Friends Monopoly Guide

Friends: Monopoly 

Disclaimer: If you haven’t watched Friends, the tv show, most of the jokes and references will go over your head, and you won’t be able to catch them. (Note: if you haven’t watched Guardians of the Galaxy, you won’t get that last joke either.)

Not since the combination of peanut butter and jelly, ham and burger, Chandler and Monica! CHANDLER AND MONICA!, has there been this much excitement! It’s Friends and Monopoly!!! 

Ok. Catch your breath. I have more to say. Very similar to the classic game of Monopoly, the Friends edition has different aspects that fans of the hit tv show will really enjoy. To lose friends while playing with friends has always been a treasured tradition.

By the end of this guide, you will have a state of total awareness. Unagi.

Before You Get Started

You will want to get your Friends mug, a snack, and sit down to battle. This is Monopoly still. You can have 2 to 6 players, ages 8 and above. This game will take about 45 minutes for two people, and if you invite the boys from across the hall, four players will take about 90 minutes or more. You will need to pull out your inner Monica and play to win. 

In this section, we will talk about what items are in the box. If you want to get to how the game is played, jump down to the Playing the game section. You will miss out on some witty information, but I understand. 

Now, as you get ready to unbox this excellent game, you will notice on the box the cast pictures throughout the years, the silhouette of New York City, and the game pieces. This is the time you call your game piece. I’m picking the dinosaur myself. 

When you open the box, you will see these items:

• Gameboard
• 6 Tokens
• 28 Title Deed Cards
• 16 Apartment 19 cards
• 16 Apartment 20 cards
• 32 Plastic Coffee Mugs
• 12 Plastic Sofas
• 2 Dice
• Monopoly Money 

Now open and layout the board, and you will see some of the iconic spaces on the board. The majority of the spaces are now customized to a Friends theme. The traditional houses and hotel deed cards are replaced with moments in the show. The money has some great Friends icons on it. Chance and treasure cards are replaced with Apartments 19 and 20 cards. And so much more that I’m ready to get into the game myself!

First, you want to place everyone’s tokens on the GO space on the board. 

Now let’s pick a Banker who will be in charge of paying the players, collecting money, and managing the Title Deeds. Who would you choose, Ross or Chandler?

Then start giving each player a total of $1500 in Monopoly Money. 

• 2- $500
• 4- 100
• 1- $50
• 1- $20
• 2- $10
• 1- $5
• 5- $1

Card Types

Transport spaces that were once railroads are now Relaxi Taxi, Phoebe’s Grandma’s Taxi, Monic’s Sports Car, and Joey’s Boat. The more you own, the more rent you can charge when they land on it. You can’t build on the properties, but you will be making a pretty penny if you have them all. It will be time to cut up Daddies credit cards!

The utilities are pretty much the same as the classic Monopoly. You roll a dice and multiply the amounts together. The amazing thing about this place is that you get paid ten times the amount shown on the dice when it is rolled. 

Apartment 19 and Apartment 20 are your Chance and Community Chest Cards. They will give you many bonuses and a few setbacks that will help you win or lose the game. After you follow the instructions on the card you pull, you then place that card at the bottom of the deck and go back to counting your money.

Playing the Game

This Monopoly is very similar to the classic game, where the main goal is to own the most and leave everyone else broke. You’re going to need your inner Monica for this one.

Now, you need to find out who will go first. Everyone will roll the dice, and the person with the highest number wins. If there is a tie on who is the highest, you roll again or play Rock, Paper, Scissors, Fire. Your call. After you find a winner, you will take turns going clockwise around the board.

It’s Your Turn

On your turn, you will roll the dice and move however many squares on the board equal to the number rolled. Wherever your game piece lands, you must follow the action the space tells you to do. 

When you go past GO, you get to collect $200. If a double is rolled during the player’s turn, they get to roll again. If you get too lucky and roll doubles three times in a row, you go to jail. Not the little jail between the doors, jail, jail. You do not pass GO, you do not collect $200.

Getting out of Jail

There are three ways to get out of Jail. You can pay $50 at the start of your turn. After you pay, you can roll and move and leave Jail behind. Second, you can use a get-out-of-jail-free card that you obtain from one of the apartments cards in the middle of the board or buy it from another player at a lower price. And your third option would be trying to roll doubles. You get three turns to accomplish this goal, but after your third roll, you have to pay $50 and get out if you don’t get doubles. 

Buying Property

Property in this game is called moments. Landing on a space with a moment is optional to buy. Not your favorite episode; go ahead, pass. But remember the goal of the game. If you pass on a property you land on; the Banker will auction and sell the property to the highest bidder. You snooze, you lose. 

If you land on a moment owned by someone else, you pay rent to enjoy that moment. Rachel having a baby can get expensive. The cost of rent is on the title deed, and if money is tight. Sometimes you can cut a deal with the owner. Use that Phebe charm.

If you buy one moment that is one color, you want to try to get more of the same color. Owning the same group of colors will get you more money for rent when the other players land on it. Once you get all the colors, you can build on them, increasing your rent. The amounts will be on the Title Deed cards.

Building on the Moment

Like I said before when you own a group of colors, you can start buying coffee mugs from the bank and put them on your property. The listed price for each coffee mug you own will be on the Title Deed. You can’t build a second coffee mug on a moment until you have one on all the other properties in that color group. The limit is four coffee mugs on one moment space. What you really want is a sofa. That’s where all the magic happens.

Also, more money isn’t bad. Four coffee mugs and a small price will get you a sofa on your property. One sofa per moment, and you can’t add coffee mugs to that space.

If all the coffee mugs or sofas are unavailable to buy, you have to wait and can’t upgrade your property till someone sells. If two or more people are waiting to purchase these upgrades, the banker will do an auction, and the highest bidder wins. 

Selling to Survive

Money getting low, huh? Not a problem. Let’s sell some stuff to stay in this game and win. You can sell your upgrades back to the bank to get some cashback. You are only going to get half of what you bought it for, but beggars can’t be choosers right now. When you sell the sofa back, you will get half price and four coffee mugs. If you need more money, you can sell your coffee mugs too, but you will only get half the price you originally paid. 

Mortgage Properties

If money is still tight, you can mortgage some of your properties. Don’t worry; you’re not losing this game. It looks like it. But you still have a chance. All the sofas and mugs have to be sold back to the bank before the Banker can assist you. Once you mortgage a property, you turn the Title Deed card face down, and the bank will give you the value on the back of the card. You have to pay the listed price plus 10% to the bank to get that property back. On the plus side, your competition can’t get the property, but you also can’t collect rent on the property until you can repurchase it.

Losing It All

If you ever owe money to the Banker or a player and have no way of getting the amount owed, you, dear player, have gone bankrupt. You have lost the game, all your friends, and honestly, a little bit of my respect. I expected better. Now the shameful part comes. To pay your debt, you must give all the money, mortgage property, and get out of jail free card to whom you owe. If a player has to take a mortgaged property, they also have to pay the 10% interest even if they don’t want to.

If the banker gets it, he will auction off all the property to the highest bidder. Those properties will be unmortgaged when bought. The banker will also return any jail-free cards to the bottom of the correct apartment deck.

Last Tip

That is it! You know, what’s in the game, how to play, and some of the changes made. If you don’t want to play for four hours, the one tip I would give you is to follow the rules. I recently found out that I have been playing my own modified version of Monopoly for years. And to the surprise of most, they have to. Nothing is wrong with playing it your way.

You buy it; you do with it as you please. But with the modified rules like putting money under free parking or the most handsome person in the room gets to be the Banker (my own special rule.) can make the game longer. So play how you want but keep that in mind. If you have any questions, I’ll be there for you.

Alternative Games

Star Wars Monopoly

After Friends Monopoly, who else doesn’t like a story about friends coming together to crush an empire! That’s what you get with Star Wars Monopoly. Fight the empire as you travel the galaxy and watch out for the Deathstar!

You could use the force but I suggest checking out the Star Wars Monopoly Guide.

• 2-6 Players
• Ages 8+
• Playing 60-120 Minutes

Pokemon Monopoly

Grab your Pokedex and get ready to battle all eight gyms to become the great Pokemon trainer in Pokemon Monopoly! This spin on the classic Monopoly is a great change of pace in playing with the pokemon you love to watch. 

Can’t be a trainer without some training! Check out the Pokemon Monopoly Guide.

• 2-6 Players
• Ages 8+
• Playtime 60-120 Minutes

Minecraft Board Game: Builders and Biomes

Creepers, Skeletons, and Zombies! If you are not scared easy and enjoy a family fun building game, then this is perfect for you. Minecraft Builders and Biomes is a nice tabletop game to see if you are as creative as you think you are.

When you build, sometimes you need a blueprint. Check out Minecraft Board Game Guide before you get started.

• 2-6 Players
• Ages 8+
• Playtime 60-120 Minutes

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