[MenhirMike]

What's fascinating is that some of those house rules seemed to have come up independently in places all around the world. For example, the stupid free parking jackpot. (I assume that Hasbro added it to the manual as a house rule at some point?)

And yeah, getting money and property is fun! But the game is supposed to be a 30-45 minute experience.

[ianburrell]

The reason is probably because Monopoly as written is short and brutal. Which isn't fun for families. So people add rules to make more fair. Which has result of making it last longer and turn into slog.

The solution is for families other games which are better suited especially for younger kids. But Monopoly has established itself as universal family board game.