Shortest game of Monopoly

Question

This video claims that the fastest game of monopoly involves 4 turns and 9 rolls of the dice. I am wondering if this is actually the shortest game or can we do better in theory? What is the probability of this game happening in real life?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHJkTz6Ej3U

For reference, the moves in the above video are as follows:

Player 1, Turn 1:
Roll: 6-6, Lands on: Electric Company
Action: None, Doubles therefore roll again
Roll: 6-6, Lands on: Illinois Avenue
Action: None, Doubles therefore roll again
Roll: 4-5, Lands on: Community Chest "Bank error in your favour, Collect \$200"
Action: Collects \$200 (now has \$1700)

Player 2, Turn 1:
Roll: 2-2, Lands on: Income Tax
Action: Pay \$200 (now has \$1300), Doubles therefore rolls again
Roll: 5-6, Lands on: Pennsylvania Rail Road
Action: None

Player 1, Turn 2:
Roll: 2-2, Lands on: Park Place
Action: Purchase (\$350, now has \$1350), Doubles therefore rolls again
Roll: 1-1, Lands on: Boardwalk
Action: Purchase (\$400, now has \$950), Doubles therefore rolls again
Roll: 3-1, Lands on Baltic Avenue
Action: Collect \$200 for passing GO (now has \$1150), Purchase 3 houses for Boardwalk, 2 for Park Place (\$1000, now has \$150)

Player 2, Turn 2:
Roll: 3-4, Lands on: Chance, “Advance to Boardwalk”
Action: Advance to Boardwalk, Rent is \$1400, only has \$1300 = Bankrupt

GAME OVER

Answer 1

If you are trying to lose the game as quickly as possible then you can do it in 1 turn and 2 rolls of the dice. This is using the UK version as I'm not sure about the US one.

Roll 1:

You get a double 3 (a six) which lands you on The Angel, Islington. You don't buy this but put it up for auction. You then go up to M1500 in the auction.

Roll 2 (Because of the doubles):

You roll 11 and this takes you to the community chest. Out of these you need to get Pay a M10 fine or take a chance card. You need to choose the chance card then you need the Pay school fees of M150. You will not be able to pay this as you have no money and your assets can only mortgage to give you M50. Your opponent wins the game.

The chance of this is:

Getting double 3s: 1 in 36
Getting the right community chest card: 1 in 16
Getting the right chance card: 1 in 16
Getting an 11: 1 in 18

So the total is: 1 in 165888 or 0.0006028% (which is a lot more likely that the example Dmitry Kamenetsky gave

Answer 2

No, the game given in the OP is not the shortest possible Monopoly game (using the American edition). As with the UK edition solution given by William Pennanti, a two-player game can be lost in a single turn with two rolls of the dice:

Player 1, turn 1, roll 1:

The player starts with \$1500 and rolls a 3 and a 3, advancing to Oriental Avenue. The player declines to buy the property outright and so it goes up for auction. The bidding ends with Player 1 buying the property for \$1500, leaving them with \$0.

Player 1, turn 1, roll 2:

The player rolls a 5 and a 6, advancing to Community Chest. The player draws the "Pay hopsital \$100" card. The player is bankrupt because they have no money, and even mortgaging Oriental Avenue for \$50 would not be enough to pay the fee.

The probability of this game:

Rolling 3–3: 1 in 36
Rolling an 11: 1 in 18
Drawing the right Community Chest card: 1 in 16
Total: 1 in 10,368, or 0.00964506…%

Answer 3

A two player game can be lost in a single dice roll. As long as the first player lands on a deeded property on their first roll, they can allow the property to go up for auction. Now they just have to bid more money than they have, and their own bid will force them into bankruptcy. Game over.

This can happen so long as the first player lands on a property that can be bought on their first turn, which excludes rolls of 2, 4, 7, and 10, which have a combined probability of 13/36. Therefore, the first player can bankrupt themselves on their first roll in 23/36 cases (63.8% of the time).

See: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/39455/in-monopoly-what-happens-if-the-auction-winner-cannot-pay-his-her-bid

Answer 4

Technically, the shortest Monopoly game can be achieved with

ZERO rolls

by simply

forfeiting the game before even starting to cast the dice.

Answer 5

In the https://scatter.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/the-shortest-possible-game-of-monopoly-21-seconds/ someone found a faster way that doesn't use auctioning (or other non-playing scenarios):

P1,T1
(same as above; 3 turns)
P2,T1
3-4 -> Chance -> Advance to Illinois
Action: Purchase Illinois (-$240, but effective -$120 because of ability to mortgage: total: $1380)
P1,T2
2-2 Park Place, purchase
6-4 Chance (+$200 for passing GO), advance to Boardwalk, purchase property and houses
P2,T2
6-6 Chance
Action: Pay $50 to each player (total $1330)
1-2 Boardwalk; GAME
8 turns instead of the above 9