoleums left in the Bank, you must wait for other players to sell theirs before you can buy any. If Crypts/Mausoleums are limited and two or more players wish to buy them, the Banker must auction them off to the highest bidder.

5: Mortgage Properties

If you're low on Insanity Points or don't have enough to pay a debt, you can mortgage any of your unimproved properties. You must sell all Crypts/Mausoleums on a color group to the Bank before you can mortgage one of its creatures.

To mortgage a property, turn its Title Deed card face down and collect the listed value (shown on the back of the card) from the Bank. To repay a mortgage, pay the listed value plus 10% to the Bank, then turn the card face up. Rent cannot be collected on mortgaged properties.

6: Do a Deal

You can do a deal with another player to buy or sell unimproved property. You must sell all Crypts/Mausoleums on a color group to the Bank before you can sell one of its creatures.

Property can be traded for any combination of Insanity Points, other property or Get Out of Jail Free cards. The amount is decided by the players making the deal.

Mortgaged property can be sold to another player at any agreed price. After buying a mortgaged property, you must either repay it immediately or just pay 10% of the listed value and keep the card face down; if you later decide to repay the mortgage to the Bank, you will have to pay the 10% fee again.

Remember: your aim is not just to get rich with Insanity Points. To win you must make every other player BANKRUPT!

Q: How do I get out of Jail?

A: You've got 3 options...

i. Pay 50 Insanity Points at the start of your next turn, then roll and move as normal.

ii. Use a Get Out of Jail Free card if you have one or buy one from another player. Put the card to the bottom of the appropriate pile, then roll and move.

iii. Wait three turns. On each turn roll the dice; if you get a double, move out of Jail and around the board using this roll. If you do not get a double on your third roll, you must pay 50 Insanity Points to the Bank, then move the number of spaces rolled.

Speed Play Rules

Do you like to play fast? Rules for a short game (60-90 minutes). There are four changed rules for this first Short Game.

During PREPARATION, the Banker shuffles then deals three Title Deed cards to each player. These are Free. No payment to the Bank is required.
You need only three Crypts (instead of four) on each property of a complete color group before you may buy a Mausoleum. Mausoleum rent remains the same. The turn-in value is still one-half of the purchase value, which in this game is one Crypt less than in the regular game.
If you land in Jail you must exit on your next turn by (1) using a "Get Out of Jail Free" card if you have (or can buy) one; (2) rolling doubles; or (3) paying 50 Insanity Points. Unlike the standard rules, you may try to roll doubles and, failing to do so, pay the 50 Insanity Points on the same turn.

End of Game

The game ends when one player goes bankrupt. The remaining players add up their: (1) Insanity Points on hand; (2) properties owned, at the value printed on the board; (3) any mortgaged properties owned, at one-half the value printed on the board; (4) Crypts, counted at the purchase value; (5) Mausoleums, counted at purchase value including the amount for the three Crypts turned in. The most powerful player wins!

Transcription note: the printed text reads "Mauseoleums" in item (5); it is transcribed here as "Mausoleums".

Play It Right!

Many players like to devise their own "house" Monopoly rules. This is fine, but such rules often make the game last longer. In the official rules players may never loan each other money or trade "promises" not to charge rent in the future, etc. All tax and penalty fees are payable to the Bank and should not be stored under the Free Parking space or anywhere else!