Monopoly

A Merv Griffin Enterprises/King World production
air dates: ABC Saturday nights 6/16/90-9/1/90
host: Mike Reilly
announcer: Charlie O'Donnell

HOW TO PLAY:
Three contestants competed on this game show based on America's favorite board game. Mike would read the players a crossword-esque clue and the letter it started with. BTW, for each side of the board, all correct answers began with the same letter. The first player to buzz in with a correct answer earned the value of the property. Players are, however, penalized for wrong answers. If no one gave the right answer, another clue would be read for half of the property value. For each clue which no one gave a right answer to, the value would be halved again. Only the colored properties would be played in the first half of the game. The players started at Mediterranean Avenue and went all the way around to Boardwalk. If one player took one property in a color-group and another took two, the player with one property needed two correct answers in order to capture the group and earn the total value of the monopoly ($920 for the green group), whereas the player with two properties needed only one right answer for the monopoly. If each player earned one property in a group, the first player to answer a clue correctly chose which player to challenge for that monopoly. The challenged player needed two right answers while the challenger needed only one. On the purple group and the blue group, each player who captured a property needed only one right answer to capture that group. The railroads, taxes, Chance, Community Chest, Jail, and utilities did not come into play until the second half of the game.

After finishing with the blue group, the players spent the money they earned to buy houses ($50 a pop) and hotels ($250 a pop) during the commercial and placed them on the properties they earned to increase the rent. After the hostess (Michelle Nicholas, Kathy Davis, or Kathy Karges) rolled a pair of dice on a dice table, a light indicator, which started at GO, moved according to the total number showing on the dice. If a player's property was landed on, that player would be read a clue. If (s)he couldn't come up with the right answer, either opponent could buzz in and try to earn that rent at the risk of being penalized for a wrong answer. A correct answer on a property with a hotel paid that player the same "hotel" rent from the classic game or 1/5 of that rent for each house on that property. Half of the property value would be awarded if no buildings were erected on that property. Here's a list of how other spaces worked during gameplay:

Go: Everytime the indicator passed Go, each player earned $200. Landing on Go paid each player $400.
Electric Company and Water Works: If the indicator landed on either of these utilities, Mike would read a clue to all players. The first player to buzz in with the correct answer earned $100 x total on dice.
Community Chest and Chance: same function as the classic game. A card would be displayed and the players followed the instructions.
Railroads: A clue would be read to all players and the first player to answer correctly moved the indicator to one of his/her opponents' monopolies. The player must correctly answer enough clues correctly (2 on purple or blue, 3 on any other group) in order to capture that player's group. One wrong answer ended the takover attempt and the game continued.
Taxes: Landing on either of these spaces would cost each player $75 (Luxury) or 10% of their cash total (Income).
Go to Jail: Landing here would move the indicator to the In Jail space and cost each player $250. If this space was simply landed on, the players were "just visiting".
Free Parking: All fines and taxes would be added to a jackpot which started at $500. If this space was landed on, a clue would be read and the first player to answer correctly earned the money in the jackpot, which then started again at $500.

After time was called, each player sold back all of their houses ($50 each) and hotels ($250 each). The player in the lead kept their earnings and won an opportunity to win another $50,000.

During the commercial, the player selected one of the spaces between In Jail and Free Parking and replaced it with a Go To Jail space. (S)he then placed another GTJ space between FP and the original GTJ space, and two more between the original GTJ space and Go. The player would be allowed up to five rolls of the dice, plus an extra roll for each roll of doubles. If the player landed on a GTJ space or ran out of rolls, the game ended. However, (s)he may stop after any "safe" roll and earn $100 x # of spaces (s)he advanced around the board. If the player managed to pass Go, (s)he collected $25,000! (Pun intended. LOL.) However, if (s)he landed on Go, (s)he won $50,000!!!

OTHER TIDBITS:
Originally, Monopoly had been planned to air in syndication with Peter Tomarken as the host. Because not very many stations were willing to buy in, Monopoly aired for only 13 weeks on the "Alphanet".

Monopoly aired each Saturday night right after Super Jeopardy! at 8:30 Eastern time. Ironically, Monopoly host Mike Reilly had previously competed as a contestant on Jeopardy!

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