Recommendation Report on a Usability

Study of a Monopoly Millennium

Instruction

By: Nadia Opalenik, Logan Lee, & Nathaniel Harder

For: English 314 - Recommendation Report on a Usability Study

Due: December 5th at 11:59 pm

Table of Contents:

Letter of Transmittal: 3

Introduction & Audience: 4

Testing Methods: 4

Participant Selection: 4

Test Development: 5

Test Execution: 5

Results: 5

Conclusion: 8

Recommendation: 9

Appendix: 10

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Letter of Transmittal:

To: Professor Kristin Stoner

From: Nathaniel Harder
CC: Nadia Opalenik, Logan Lee
Subject: Recommendation Report on a Usability Study
Date: 5 December 2021

Hello Professor Stoner,

The below report is our recommendation report on the usability study on the
Monopoly Millennium edition of instructions. This report discusses why we chose to
analyze and do a usability study on the Monopoly Millennium edition, how we
developed our study, our data and results, and our overall recommendation. This report
is directed towards the authors/owners of the Monopoly Millennium Edition of
instructions so that they can better develop their instruction set to meet the needs of the
consumer of the product.

Thank you for your time and attention when reviewing this report,

Nathaniel Harder, Nadia Opalenik, & Logan Lee

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Introduction & Audience:
There always seems to be some type of
discrepancy in how the game, Monopoly is played.
Whether it's what free parking space should be used
for or even how properties are auctioned off after
landing on them. It all comes down to whether or
not people playing Monopoly read the instructions.
The purpose of this recommendation report is to
recommend whether the instructions do a good job
in teaching people how to play a game of Monopoly
and where the failings exist in the instructions. This
purpose exists only with the scope of using the
Monopoly Millennium Edition instruction manual
for playing the game of Monopoly. A usability study
was conducted on how people played Monopoly
before they read the instructions and after they read
the instructions to compare the differences in results.
The recommendation report based on the usability study of the Monopoly is meant to
recommend how the Monopoly Millennium edition of instructions can be improved to be better. The
audience for this recommendation report is the authors/owners of the Monopoly Millennium edition.

Testing Methods:
For our usability study, we decided to guide our participants in person through the Monopoly
instructions while asking leading questions over free parking, property auctions, jail rules, and the
income tax space. The people we selected were mainly family members due to us doing it over
thanksgiving break. Our goal was to get six participants each.

Participant Selection:
The participants were selected by the investigators for the study. This allowed the
participants to be tested in-person compared to if they were random it would be impossible to
do this study in-person without more time and resources available to us. We primarily selected
family members but had some family friends and roommates included as well. Our
participants had a good variety of ages and experiences playing Monopoly so that we could get

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 more varied results. This ranges from seven years old to eighty-five years old with one first-time
player.

Test Development:
We will have the participants first play through a game of Monopoly then go through
the instructions on their own. Then we will ask the participants about what they found odd or
different about their understanding of Monopoly versus the instructions as well as the clarity
of which it conveys the rules. Finally, we asked a few leading questions about free parking,
property auctions, jail rules, and the income tax space if they had not already mentioned them.
The usability study criteria are the participant’s house rules versus the rules within the
Monopoly rule book.

Test Execution:
During the Monopoly game, we will be observing how they play and what rules they
use. For example, do they use the free space as a jackpot, do they pay the $50 fine when they
leave jail without a doubles roll and do they know about the 10% option for the income tax
space. Then while they read the instructions we will ask them to speak aloud their thoughts
while reading the document and record their thoughts. Finally, we will ask leading questions
about free parking, property auctions, jail rules, and the income tax space if they had not
already mentioned them. We will then compile this information into various pie charts based
on categories.

Results:
Free Parking -
During our games, the majority of
players used the main house rule
of jackpot where taxes get put
into the middle until someone
lands on the free space. We asked
this question because one of the
most common house rules is the
jackpot. Given this data it has
been determined that most
players do not properly

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understand/read the instructions of the game. According to the rules of Monopoly when a player
lands on the free parking space they are meant to do nothing because it is nothing but a free space.

Reading the Instructions -

Most of the groups read the
instructions for only the setup of
Monopoly while others. We
found when comparing our data
that the older players tended to
ignore the instructions unless
they were arguing about the
rules. This question was mainly
used to gauge whether or not
players read the instructions.

Auctioning of Properties -
Most people do not auction off
the properties or did not know
that you could auction off
properties. Only a few of the
more experienced players knew
that you could auction off the
properties if you did not buy
them. We asked this question
because the lack of an auction
often leads to much longer
games. This is another example
of people not following the
instructions by which every property landed on if not bought should be auctioned off by the bank.

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 Get out of Jail -
A majority of players know one or
two of the actual rules for getting
out of jail. We asked this question
because there are many elements
to getting out of jail that the
players were not aware of. This is
demonstrated by players not
knowing about having a $50 fine
in order to get out of jail on or

before your third turn.

Time length of Monopoly Games -

There is a common misconception that Monopoly games are very long and hard to complete.
We found that people who knew some of Monopoly's actual rules such as auctioning any property
when you land on them or the jail rule of doubles caused the games to end much faster. That being
said, many people did not know this caused long or even unended games. Also in the instructions,
there is a versus called short play which would allow games to be under 1 hour.

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 Buy Back Mortgage Tax -
We also did a quick poll on
whether or not people knew about
the mortgage tax rule. A majority
of players did not know this was a
thing minus a couple of very
experienced players. This is yet
another example of players not
reading the rule manual.
Conclusion:
The participants often used
their own set of rules, house rules. These were more or less agreed upon within sample groups. This is
most likely because participants were selected within the same family. The participants changed many
rules from the official instruction supplied by the Parkers Brothers.
Official Rules Common House Rules

When buying back mortgaged properties the Players pay back only the mortgaged value listed
player is required to pay an additional 10% on the card.
interest to the value of the property.

Placing and selling houses must be completed Players would place a house on whatever
one level at a time. property they wanted disregarding the other
properties in that color.

“Free parking” is only a free parking spot and When landing “Free Parking” the player would
does not have any additional benefits. collect a sum of money depending on their
house rules.

If a player lands on a space and does not buy the If the player does not buy the property after
property, the property is then auctioned off by landing on the space, the property would remain
the bank. without an owner.

When in jail the player can pay a $50 fine or use a The players would often get out of jail on the
“Get Out of Jail Free” before rolling or rolling third turn for free without paying the fine.
for doubles. On the third turn, the player must
pay a $50 fine if they do not roll doubles.

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 The player did not often look at the instruction during the game. Most players would look for
the starting money amounts before starting the game. The players often struggled initially to find the
section containing information about the division of money. This was a common problem whenever
players did use the instructions to answer their questions about the game.
Players also viewed Monopoly as taking a large amount of time to complete. Most players
suggest the games would take longer than 2 hours, with over half of participants claiming a game
would take over 90 minutes. This can be partially due to house rules implemented by the players;
however, the games are often long. The instructions also include a helpful set for a shorter game,
located on the last page of the booklet.

Recommendation:
Many players of Monopoly Millennium Edition use their own house rules of the rules
provided in this set of instructions. Two of the more common house rules from the participants were
concerning “free parking” and the auctioning of property. In the rule book, free parking is only a space
that provides no additional benefit other than being safe that that space. You are not supposed to
collect any money from the income tax or other cards; all money that a player gets fined goes directly to
the bank.
Another rule that players mention they did not use while playing Monopoly included
auctioning properties after a player lands on the space, but does not purchase it. This is present in the
rule book under section “Buying Property” on page 5. This rule is often overlooked in the rule book
and unlike other rule changes, this causes fundamental change to the game of Monopoly. This also
causes the length of the game to increase as it makes gathering specific properties more challenging,
requiring the player to land on a certain space.
The house rules are never mentioned throughout the instruction for Monopoly Millennium
Edition. Although there are many solutions to this criticism, the results support incorporating these
more popular household rules into the set of instructions as an alternative to official rules provided by
the Parkers Brothers. Players already override the official rules with their own, so adding house rules
would allow for standardization of these sets of rules.
The first page of content in this set of instructions is a good addition to the booklet. Since this
version of Monopoly is based on the original Monopoly, many people are familiar with and generally
understand how to play the game. By including the sections “What's the Same?” and “What’s
Different?” players can easily play this version to its modified rules. Since the base games rules still carry
over the later section explains the visual difference in this version, including a shiny board, diamond-
shaped dice, stacking houses, and translucent money.

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 The Monopoly Millennium Edition could also use a table of contents to better help the
players find information within the instructions. Out of the players who visit the instructions while
playing Monopoly, most people only use them for specific information. This could include sorting out
Monopoly before the game starts or settling disagreements between players with different rules in their
heads. The instructions book could aid these players in finding information by including a table of
contents. A table of contents would help players find answers throughout the paragraphs of
information in the instructions.

Appendix:

Parker Brothers. Monopoly Millennium Edition - F.G. Bradley's. Parker Brothers,

https://www.fgbradleys.com/rules/Monopoly%20Millennium%20Edition.pdf.

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