Monopoly Deal Card Game Rules & Winning Strategies

Like the traditional board game, Monopoly Deal offers exciting competition and risk—but it moves a lot faster. Instead of having a board, paper money, and game pieces, Monopoly Deal condenses gameplay into a 110-card deck. Don’t worry—it only takes a few minutes to learn the rules, so you'll be wheeling and dealing in no time. Read on for our quick and easy crash course on setting up Monopoly Deal, gameplay rules, playing on your turn, playing on other players' turns, and winning the game!

How do you play Monopoly Deal?

To play Monopoly Deal, deal 5 cards to each player and set the rest facedown on the table as the draw pile. On your turn, perform up to 3 actions such as laying down a Property card, charging the other players' Rent, or building your bank pile. The first player to lay down 3 full sets of Properties wins the game!

Section 1 of 5:

Setting Up Monopoly Deal

Monopoly Deal revolves around the spirit of competition—with this in mind, you’ll need at least 1 person to play against! If you’ve got at least 6 people who want to play, that’s okay—just grab 2 decks of Monopoly Deal, so you have enough cards for everyone.
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Give a reference card to each player to use as a reference. Every deck has 4 quick-start cards—these are handy guides that outline the basic rules and regulations of the game. Hand out 1 to each player, so everyone can review the instructions at their own leisure.^{[1]
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- If you’re playing with lots of people, multiple players may need to share quick-start cards.
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Shuffle the Monopoly Deal deck and deal 5 cards to each player. Deal the cards face-down, so no one can see them. Each player can look at their hand after it's been dealt, but they shouldn't show it to anyone else. Place the rest of the deck facedown in the middle of the play area, where players can draw from it later.^{[2]
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- Each Monopoly Deal deck has 4 quick-start cards, 34 action cards, 28 property cards, 20 money cards, 13 rent cards, and 11 property wildcards.
- The Action cards consist of 2 "Deal Breaker" cards, 3 "Just Say No" cards, 3 "Sly Deal" cards, 4 "Force Deal" cards, 3 "Debt Collector" cards, 3 "It’s My Birthday" cards, 10 "Pass Go" Cards, 3 "House" cards, 3 "Hotel" cards, and 2 "Double The Rent" cards.
- The Money cards (counted in millions) consist of one 10M card, two 5M cards, three 4M cards, five 2M cards, and six 1M cards.
Traditionally, the youngest player goes first. But you and your party can make up your own rules, like who had the most recent birthday or who's wearing blue jeans. Gameplay moves clockwise around the circle of players.^{[3]
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Section 2 of 5:

Gameplay Rules

Monopoly Deal is all about weighing your options and making the most of your hand. Always grab 2 cards at the start of your turn, so you have a couple more gameplay options to choose from. Pick up 5 cards if you ran out of cards on the previous turn.^{[4]
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Play up to 3 cards during your turn. There are 3 ways you can "play" during a Monopoly Deal turn: moving cards into your bank pile, assembling property sets, and/or playing an action card on an opponent of your choice. Feel free to do 1, 2, or all 3 of these things during your turn.^{[5]
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- For instance, you might play 1 action card, move 1 card to the bank, and arrange 1 card in a property set. Or, you could place 3 cards in your bank pile on your turn.
- You don’t have to play a card if you don’t want to! However, you’ll have to get rid of extra cards if you have more than 7 in your hand at one time.
- You can’t put cards back in your hand once you’ve laid them down in the play area.
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Discard any extra cards so your hand totals 7. Count the number of cards in your hand at the end of your turn. If you have more than 7 cards, discard any extras you don't want into the Discard pile.^{[6]
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- Playing up to 3 cards each turn helps you get the most out of your hand.

Section 3 of 5:

Playing on Your Turn

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Place money and action cards into a "bank" pile. Check the top-left and bottom-right corners of your cards for a specific number. This number is the cash value of your card. Place any money or action cards into your bank pile to redeem their cash value.^{[7]
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- A typical match of Monopoly Deal can be fast-moving, with your fellow players charging you rent on their properties. When you save money in your bank pile, you’ll be able to pay back other players quickly and easily.
- For example, if you place a $3 million money card and a $1 million action card in your bank, you’d have $4 million at your disposal.
- Once your cards are added to the bank pile, you can’t use them for anything else.
2
Assemble property sets to win the game. In Monopoly Deal, the first player to assemble 3 full sets of property cards wins the game. Property cards have a solid-colored bar along the top, similar to the "deed" cards you play with in traditional Monopoly. A set consists of 3 Property cards of the same color. Place your Property cards face-up on the play surface in front of you on your turn (they don't all have to be part of the same set).^{[8]
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- Wild property cards are split-colored, with two solid bars of different colors on each end, and can work with whichever property sets match those colors. Flip the card so the color that matches the other cards in the corresponding property set is oriented upward.
- You can move a wildcard from one property set to another, as long as it matches the set's color. Flip the wildcard around if needed, so the matching color bar is oriented upward.
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Charge Rent and collect money from other players with Action cards. Action cards let you charge rent to other players, steal and swap property sets, draw extra cards, and more. Place up to 3 action cards face-up in a discard pile, right next to the draw pile. Read the instructions on the Action cards out loud to keep the gameplay going.^{[9]
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- Play a split-colored Rent card to charge the player of your choice for rent on your corresponding property.
- Charge an opponent 2x the rent with the Double the Rent card. You can only play this card alongside a normal Rent card, and it's counted as the second action in your turn.
- Steal a full Property set with a Deal Breaker card, or charge another player $5 million with a Debt Collector card.
- Switch properties with another player using a Forced Deal card, or steal a single property with a Sly Deal card.
- Add $3 million to a Property set’s total rent value with a House card, or add $4 million with a Hotel card.
- Force all players to pay you $2 million with an It’s My Birthday card, or use a Just Say No card to get out of any forced action.
- Pick up 2 extra cards from the draw pile with a Pass Go card.

Section 4 of 5:

Playing on Other Players' Turns

Pay other players when they use a Rent or Action card. Chances are, other players will charge rent or play some type of Action card on their turn. When this happens, grab enough cards from your bank pile to add up to the amount you owe, and give them to the other player.^{[10]
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- Some Action cards let other players steal or trade properties with you. Unless you have a "Just Say No" action card, you’ll have to comply with whatever card or cards they put down.
- You can’t get change back in Monopoly Deal. If you don’t have the exact amount of rent money, you’ll have to overpay the player. For instance, if you’re charged $2 million but only have a card valued at $3 million in the bank, you must give the player that card.
- Give properties as payment if you don’t have enough bank money.
- You can only pay players with the cards lying face-up in front of you on the play area. The cards in your hand don’t qualify as payment.
- Another player can’t decide how you’re going to pay them. Only you get to choose which bank cards or properties go into your pile.^{[11]
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Section 5 of 5:

Winning Monopoly Deal

Keep in mind that you can only declare your victory on your turn—not in the middle of another player’s. Once a player announces that they have 3 full property sets, they become the winner, and the game is officially over!^{[12]
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Can you play Monopoly Deal online?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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Yes! Monopoly Deal is available to download for free through the Microsoft store. You can play it online with other players or against the computer in offline mode.

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How do you get good at Monopoly Deal?

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Like any game, it takes practice. There are certain strategies you can keep in mind, such as playing money instead of property early in the game and keeping track of which cards have been played. For instance, if you know that you have one Deal Breaker card in your hand and the other has already been played, that means you can safely play complete sets of property without having to worry about someone else using Deal Breaker on you.

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Is Monopoly Deal a skill or luck game?

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A lot of it is luck, but there’s definitely some skill involved. In this respect, it’s a lot like gambling—having some basic strategy will definitely improve your chances of winning.

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Tips

Your property sets don’t have to have all unique properties—there can be duplicates!^{[13]
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Transfer lots of cards to your bank throughout the game! This way, you’ll be ready to go if any other player charges you rent or plays another type of action card.

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Shuffle the discard pile and flip it over if you run out of cards.

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