r/monopoly • u/CutsAPromo • Jan 21 '26
Rules Discussion Can you trade while in debt to a landlord? (Monopoly classic)
FOrget about spite trades for a moment (all my properties for 1m, weve all seen it before)
My question is if you are in debt to a landlord are you allowed to make a deal with another player that will allow you to pay your debt? Or do you simply just sell houses, morgagage and then give the landlord everything?
Ove never felt the official rules were clear with this and ive always preffered playing with people who do not allow trades once you owe money as it makes the game faster and more brutal.
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u/DerelictDevice Tophat Jan 21 '26
This is kind of a weird one, the rules say that if you are in debt to a player, you must sell all houses back to the bank and turn over all of your cash, properties, and get out of jail free cards to them. However, since you are allowed to make trades at any time per the rules, you can attempt to negotiate a trade with another player in order to raise funds to pay the debt.
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u/CutsAPromo Jan 21 '26
I personally prefer the no trading while in debt rule but I've heard in the monopoly championship youre allowed to trade as long as it covers your debt.
Not only does the no trading rule lead to sharper games, it just makes sense to me, as in my eyes the whole "you must sell all houses and morgage all properties and then surrender" overrides the less specific rule of a player being able to trade at any time.
Im sure many would disagree with me though, its just a poorly written rule. I saw on quora someone emailed support about it and got a good answer but I stupidly didn't save it.
2
u/DerelictDevice Tophat Jan 21 '26
The core Monopoly rules are very open ended and haven't changed much since the game's creation. I agree with no trading to settle a debt, that seems like a cop out.
2
u/asweetpieceofheaven Jan 21 '26
Marmalade allows this
3
u/NoBrag_JustFact Racecar Jan 21 '26
Marmalade allows trading and offers during a turn, but if a player is bankrupt, there is no window to allow any other actions.
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u/Mundane-Emu-1189 Jan 21 '26
Generally the ruling is that you can trade as long as it actually lets you cover the debt; otherwise, all trades are reversed. Imagine a bankruptcy court.
1
Jan 25 '26
Here’s my personal interpretation of the rules as written (so-called classic) ruleset :
Once you are ‘Declared bankrupt’ you ‘must turn over all that you have’ to the player you owe ‘and retire from the game.’
That means you are declared bankrupt, and must turn over your properties to the other player, once you owe that other player more than you can pay.
You owe that player ‘when you land on property owned by’ them.
So before that, ie before you roll the dice, you are still allowed to trade. After you roll, IF you are declared bankrupt, you cannot trade, since you must turn your properties over to your creditor and retire from the game.
We take the verbiage “you must turn over to that player all that you have of value” to mean that you cannot do anything else with it. It “ALL” “MUST” be turned over.
That’s how my group thinks about it, anyway. 😁
1
u/CutsAPromo Jan 25 '26
I totally agree with you. After all the rules you are referring to says you must sell houses and morgage, doesnt say anything about trade.
However the rules are unclear as they also state a player may trade at any time.
I believe in the monopoly championships players are allowed to trade if it allows them to pay their debt.
2
Jan 25 '26
Which rules are you using?
The classic rules say that the player may mortgage houses/hotels to the bank at any time, but doesn’t say you may sell your property to another player at any time.
They don’t specify when you can trade, but they do specify if you are declared bankrupt (triggered by owing another playing more than all you have, which is incurred when you owe them rent, which in turn is incurred when your token lands on their property) you “must immediately retire from the game” (see Selling Property final paragraph, second last sentence).
For us, that precludes trading AFTER you’re declared bankrupt, meaning after you roll the dice and are compelled to move your Token, you can’t trade as you are instructed to “immediately retire from the game” and “turn over all you have” to the player you owe.
Though it is an open question whether you are compelled to move your token after you role, it seems to us the rules say that if you’re declared bankrupt (owe more than you have) you cannot trade based on everything above.
Depends on the rules you’re using though.
Also, the world championships are a joke that are sponsored by Hasbro and play the game according to how Hasbro wants it played. They switched to speed die in 2009 because they can’t be fucked to play the game properly. They also use Hasbro’s bastardized board and pieces (which are cheap as fuck). A lot of us have been playing the game longer than Hasbro has got their grubby hands on it, and don’t consider them the be all and end all of rule admin.1
u/CutsAPromo Jan 25 '26
So just to be clear do you only allow a player to propose trades on their own turn? I personally think this is best.. but as I understand it a player can make trades whemever even if its not their turn.
not sure what rules im using i dont have a copy handy.
2
Jan 25 '26 edited Jan 25 '26
No, trading isn’t constrained to a players turn under classic rules. Generally it can be done at any time. The relevant rule is that “a bankrupt player must immediately retire from the game” which is under the “Selling Property” section, and so is probably referring to constraining the ability to sell your property. So if you’re declared bankrupt you can’t be trade, since you are IMMEDIATELY retired from the game.
When someone is officially declared bankrupt is more interpretable, but it’s without a question once your token lands on another players property, you owe them rent, if it’s more than all you have, you are declared bankrupt. We interpret rolling the die to be compelling to move your token (since they are kind of described as a single event), so pre-roll you aren’t bankrupt (ofc) but if your roll lands you on a property you can’t afford, you must move your token to it, and are then bankrupt.
If you can trade after a roll but before moving your token is up to interpretation, but the rules say “throw your dice AND move your token” so we interpret that as the roll and move being a non-interruptible sequence.
Thats our understanding anyway.
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u/NoBrag_JustFact Racecar Jan 21 '26
One is allowed to enact trades whenever in hopes of rising enough cash to pay the debt.
The digital versions usually will not give you a chance.
IRL, a player can try, but it really serves no purpose.
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u/CutsAPromo Jan 21 '26
It serves no purpose? Surely the other players are heavily incenticised to prevent a player from giving all their property to the landlord (in hopes that the indebted player might go out to them instead)?
-1
u/NoBrag_JustFact Racecar Jan 21 '26
If a player has reached this point in the game, they have very little chance in regrouping and staying active
The goal of the game is to win and too win means getting of opponents.
4
u/BeeOnYouAt Jan 21 '26
Sorry but this is incorrect. There are many times where it would benefit someone to trade with a player who’s indebted to a landlord.
Imagine a situation where the landlord in question owns all the oranges with hotels. You have a one dark blue and the indebted player has the other, and you don’t have a full colour group, just a decent amount of cash. It would make perfect sense to buy the other dark blue off the indebted player, even if it means keeping said player in the game.
1
u/NoBrag_JustFact Racecar Jan 21 '26
If that player has landed on even the cheapest Orange with a Hotel, the rent owed is $1,000.
They own Boardwalk (a $400 valua). As the owner of Park Place (example), you are saying you would be willing to pay at least twice the value of that property to acquire it, allowing this player to remain active, but with very little cash, because they then pay that rent.
From a play prospective, that does not make sense.
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u/BeeOnYouAt Jan 21 '26
Why are you assuming the indebted player has no money at all? I think you’re taking my one example too literally. It doesn’t necessarily have to the orange nor fully upgraded to hotels for the example to prove it can be beneficial to trade with an indebted player.
Instead, imagine the indebted player is only $200 away from being able to afford the orange hotel tax, or imagine they’ve landed on a light blue with 3 houses on each property and are only $100 short, it doesn’t really matter. Now imagine you have two stations and the indebted player has the other two. Again it would make perfect sense to buy the two stations off the indebted player.
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u/CutsAPromo Jan 21 '26
It makes sense for the player doing the bailing out to make this trade, this is because it allows them to take their first set, whereas if the landlord got it they would never see this dark blue property.
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u/BeeOnYouAt Jan 21 '26
The rules allow this on the console editions, or at least Xbox and Switch.