How to Play Monopoly Deal
Monopoly Deal packs the wheeling, dealing, and backstabbing of Monopoly into a card game that finishes in fifteen minutes. Instead of a board, you race to lay down three complete property sets of different colors.
Action cards let you steal properties, charge rent, and demand money — and a single “Just Say No” can undo it all.
Last reviewed 2026-07-27
What's in the box
- 110 cards
- Property cards in ten colors, plus property wild cards
- Money cards in values from $1M to $10M
- Action cards: Rent, Sly Deal, Forced Deal, Deal Breaker, Debt Collector, It’s My Birthday, Pass Go, Just Say No, House, Hotel, and Double the Rent
Setup
- Shuffle and deal 5 cards to each player.
- Place the rest face down as the draw pile.
- Each player keeps three areas in front of them: a hand, a money/bank pile, and property sets.
- The player to the dealer’s left goes first.
How to play — the rules
Draw two, play up to three
Start your turn by drawing 2 cards (draw 5 if your hand is empty). Then you may play up to 3 cards.
Each card you play can go down as a property, be banked as money, or be used as an action. A card banked as money or played as an action generally cannot be reclaimed as cash later, so choose carefully.
Building property sets
Every color needs a specific number of cards to complete a set — for example two for the dark blues, three for the greens. Property wild cards can stand in for colors and can be moved between sets.
Adding a House and then a Hotel to a completed set increases the rent you can charge for it.
Action cards and paying up
- Rent — charge every player (or one player, with a wild Rent) for a color you own; they pay from bank and properties.
- Sly Deal — steal a single property that is not part of a completed set.
- Forced Deal — swap one of your properties for one of theirs.
- Deal Breaker — steal an entire completed set.
- Just Say No — cancel any action played against you (and can be countered by another Just Say No).
- When charged, you pay with money and/or property cards. If you have nothing, you pay nothing — and you never give change.
A turn, step by step
- Draw 2 cards (or 5 if you start the turn with an empty hand).
- Play up to 3 cards: as property, into your bank as money, or as actions.
- Collect any payments owed to you from actions you played.
- If you end the turn holding more than 7 cards, discard down to 7.
How to win
You win the instant you have three complete property sets of three different colors laid out in front of you.
Because Deal Breaker and Sly Deal can strip your sets away, the trick is completing that third set on a turn when opponents cannot immediately dismantle it.
Strategy tips
- Hold a Just Say No for the finish — it is your only defense against a Deal Breaker stealing a completed set.
- Don’t complete sets too early; a finished set is a magnet for Deal Breaker. Keep the last card in hand until you can win.
- Bank action cards you can’t use well as money — cash pays debts and keeps your properties safe.
- Property wild cards are flexible gold; use them to finish whichever set is closest.
- Track the draw pile — when it runs out it is reshuffled, so timing a big play before a reshuffle can matter.
Frequently asked questions
How do you win Monopoly Deal?
Be the first to lay down three complete property sets, each a different color. That is the only win condition.
What happens if you can’t pay a rent or fee?
You pay with whatever money and property cards you have. If you have nothing at all, you pay nothing — and you never have to give change if your smallest card is worth more than the debt.
Can you play a wild card as any color?
Property wild cards can be used as the colors printed on them and moved between sets on your turn. The all-color wild can be any color but has no cash value.
How many cards can you play per turn?
You may play up to three cards each turn, in any combination of properties, money, and action cards, after drawing two.
House-rule ideas
- Require two Just Say No cards to fully cancel a Deal Breaker, for higher-stakes endings.
- Play to four sets for longer games with more players.
- Open hands for a teaching game so newcomers learn what the action cards do.
Buy Monopoly Deal
Monopoly Deal Card Game
All the dealing and backstabbing of Monopoly in a 15-minute card game.
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