I (and pretty much everyone else) have been playing the game incorrectly all these years.
The rule we have been ignoring:
“Whenever a player lands on an unowned property he may buy that property from the Bank at its printed price. If he does not wish to buy the property it is sold at auction by the Banker to the highest bidder.”
Note that anyone may bid, including the player who declined to buy it at face value, and there is no minimum or maximum bid. Therefore, in any sensible game, a property should be sold every time somebody lands on it. If you don’t want it, I’ll be happy to start the bidding at a dollar, so either I or someone else must acquire it. That removes most of the luck from the game, since one’s fate is determined less by lucky dice rolls than by quickly accumulating the right properties at the right prices.
This has always been my favorite rule of the game. The rest have been missing out.
We’ve always played this rule… It’s literally right there on the page. Weird that a majority of people don’t know this.
Au contraire, mon frère! I have started, and won, more than a handful of game squabbles over this exact rule. It is true that it’s oft ignored (or forgotten, more likely) but there are aficionados of capitalist propaganda (like myself) that know, and appreciate!, this rule.