Play the Property Game online with friends

What is the Property Game?

It's a dice-and-deals board game set in a city of our own. The 40-space board has four corners (Start, Visiting / Jail, Free Parking and Go to Jail), 22 streets in eight color sets, four stations, two utilities (Power Company and Water Works), two taxes and two card decks, Opportunity and Community Fund.

Streets run from Palm Lane and Cedar Lane (60 coins each) to Royal Promenade (400 coins, up to 2,000 in rent with a hotel). The fun is in the people as much as the dice: when to buy, when to let a street go to auction, and which trade to offer.

How to play the Property Game

1. Everyone starts on Start with 1,500 coins. The turn order is drawn at random.
2. On your turn, roll two dice and move. Passing Start pays you 200 coins.
3. Land on a property nobody owns and you can buy it at its price, or send it to an auction open to every player still in the game.
4. Land on someone else's property and you pay them rent, worked out by the server.
5. Roll doubles and you roll again. Three doubles in a row send you to jail.
6. On your turn you can also build, mortgage, sell buildings or offer a trade, then end your turn.
7. The last player standing wins. In a timed game, the richest player wins when time runs out.

Auctions

An auction is open for 20 seconds, and every valid bid gives the others 15 seconds to answer. Bid more than the current bid, up to the coins you have, or pass. The leading bid can't be withdrawn, and the leader can't raise their own bid. When time runs out, the highest bid buys the property.

Rent, color sets and buildings

• Own every street of a color set and the rent on its unbuilt streets doubles. You can then build evenly across the set, up to four houses and then a hotel on each street, for 50 to 200 coins a building depending on the set.
• The bank has 32 houses and 12 hotels. Buildings sell back for half their cost.
• Stations charge 25, 50, 100 or 200 coins, depending on how many their owner has. Utilities charge 4 times the dice roll, or 10 times when one player owns both.
• A mortgaged property charges no rent.

Mortgages and trades

Mortgage a property for half its price once every building in its color set is sold, and lift the mortgage for that amount plus 10%. On your turn you can offer another player coins, properties or both for theirs; they accept or decline. Sell every building in a color set before trading any property in it. Whoever receives a mortgaged property pays the 10% interest straight away, and only once.

Jail, cards and taxes

You go to jail by landing on Go to Jail, drawing a card that sends you there or rolling three doubles in a row. To get out, pay 50 coins before rolling, use a jail-free card, or try for doubles; after three failed tries, you pay 50 and move. Opportunity and Community Fund cards play automatically: they can move you, pay you, charge you or give you a jail-free card. Income Tax costs 200 coins, Luxury Tax 100, and Free Parking pays nothing.

Debts and bankruptcy

If you owe more than you have, raise the coins before your timer runs out: mortgage, sell buildings or agree a trade for coins. The debt is paid as soon as you have enough. If time runs out first, the server mortgages and sells for you, cheapest first, until the debt is covered. Only a shortfall after all that is bankruptcy, and a bankrupt player's coins, properties and jail-free cards go to the player they owed, or back to the bank as unowned spaces.

Game settings on Ping44

• Turn limit: 30, 60, 90, 120 or 180 seconds for each decision (60 by default). When it runs out, the game rolls for you, sends the property to auction or ends your turn.
• Game length: 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 or 180 minutes (60 by default), or until one player remains.

Scoring on Ping44

• The last player standing wins.
• When the game timer runs out, the highest net worth wins: cash, plus the price of every property you own and the cost of its buildings, minus mortgages and debts, plus coins owed to you. Ties go to more cash, then more properties, then the random starting order. Bankrupt players rank last.
• The winner scores 50 room points and a win, added to the room's scoreboard, which adds up across every game you play in the room.
• If the host ends the game early, the ranking is shown, but nobody wins and nothing is scored.

Tips and strategy

• Use auctions. An auction can win you a property for less than its price, especially when rivals are short of coins, but they can get it cheap too.
• Chase color sets. A full set doubles bare-street rent and lets you build. Most sets are completed by trading, so make offers both sides can accept.
• Aim for three houses. On every street outside the brown set, the third house adds more rent than any other building: on Market Row the rent goes from 90 to 270 coins, on Royal Promenade from 600 to 1,400.
• Mind the house supply. With only 32 houses in the bank, a player who holds houses instead of moving to hotels can leave others with nothing to build.
• Play the clock. In a timed game, properties count in your net worth at the price on their deed and buildings at their cost, so building doesn't lower your standing, and a property won at auction for less than its price raises it.

How to start a game of the Property Game on Ping44

1. Sign in at ping44.com and create a room. The host needs a free account; friends can join as guests just by picking a name.
2. Share the room's invite link, its 6-character code or its QR code.
3. In the lobby, choose Board games, then pick Property Game in Game settings.
4. Set the turn limit and the game length.
5. Start the game with 2 to 8 players. Anyone else in the room can watch.

Afterwards, the host can switch to Barricade, Four in a Row or Chess without anyone leaving the room. See all our board games.

Why play the Property Game on Ping44

• No banker, no arguments. The server rolls the dice, shuffles the cards, collects rent and runs the auctions, so the rules are the same for everyone.
• A game that ends. Pick 15 minutes to 3 hours; turn limits and automatic debt settling keep things moving.
• Talk while you trade. Voice and text chat are built into every room, perfect for haggling.
• Free, with virtual coins only. No ads, nothing to buy, and coins have no cash value. It runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers.

Frequently asked questions