From: ejones@hooked.net (Earle D. Jones) Newsgroups: sci.math Subject: Re: Monopoly? Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 11:17:26 -0800 In article , Jen wrote: > I don't know how recent the messages I read from here before are, but I > have a simple request... > > I am doing a presentation on the game of Monopoly. I haven't been able > to find any big information (that isn't in the books that come with the > games) yet. If anyone can please help me on any books that look at > Monopoly through a mathematics point of view or any mathematic stuff > anyone has heard about Monopoly it would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!! > > Thank you, > Jen > ================= Jen: Your timing is excellent! The latest Scientific American (mine arrived yesterday--I think it's the April issue) has an article on the mathematical analysis of Monopoly. I played Monopoly myself about 50 years ago! My sister and I would take on all of the neighborhood kids. Our games would last for days. Of course, no one ever read the rules. We just divided up all of the money (well--we left a few bucks for the Bank) and started playing. Having so much money, the obvious strategy was to buy everything in sight. I learned many years later (from my own kids!) that you must start out with each player receiving $1,500 (as I recall). Good luck. If you put your Monopoly presentation on line, please send me a copy. Thanks. regards, earle ============== -- ..no sig is good sig.. ============================================================================== From: edgar@math.ohio-state.edu (G. A. Edgar) Newsgroups: sci.math Subject: Re: Monopoly? Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 10:00:42 -0500 Here is a very readable article on Monopoly... "Monopoly as a Markov Process", by R. Ash and R. Bishop, Mathematics Magazine, vol. 45 (1972) pages 26--29. [previous article deleted -- djr] -- Gerald A. Edgar edgar@math.ohio-state.edu ============================================================================== From: Mark McConnell Newsgroups: sci.math Subject: Re: Monopoly? Date: 25 Mar 1996 18:51:22 GMT Jen wrote: >I am doing a presentation on the game of Monopoly. I haven't been able >to find any big information (that isn't in the books that come with the >games) yet. If anyone can please help me on any books that look at >Monopoly through a mathematics point of view or any mathematic stuff >anyone has heard about Monopoly it would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!! Look for the book "1000 Ways to Win Monopoly Games". That's my approximate memory of the title: it may be 1001, and the end of the phrase may be different. Anyway, the authors analyzed Monopoly as a Markov process. This means (roughly speaking) they state the number of times you expect to land on a given square during your first N turns, for large N. Many things affect this value, such as the fact that there are chance cards sending you to Jail, St. Charles, Illinois, Reading, and Boardwalk, but not to the other squares. The authors deduce tables for how often you'll land on a given color group, how long before you can expect an investment in a given color group to pay for itself [the green group is the worst in this regard], etc. They carefully avoid saying which is the "best" group, and explain why you can't do so. The book may be out of print. I remember that it was the basis for articles in the Saturday Evening Post, and probably other mainstream magazines, in the mid-70s. ============================================================================== From: astephan@students.uiuc.edu (Adam Lou Stephanides) Newsgroups: sci.math Subject: Re: Monopoly? Date: 27 Mar 1996 15:19:14 GMT ejones@hooked.net (Earle D. Jones) writes: >The latest Scientific American (mine arrived yesterday--I think it's the >April issue) has an article on the mathematical analysis of Monopoly. But it's wrong. It states that all squares have an equal probability of being landed on, but it ignores the Go to Jail square and the "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards. --Adam ============================================================================== From: Chris Welty Newsgroups: sci.math Subject: Re: Monopoly? Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 18:52:15 +0000 Adam Lou Stephanides wrote: > I spoke inexactly. What I should have said (IIRC) was that the article > said that all squares would have an equal probability of being landed > on in the long run. It seems to me that the effects you mention would > approach zero as the number of dice rolls goes to infinity, so the arti- > cle might not be wrong on that count. Of course, any actual monopoly > game is finite, so the probabilities would never actually be equal, > even ignoring the stuff I mentioned. > > --Adam Actually, no - you can end up in jail either by moving there directly, or by landing on the "go to jail" square, or by rolling doubles 3 times; also chance cards move you around fairly often as another poster has mentioned. This doesn't change as the number of dice rolls goes to infinity. >From the book "1000 Ways to Win Monopoly Games" (Jay Walker & Jeff Lehman, Dell, 1975, and a thouroughly enjoyable book IMHO) the squares with the highest probability of being landed on are: 4.32%: Sent to jail 3.49%: Illinois Avenue 3.40%: Go 3.37%: B&O Railroad 3.29%: Free Parking the least is Mediterranean Avenue with 2.35%. ============================================================================== From: Brian David Rothbach Newsgroups: sci.math Subject: Re: Monopoly? Date: 24 Mar 1996 03:45:38 GMT Jen wrote: >I don't know how recent the messages I read from here before are, but I >have a simple request... > >I am doing a presentation on the game of Monopoly. I haven't been able >to find any big information (that isn't in the books that come with the >games) yet. If anyone can please help me on any books that look at >Monopoly through a mathematics point of view or any mathematic stuff >anyone has heard about Monopoly it would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!! > >Thank you, >Jen The book Beyond Boardwalk has a bunch of tables describing such things as the most common square to land on (Jail, of course). The emphasis of the book is on a varient developed by the writers of the book, however, you should be able to use it as a starting place for future reference. You should be able to find the book at a game store. Hope this helps. Brian Rothbach ============================================================================== Parker Brothers (1-888-836-7025) makes the game, and sells the money; as of Apr 1999 the cost for an entire set of money is $2 !