Chance cards and Community Chest cards are special cards used in the board game Monopoly. The player draws one of these cards when the player's token lands on one of the respectively named spaces on the Monopoly board and must follow its instructions. Monopoly is the best-selling commercial board game in the world. ...

There are seventeen of each Chance and Community Chest cards in the standard editions (U.S. and UK) of Monopoly. Chance cards in the standard US edition are dark orange in color, while Community Chest cards are yellow.

The cards first appeared with the development of what became Monopoly in the 1920s. Daniel Layman's Finance board game included Chance and Community Chest cards. The first Monopoly editions, self-published originally by Charles B. Darrow, and later by Parker Brothers, featured a few different cards than the ones printed currently. Editions published between 1933-1935 featured only text on the cards, which is still true of most UK editions, as well as translations based on the UK standard edition. Various illustrations appeared on the cards in the U.S. edition starting in 1935, and the more familiar illustrations featuring the Rich Uncle Pennybags character were introduced in 1936. Finance is a game originally released in 1932 by Knapp Electric and later reissued by Parker Brothers. ... Rich Uncle Pennybags as depicted on the cover of the first edition of the Parker Brothers game that gave the character a name. ...

Chance

Changes in the Chance cards in the U.S. editions include:

• Parking Fine: $15 (now omitted)
• Pay Poor Tax: $12 (now $15)
• Pay School Tax: $150 (moved to Community Chest)
• You Are Assessed for Street Repairs (moved to Community Chest)
• Your Xmas Fund Matures: Collect $100 (moved to Community Chest)
• Bank Pays You Dividend of $50 (illustration change from 1936; since 2004, Uncle Pennybags no longer smokes a cigar on this card)

The following cards were introduced by Parker Brothers in 1936:

• Advance Token to the Nearest Railroad (2x)
• Advance Token to the Nearest Utility
• Elected Chairman of the Board: Pay Each Player $50

Cards in the U.S. Standard Edition (the "Atlantic City Edition") which do not appear in the UK Standard Edition:

• Advance token to the nearest utility. If unowned you may buy it from bank. If owned, throw dice and pay owner a total ten times the amount thrown.
• Advance token to the nearest Railroad and pay owner Twice the Rental to which he is otherwise entitled. If Railroad is unowned, you may buy it from the Bank. [Two such cards in the U.S. version]
• Pay poor tax of $15
• You have been elected chairman of the board. Pay each player $50

Cards in the UK Standard Edition which derived from the 1935 Darrow/Parker Brothers edition and are now omitted in the U.S. edition, or are entirely new:

• Pay school fees of £150
• You are assessed for street repairs: £40 per house £115 per hotel
• "Drunk in charge" fine £20
• Speeding fine £15
• You have won a crossword competition. Collect £100

Community Chest

Changes in the Community Chest cards in the U.S. editions include:

• Everyone Must Donate 10% of His Holdings to You in Cash (one edition only, 1936)
• Go Back to Baltic Avenue (four editions, omitted in U.S. editions since 1936)
• Go to Income Tax or Jail (Darrow edition, 1934 only)
• Advance Token to the Nearest Railroad (2x, later moved to Chance)
• We're Off the Gold Standard, Collect $50 (1935-1936 only, now omitted)
• Pay Your Insurance Premium: $50 (omitted in U.S. editions since 1935)
• Pay a $10 fine or take a Chance (omitted in U.S. editions since 1936)

Certain cards were also moved from the Chance cards deck:

• Pay School Tax $150
• You are Assessed for Street Repairs
• Your Xmas Fund Matures

One further card was introduced by Parker Brothers in 1936: Grand Opera Opening, Collect $50 from each player. The "Second Prize in a Beauty Contest" was also changed in 1936 to an award of $10 from an award of $11.

Cards in the U.S. Standard Edition (the "Atlantic City Edition") which do not appear in the UK Standard Edition:

• Grand opera Night – collect $50 from every player for opening night seats
• Life Insurance Matures – collect $100
• Pay School tax of $150
• Receive for services $25
• You are assessed for street repairs – $40 per house, $115 per hotel

Cards in the UK Standard Edition which are derived from the 1935 Darrow/Parker Brothers edition and are now omitted in the U.S. edition, or are entirely new:

• Receive interest on 7% preference shares: £25
• Pay a £10 fine or take a "Chance"
• Go back to Old Kent Road
• Pay your insurance premium £50
• It is your birthday Collect £10 from each player

Other editions

Chance and Community Chest cards are customized for other local and special editions. Placenames get changed on customized boards, and the cards are further customized for local currency, though the actual amounts often stay the same. Text on the cards for the special edition boards is changed to reflect the theme of the board.

References

• Passing Go: Early Monopoly, 1933-1937 by "Clarence B. Darwin" (pseudonym for David Sadowski), Folkopoly Press, River Forest, Illinois. Pages 19, 198-206.
• UK Standard Edition (London) board, copyright 1961, Waddingtons.