History YMMV / Monopoly

* UnfortunateImplications: The infamously racist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghettopoly Ghettopoly]] parody, an unlicensed knockoff that resulted in its creator getting his pants sued off by Hasbro.

* BaseBreaker: For many people, it's the first thing that comes to their minds when challenged to play a board game. For others, ''(in particular, more seasoned board gamers)'', it's a tedious, rage-inducing game tainted by house rules that gave the entire genre a bad name by causing people to think that all board games are long and boring.

* MemeticMutation: So much so that they have actually become {{trope}}s in their own right:
** "DoNotPassGo, do not collect $200."

* EndingFatigue: The game has a reputation for being almost endless, but extremely long games are usually the result of HouseRules.

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: Passing up two experienced hosts of the genre ([[Series/DoubleDare1986 Marc Summers]] and [[Series/PressYourLuck Peter Tomarken]]) for a former ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' contestant who had no TV experience?

* DudeNotFunny: The unlicensed "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghettopoly Ghettopoly]]" knock-off was full of [[UnfortunateImplications racist stereotypes]]. How bad is it? It's actually classified as hate speech by the NAACP, and specifically named by Website/EBay as an item they won't allow [[SeriousBusiness due to their prohibition on racially intolerant listings]].

* DudeNotFunny: The unlicensed "Ghettopoly" knock-off from Urban Outfitters was full of [[UnfortunateImplications racist stereotypes]]. How bad is it? It's actually classified as hate speech by the NAACP, and specifically named by Website/EBay as an item they won't allow [[SeriousBusiness due to their prohibition on racially intolerant listings]].

* UnfortunateImplications: The "Ghettopoly" version, which is set in an inner-city slum.

* DudeNotFunny: The unlicensed "Ghettopoly" knock-off from Urban Outfitters was full of [[UnfortunateImplications racist stereotypes]], to the point that it's classified as hate speech by the NAACP.

* GameBreaker: The Bank has 32 houses and 12 hotels (in most versions) because the players are supposed to upgrade their houses to hotels, returning the houses to circulation. The rules prohibit building more houses when all the houses are on the board. This makes it a very profitable strategy to buy lots of houses without ever upgrading them to hotels, as it prevents the other players from buying any.
** To make even more sense of this, one hotel requires four houses to be turned in, in addition to the price of the house. Thirty-two divided by 4 is 8, so if you have three monopolies (let's just say Boardwalk and Park Place, and the two monopolies between Jail and Free Parking) and all eight of those properties have four houses on them, ''nobody can build any houses until you decide to upgrade.''

* GameBreaker: The Bank has 32 houses and 12 hotels (in most versions) because the players are supposed to upgrade their houses to hotels, returning the houses back to circulation. The rules prohibit building more houses when all the houses are on the board. This makes it a very profitable strategy to buy lots of houses without ever upgrading them to hotels, as it prevents the other players from buying any.
** To make even more sense of this, one hotel requires four houses to be turned in in addition to the price of the house. 32 divided by 4 is 8, so if you have three monopolies (let's just say Boardwalk and Park Place, and the two monopolies between Jail and Free Parking) and all eight of those properties have four houses on them, ''nobody can build any houses until you decide to upgrade.''

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Being that it's been the best-known and most commonly-played commercial board game in the Western world for nearly eight decades, it's probably not too surprising that a lot of folks have gotten a little sick of ''Monopoly'' by now. Check in at [[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1406/monopoly BoardGameGeek.com]] sometime to peruse the litany of complaints that many folks have with the game.

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: Passing up two experienced hosts of the genre ([[DoubleDare1986 Marc Summers]] and [[PressYourLuck Peter Tomarken]]) for a former ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' contestant who had none?

* MemeticMutation:

! For the BoardGame:
* GameBreaker: The game has a very limited amount of houses, because the players are supposed to upgrade their houses to hotels, returning the houses back to circulation. The rules prohibit building more houses when all the houses are on the board. This makes it a very profitable strategy to buy lots of houses without ever upgrading them to hotels, as it prevents the other players from buying any.

** GetOutOfJailFreeCard.
* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Being that it's been the best-known and most commonly-played commercial board game in the Western world for nearly eight decades, it's probably not too surprising that a lot of folks have gotten a little sick of Monopoly by now. Check in at [[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1406/monopoly BoardGameGeek.com]] sometime to peruse the litany of complaints that many folks have with the game.

! For the GameShow:

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: Passing up two experienced hosts ([[DoubleDare1986 Marc Summers]] and [[PressYourLuck Peter Tomarken]]) for a former ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' contestant?

* [[AndTheFandomRejoiced And The Canadians Rejoiced]]:
** The world board contains three Canadian cities ({{Toronto}}, {{Montreal}}, and {{Vancouver}}) but only one American city ([[BigApplesauce New York]]).
** The ''Monopoly Streets'' video game edition features a "Landmark City" board, where all the properties are named after famous cities from 8 countries ('''[[color:brown:Mexico]]''', '''[[color:lightblue:Spain]]''', '''[[color:pink:Germany]]'''''[[hottip:*:(There's no editing code for the shade of pink/purple used in Monopoly on this site)]]'', '''[[color:orange:the United States]]''', '''[[color:red:Canada]]''', '''[[color:yellow:the United Kingdom]]''', '''[[color:green:Japan]]''', and '''[[color:blue:France]]''').

** The actual [[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42542/monopoly-seinfeld-collectors-edition Seinfeld edition of Monopoly]] is, of course, very funny. [[YourMileageMayVary Or not.]]

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: Getting frustrated counting your big pile of bills? Now there's a version that replaces the money with electronic payment systems, essentially a calculator with a number.

* [[AndTheFandomRejoiced And The Canadians Rejoiced]]: The world board contains three Canadian cities ({{Toronto}}, {{Montreal}}, and {{Vancouver}}) but only one American city ([[BigApplesauce New York]]).

* MemeticMutation: "DoNotPassGo, do not collect $200."

** The ''Monoply Streets'' video game edition features a "Landmark City" board, where all the properties are named after famous cities from 8 countries ('''[[color:brown:Mexico]]''', '''[[color:lightblue:Spain]]''', '''[[color:pink:Germany]]'''''[[hottip:*:(There's no editing code for the shade of pink/purple used in Monopoly on this site)]]'', '''[[color:orange:the United States]]''', '''[[color:red:Canada]]''', '''[[color:yellow:the United Kingdom]]''', '''[[color:green:Japan]]''', and '''[[color:blue:France]]''').