Don't Go To Jail
Encyclopedia
Don't Go to Jail is a Parker Brothers
dice game
for two or more players inspired by Monopoly
. The game is played by rolling ten dice and attempting to roll matches to score points.
Seven of the dice have various colors, utilities, or railroad icons on them (all from the Monopoly board game
). The remaining three dice are blank on four sides, with the other two sides showing "Go," "to", or "jail".
The player scores points for the round if the dice rolled create a monopoly set of colors, utilities, or railroads. The amount of dice that need to score points depends on the property. If a die shows the "Go To Jail" icon, that die is placed aside. The player can continue re-rolling unmatched dice until they decide to end their turn and claim their points, or until all three "Go To Jail" dice land face up (causing them to lose all points earned so far that round and pass their turn). One stipulation in the rules is that once a die has been set aside, it cannot be rerolled during that turn. The dice also feature wilds that may substitute for any symbol on the 7 property dice. 2 "Wild"s are available to use so it is possible to score a monopoly using only the wilds. The wild die CAN be moved but only if the symbol it substitutes for happens to be rolled later that round, in which case the wild must then be immediately placed somewhere else (it cannot be rolled again that same turn).
The game is won when a player earns enough points from matches. The number of points required to win is determined by the players at the start of the match in the original game. These rules also suggest that if a player surpasses the pre-determined amount of points, the win is not automatic. The player must then wait for all players to have equal number of turns and should anyone top the feat, they then become the winner.
, which was released in the U.S. and UK in the early 1990s and is now out of print. The newer game alters the original game play as follows:
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
dice game
Dice game
Dice games are games that use or incorporate a die as their sole or central component, usually as a random device.-Collectible dice games:Patterned after the success of collectible card games, a number of collectible dice games have been published...
for two or more players inspired by Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
. The game is played by rolling ten dice and attempting to roll matches to score points.
Seven of the dice have various colors, utilities, or railroad icons on them (all from the Monopoly board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
). The remaining three dice are blank on four sides, with the other two sides showing "Go," "to", or "jail".
The player scores points for the round if the dice rolled create a monopoly set of colors, utilities, or railroads. The amount of dice that need to score points depends on the property. If a die shows the "Go To Jail" icon, that die is placed aside. The player can continue re-rolling unmatched dice until they decide to end their turn and claim their points, or until all three "Go To Jail" dice land face up (causing them to lose all points earned so far that round and pass their turn). One stipulation in the rules is that once a die has been set aside, it cannot be rerolled during that turn. The dice also feature wilds that may substitute for any symbol on the 7 property dice. 2 "Wild"s are available to use so it is possible to score a monopoly using only the wilds. The wild die CAN be moved but only if the symbol it substitutes for happens to be rolled later that round, in which case the wild must then be immediately placed somewhere else (it cannot be rolled again that same turn).
The game is won when a player earns enough points from matches. The number of points required to win is determined by the players at the start of the match in the original game. These rules also suggest that if a player surpasses the pre-determined amount of points, the win is not automatic. The player must then wait for all players to have equal number of turns and should anyone top the feat, they then become the winner.
Monopoly Express
An updated version, called Monopoly Express (first released in the UK and Europe, and later available in a U.S. edition), is also available. The game is sometimes confused with the card game Express MonopolyExpress Monopoly
Express Monopoly is a card game released by Parker Brothers in 1993. The game consists of 42 playing card and a "game board".40 of the 42 playing cards each represent one of the 40 spaces on the standard Monopoly Board, including cards for Chance, Community Chest, all four corners and both tax...
, which was released in the U.S. and UK in the early 1990s and is now out of print. The newer game alters the original game play as follows:
- The game is played for "dollars" instead of points.
- It changes the "Go," "to" & "jail" into the "Policeman" from the "Go To Jail" corner of the board game (a.k.a. "Officer Jones").
- One of the blank sides on one of the "Policeman" dice is replaced with a green-arrow "GO" logo that automatically earns the player $200 (this bonus can be lost if the three "Policemen" are rolled).
- It adds an eleventh "House/Hotel" die that can earn (or lose) a player Houses (worth $1000 each), earn Hotels (worth $5000, but only if a player has already earned 4 houses) and a "Get Out Of Jail Free" side that negates a previously-rolled "Policeman". (This eleventh die cannot be rolled until a player completes a property group).
- The Wild sides are replaced by "Chance" sides (with the Chance "?" logo) that act as Wilds, but CANNOT be moved after being placed.
- The base winning amount is set at $15,000 (with adjustments to $10,000 for a shorter game or $25,000 for a longer game) with no "catch-up" opportunity; the first player to reach the set goal wins.
Game notes
- As with the pre-September 2008 non-U.S. versions of the original Monopoly, Monopoly Express has the lowest color group dice faces colored brown (as opposed to the U.S. board's & DGTJ's original dark purple). This applies to the new releases of the U.S. edition of the game as well, thus making it the first U.S.-based MONOPOLY game to use brown for its lowest-valued properties (the standard Monopoly game and the U.S. Edition of the Here & Now: World Edition would follow).