Monopoly Crooked Cash Board Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

Objective of Monopoly Crooked Cash

The objective of Monopoly Crooked Cash is to acquire more money than the other players by the time the last property is purchased.

Setup for Monopoly Crooked Cash

Choose someone to be the Banker. The Banker can play the game, but must keep their money separate from the Bank. The Banker is in charge of the Bank’s money, unowned Title Deeds, unowned Hotels, and runs all of the auctions during the game.
Each player receives the following money:
- 3 – 10
- 1 – 20
- 3 – 50
- 3 – 100
- 2 – 500

Starting Money in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This is the starting money each player will receive at the start of the game.

Shuffle the Community Chest cards and place them face down on the corresponding section of the gameboard.
Shuffle the Chance cards. Take the top three cards and place them face up on the three corresponding spaces on the gameboard. The rest of the cards are placed face down on the gameboard.
Each player chooses a token and places it on the GO space. Each player takes two decoder chips and places them with the green side face up.
Place the dice near the gameboard. The decoder is placed in the center of the board.
The players take turns rolling the dice. The player who rolls the highest number starts the game.

Playing Monopoly Crooked Cash

You will begin your turn by rolling the dice. The number you roll on the dice determines how many spaces you will move your token.

Dice Roll in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This player has rolled an eight. They will get to move their playing piece eight spaces.

You will move your token clockwise the corresponding number of spaces.

Movement in Monopoly Crooked Cash — The dinosaur player rolled an eight. They moved their playing piece eight spaces clockwise around the board.

You will then take an action based on what space your token landed on. See the Spaces of Monopoly Crooked Cash for details.

Should you roll doubles, you will get to take another turn immediately. If you roll doubles three times in a row, you immediately go to Jail without taking your third turn.

Rolling Doubles — This player has rolled doubles. After they complete the action on the space they landed on, they will get to take another turn.

Your turn then ends. Pass the dice to the player on your left. They will take the next turn in the game.

The Spaces of Monopoly Crooked Cash

Unowned Properties

Should your token land on a property that isn’t owned by a player, you will choose to either purchase the property or put it up for auction.

If you want to buy the property, you will pay the Bank the amount printed on the space. Then take the corresponding Title Deed from the Bank and add it to your owned properties.

Purchasing A Title Deed in Monopoly Crooked Cash — The dinosaur player has landed on Connecticut Avenue. As no one owns the property they decide to purchase it for M 120.

Auctions

If you don’t want to purchase the property, it will immediately be put up for auction. The auction will start at M10. Anyone can raise the bid in increments of M10 or more. Players don’t need to follow turn order while bidding. When none of the players want to raise the bid, the player that bid the most wins the property. They will pay the amount they bid to the Bank and take the corresponding Title Deed.

If no players want to bid on the property, the auction is canceled. The Title Deed will stay with the Bank.

Hotels

Once you own all of the properties of a color, you can build a Hotel on the properties of that color. You can purchase Hotels even when it isn’t your turn.

Acquiring a Monopoly in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This player has acquired all three red properties. They have acquired a Monopoly. This allows them to build Hotels on any of the three properties.

Some Chance and Community Chest cards allow you to place Hotels on properties even if you don’t own all of the properties of the corresponding color.

Acquire Free Hotel — This Chance card (if not found out to be a fake) allows you to place one free Hotel on any of your properties. You can place this Hotel on a property that isn’t part of a completed set.

To build the Hotel you will pay the cost shown on the Title Deed to the bank. You will then place the Hotel on the property. Each property can only have one Hotel.

Purchase Hotel in A picture showing a player getting out of Jail in the board game Monopoly Crooked Cash. — The red player has decided to place a Hotel on Illinois Avenue. The Hotel will cost them M 600.

Should multiple people want to buy the last Hotel at the same time, the Hotel is put up for auction. Whoever bids the most for the Hotel pays the amount they bid to the Bank and places the Hotel on one of their valid properties. Once the last Hotel is purchased, no one may place a Hotel until someone sells one back to the Bank.

Owned Properties

Should you land on a property that is owned by another player, you will owe them rent. The amount of rent you owe them depends on whether they own all of the properties of that color and whether they have built a Hotel on the property. You will consult the Title Deed of the property you landed on and pay the corresponding amount of rent.

If the player does not own all of the properties of the color, you will pay the lowest rent.

Paying Rent on Owned Property — The cat player landed on Connecticut Avenue which was owned by another player. As the player didn’t own the other light blue properties, the cat player only has to pay M 50 to the owner.

If they own all of the properties of the color, you will pay the middle rent.

Paying Rent on a Monopoly — The penguin player landed on North Carolina Avenue which is owned by another player that also owns the other two green properties. They will have to pay the owner M 300 since they own the complete color set.

Should the property have a Hotel on it, you will pay the highest rent.

Owned Property With Hotel Rent — The dog player landed on Illinois Avenue which is owned by another player and has a Hotel on it. They will owe the owner M 480.

If the player that owns the property doesn’t ask for the rent before the next player rolls the dice, you don’t have to pay the rent.

GO

When you land on or pass the GO space, you will collect M200 from the Bank.

Should any of your decoder chips be on their red side, you will flip them to the green side.

Reset Decoder Tokens — This player has used both of their Decoder Chips. Since they passed GO, they will be able to turn both to their green sides so they can be used again.

Community Chest

Should you land on a Community Chest space, you will take the top card from the Community Chest deck. If the card say to do something immediately, you will read the card out loud and do what it says. If the card doesn’t force you to take an action immediately, you can choose to take the action at a later time. Once you use the card, place it on the bottom of the Community Chest deck.

Chance

When you land on a Chance space you will get to take a Chance card. Choose one of the three face up cards from the middle of the gameboard. To replace the card you take, draw a new card from the Chance deck and place it in the now vacant space.

You may use the Chance card you took immediately, or you can hold it for later in the game. When you choose to use the card, you will take the corresponding action and return the card to the bottom of the Chance card deck. Whenever a player chooses to use a Chance card, another player can choose to challenge the play of the card. The players will then check to see if the Chance card is a fake (see Finding Fake Cash or Chance Cards below).

Using A Chance Card in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This player has decided to play their Chance card. First the other players have to decide whether they want to challenge the authenticity of the card. Should no one challenge the card or it comes back as real, this player gets to charge the player that landed on their property double the normal rent.

If you decide to keep your Chance card, you can only keep one Chance card at a time. If you land on a Chance space while you still have a card, you can either keep the card you already have or can discard it to choose another card.

Trains

In Monopoly Crooked Cash you cannot purchase the Train spaces. Instead whenever you land on a Train space you will immediately move to the next unowned property on the board. You will then choose to either purchase the property or put it up for auction.

Free Parking

You take no special action when you land on Free Parking.

Just Visiting

When you land on the Just Visiting space, you will put your token on the Just Visiting section. Your turn then ends.

Go to Jail

The Go to Jail space sends your token to the Jail space immediately. Your turn ends and you do not receive M200 for passing GO.

While in Jail you can still collect rent, bid during auctions, buy Hotels, use Chance and Community Chest cards, and trade with other players. You may not challenge other players for using fake cash or Chance cards while in Jail.

To get out of Jail you can choose one of three options.

First you can pay M50 to the Bank at the start of your turn. You will then roll the dice and move normally around the board.
Second you can use a Get Out of Jail Free card at the start of your turn. Put the card at the bottom of the corresponding deck, roll the dice, and move the corresponding number of spaces.
Finally you can try to roll doubles. If you roll doubles, you immediately get out of Jail, and use the number you rolled to move your token. If you fail to roll doubles, your turn ends. You can try to roll for doubles for three turns. If you fail to roll doubles on your third roll, you must pay the Bank M50 and then roll the dice to move your token out of Jail.

Getting Out of Jail — The car player is currently in jail. To get out they can either pay M 50, use a Get Out of Jail Free card, or roll doubles.

Finding Fake Cash or Chance Cards in Monopoly Crooked Cash

The major difference between Monopoly Crooked Cash and most other Monopoly games is the addition of fake cash and Chance cards.

Because of the possibility of fake cash, whenever you pay money to the bank you should add it to the bottom of the corresponding stack.

Challenging the Authenticity of Cash

Whenever another player pays cash to the Bank, pays cash to another player, or makes change with the Bank/another player; you may choose to challenge the authenticity of one of the bills they used. To challenge you need to turn one of your green decoder chips to the red side.

Using A Decoder Chip in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This player has decided to challenge the authenticity of a bill. They flip one of their Decoder Chips to the red side.

You must announce that you want to challenge before the player completes the transaction that they were performing.

Choose one of the bills that were used. You will determine if the bill was real or fake (see Determining If Cash and Cards Are Fake section).

Should the bill be a fake, tell all of the other players and keep the bill for yourself. The player who used the fake bill must then use another bill to replace the bill that was a fake.

Find Fake Cash Reward in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This player found this bill to be fake. They will take it from the player that tried to use it.

If the bill was real, nothing happens.

You and/or other players may choose to challenge multiple bills played by a player. For each bill that is challenged, a decoder chip has to be turned to the red side.

Challenging the Authenticity of a Chance Card

Whenever a player decides to use a Chance card, any other player may decide to use one of their green decoder chips to challenge the authenticity of the card. The challenging player flips the chip over to the red side. You have to announce that you want to challenge the card before the player takes the corresponding action.

Determine if the card was real or fake (see the Determining If Cash and Cards Are Fake section below).

If the card was a fake, place the card at the bottom of the Chance Deck. The player doesn’t get to take the action on the card. The player who successfully challenged the card collects M 100 from the bank for a reward.

Reward for Finding Fake Chance Card in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This player found a fake Chance card. They will receive a reward of M 100 from the Bank.

If the card was real, the player who played the card takes the corresponding action and nothing else happens.

Determining If Cash and Cards Are Fake

To determine whether cash or a Chance card is real, you need to use the red decoder. To determine if the cash/card is real you will place the decoder on top of the cash/card. You should place both on a flat surface. Line up the M symbol on the decoder with the symbol on the cash/card. If you can’t see a clear pattern, slightly adjust the decoder. What appears in the pattern determines if the cash/card is real.

If a normal Mr. Monopoly appears, the cash/card is real.

Real Symbol in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This M 500 bill shows the normal Mr. Monopoly symbol. This bill is real.

If a Mr. Monopoly with a mask appears, the cash/card is fake.

Fake Symbol in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This M 500 bill has the Mr. Monopoly with a mask symbol on it. This bill is fake.

Dealing and Trading

At anytime the players can decide to trade. You can buy, sell or trade properties with another player at any time. You can use cash, Title Deeds, and Get Out of Jail Free cards in trades.

For a trade to be valid, all of the players in the trade have to agree to the deal.

Bankruptcy

Should you owe money to another player or the Bank and you don’t have enough, you have to try to raise money to pay off your debt in full.

First you can raise money by selling Title Deeds back to the bank. Should you sell a property back to the Bank you will receive cash equal to the property’s value printed on the gameboard. If the property has a Hotel on it, you must sell the Hotel first. You will sell it back to the Bank for half the price it originally cost to place. Should you have to round this value, you will round up.

Should you still be unable to pay off your debt, you will declare bankruptcy. You are eliminated from the game.

If you owed another player money, you will give them any Chance and Community Chest cards that you own.

Should you owe the Bank, you will return any Chance and Community Chest cards to the bottom of the corresponding deck.

Winning Monopoly Crooked Cash

Players will keep taking turns until the final Title Deed is acquired by one of the players. When this happens the game immediately ends.

Final Properties in Monopoly Crooked Cash — At the end of the game one of the players had these seven properties.

Players will then collect money from the Bank for each of their Title Deeds. They will receive cash equal to how much would be charged if a player landed on the property.

Final Rent in Monopoly Crooked Cash — This player will receive final rent from their properties as follows: Pennsylvania Avenue – M 640 (had a Hotel on it), North Carolina Avenue and Pacific Avenue – M 300 each (had the complete color set), Mediterranean Avenue – M 30, Oriental Avenue – M 50, St Charles Place – M 70, and New York Avenue – M 100. They will receive a total of M 2,090 from their properties.

You will add the amount you earned from rent to the cash you already had. At this point it doesn’t matter if the cash is real or fake as it counts the same at the end of the game. The player with the most cash wins Monopoly Crooked Cash.

Monopoly Crooked Cash

Year: 2021 | Publisher: Hasbro

Genres: Economic, Family, Roll and Move

Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 2-6 | Length of Game: 30-90 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High

Components: Gameboard, Decoder, 6 Tokens, 22 Title Deed Cards, 14 Community Chest Cards, 24 Chance Cards, 12 Cardboard Decoder Chips, 12 Hotels, 2 Dice, Money (30-10, 30-20, 30-50, 30-100, 30-500), Instructions

Where to Purchase: Amazon, eBay Any purchases made through these links (including other products) help keep Geeky Hobbies running. Thank you for your support.

For more board and card game how to plays/rules and reviews, check out our complete alphabetical list of board game posts.