Monopoly Auto-Play Mode

An example of the "Move History" feature, which shows the moves Monopoly Auto-Play made on the player's behalf.

Jeff Lawlor

About Me

About My Idea

I am the founder of Idea Supreme. I also have a lot of big ideas. See you around!

Monopoly can play really fast using cleverness and the power of computers. Auto Play could be the innovation Monopoly speed runs need!

What Do I Want?

While I give this idea away freely, here's what I'd like if you decide to make my idea come true.

• Creative input into game
• A free enterprise-style license to the finished game

Monopoly can become tedious once players fully build out the board. They repeatedly circle the board until all but one player is bankrupt. What if you could skip the boring part and jump straight to the end of the game? Monopoly Auto-Play mode does just that!

The End of Monopoly Gets Boring

In the later stage of a Monopoly game, once all the properties have been purchased and built out, most turns no longer require players to make a decision. On any given turn, you may pay money or you may owe money but neither are a choice you're making- you simple do as instructed when you land on the space.

This is where the game becomes monotonous. Players go around and around the board, sometimes hundreds of times, waiting for the rest of the players to go bankrupt.

The Fastest Game of Monopoly You Ever Played

Computer automation is a perfect fit for quickly moving through monotonous, proscribed tasks.

When you turn on Monopoly Auto-Play mode, the computer plays for all of the players until a significant event happens. The boring part of the game is over instantaneously as the computer move the tokens, pays and collects rents, rolls to get players out of jail, etc. The computer plays until a player needs to make a decision or goes bankrupt. Auto-Play may make hundreds of moves before a human needs to intervene, skipping over the most boring part of the game.

All of the moves the computer made on the player's behalf show up in a running list. This makes it easy to review the game's progress while it was in Auto-Play mode.

Returning Control to Human Players

The computer stops playing and hands control back to humans when one of two things happens:

1. A Player Needs to Make a Decision

For example, a player may need to mortgage properties because they don't have the cash to pay the rent.

Whether to roll or pay to get out of jail could be a decision but most players will opt to stay in jail as long as possible once there are no properties left to buy. The default for Auto Play mode should be to rot in jail but it could be overridden by players who really prefer to make the roll or pay decision.

2. A Player Goes Bankrupt

Bankruptcy is a noteworthy event likely worthy of a pause in auto-play. However, some may see this pause as optional since no decision needs to be made. Players may prefer to leave Auto-Play running until only one player remains.

Another reason to make the pause optional is, in practice, a player is likely to have to raise cash (mortgaging, selling houses or trading) just before going bankrupt. This means Auto-Play will already stop just before a player's bankruptcy.

Speed Run Your Way to Fun!

Monopoly is more fun when you speed run through the boring part.

Humans enjoy starting a game of Monopoly for the thrill of:

• Acquiring property
• Wheeling and dealing
• Building up to to hotels
• Creating passive income from your railroads and utilities
• Free parking (if you play with those rules)

Humans are less enthusiastic about finishing a game of Monopoly because, once the board is settled, they experience:

• Dread at repeatedly circling the board, awaiting your ultimate bankruptcy at the hands of the monopolist
• Boredom with hundreds of dice rolls with no decisions to make
• Reluctance to admit defeat, despite long odds, further prolonging the game

With Auto-Play mode for Monopoly, you play the fun part of the game. Leave the boring part to the computer.