Monopoly (game show)
Encyclopedia
Monopoly is an American television game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 based on the 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...

 of the same name
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...

. It aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 from June 16 to September 1, 1990. Mike Reilly, a former Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

contestant, hosted while Charlie O'Donnell
Charlie O'Donnell
Charles John "Charlie" O'Donnell was an American radio and television announcer, primarily known for his work on game shows...

 announced.

Merv Griffin
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...

 created the series and was executive producer. It was paired with Super Jeopardy! for its 12-week run on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

.

History

In 1989, Mike Reilly competed on the television game show Jeopardy! Reilly later worked as a waiter before being selected a year later by producer Merv Griffin to perform as a contestant on a game show pilot based on 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...

. After the pilot was filmed, Reilly was selected as host.

Round One

Three contestants played, each represented by a color (red, yellow, and green). Starting on Mediterranean Avenue, and continuing clockwise through each property color-group on a standard Monopoly game board, a crossword puzzle
Crossword Puzzle
For the common puzzle, see CrosswordCrossword Puzzle was the second to last album made by The Partridge Family and was not one of the most popular albums. It was released in 1973 and did not produce a U.S. single. This album was finally released on CD in 2003 on Arista's BMG Heritage label...

-style clue was read, with the right answer beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet. The first player to buzz-in with the correct answer won the value of the property in cash and gained control of it. Each incorrect answer deducted the value from the player's score. Each entirely missed question halved the property value until someone gave a correct answer.

The first letter of each answer was given to the players. All questions asked along one "street," or side of the game board, started with the same letter.

Playoffs

If more than one contestant controlled properties in the same color group, a series of play-off questions determined which player gained control of the monopoly in that group. Split-ownership of color groups was not allowed. In the event that each of the three players owned one property in a color group, a toss-up was asked of all three players. The player giving the correct answer immediately took control of one of his opponent's properties in that group. The third opponent had to answer two questions to gain the monopoly, while the player who answered correctly has to answer only one additional question to win the monopoly.

The player who won control of the monopoly also earned the value of all the properties in the group, from an additional $120 for the purple group of Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues to $750 for the dark blue pair of Park Place and Boardwalk.

The Big Money round

During a commercial break, the players used the money accumulated during Round 1 to purchase houses ($50 each) and hotels ($250 each) to place on their properties (which must be built evenly on each property in a single Monopoly). This determined the rent value of each question asked while on that property.

A pair of dice were rolled, and an indicator light (starting on GO) traveled that many spaces clockwise on the board. If it landed on a color group property, whoever controlled the property was given the question first; if that player missed, no penalization was assessed for that player but the clue was given to his/her opponents, who lose the amount if incorrect. A correct answer won the rent value (full hotel rent from the regular game, 1/5 of the hotel rent per house, or the mortgage value if there are no buildings) of that property.

Play continued in this fashion until time ran out. At that point, the houses and hotels were sold back to the bank at their original value, and the player in the lead at that point won the game and kept the money. The second and third-place players left with only parting gifts.

Other spaces

  • Utilities (Electric Company and Water Works)—The question value was $100 multiplied by the number rolled to land on it (i.e. a roll of 10 meant the question would be worth $1,000).
  • Railroads—The Railroad spaces allowed for "hostile takeovers". A toss-up was asked of all three players. Whoever answered correctly moved to the first property of an opponent, and attempt to answer as many questions as there were properties in the group to take control of it. If the player succeeded, control of the monopoly was theirs, they collected the value of all the properties in that color group, and movement continued from the last property in the group. If the player missed a question, the takeover failed, the original owner collected rent from the first player based on the rent of the property where the question was missed, and movement continued from the last property the player tried to take over.
  • Chance and Community Chest—Cards contained bonuses, penalties, or movement instructions.
  • GO—When the indicator light passed GO, all players received a $200 bonus.
  • Tax Spaces—Income Tax & Luxury Tax acted as their counterparts in the board game, costing each player 10% of their cash total (for Income Tax) or $75 (for Luxury Tax).
  • Free Parking—A toss-up question was asked worth a jackpot starting at $500 and added to by any fines, taxes or Chance and Community Chest cards.
  • Go To Jail—Sent the indicator to the In Jail space and cost the players a fine of $250 each to continue.

Bonus Round: "Once Around the Board"

In the bonus round, the top winner tried to complete one circuit of the game board (starting from GO) in five rolls of the dice, while avoiding hitting one of the Go To Jail spaces on the board.

Before the bonus round, the player selected four spaces to be transformed into Go To Jail spaces: one on Second Street (the board side with the maroon and orange properties), one on Third Street (red and yellow side) and two spaces on Fourth Street (green and dark-blue side). In addition, the standard Go To Jail corner space already on the board was still in play, for a total of five Go To Jail spaces on the board. The other spaces on the board had no bonus or penalty attached to them.

The player could stop after every "safe" roll (a roll not hitting a Go To Jail) and take $100 for every space passed. A roll of doubles added an extra roll to the total rolls that could be taken. If the player hits a Go To Jail space, that player loses their winnings. Making the complete circuit of the board by passing GO was worth $25,000. If the player landed exactly on GO, the payout was $50,000.
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