How to play Invest Up
Invest Up is a multiplayer property trading board game that runs in your browser. These are the rules the game actually enforces. Everything is played with virtual money only.
The goal
Stay solvent. When a player goes bankrupt they are out, and the game ends when only one player is left who is not bankrupt. That player wins.
Starting a game
- Type a display name and press Create lobby. You do not need an account to play a free online property trading board game.
- Share the lobby's 8-character code so friends can use Join by code, or pick an open lobby from the list on the menu.
- The host can add bots and sets the room's options before the game starts.
- A room has 2 to 6 seats, bots included. At least 2 players are needed, and the host starts the game once everyone else is ready.
The board
The board has 40 spaces. Cities are grouped by country into 8 colour sets of 2 or 3 cities. There are also 4 airports, 2 utilities, an Income Tax space ($200), a Luxury Tax space ($100), Chance and Treasure card spaces, Jail, Vacation and Go to Prison. By default every player starts with $1,500.
Your turn
Roll the two dice and move. Each time you pass GO you collect $200. If you roll doubles you roll again, but a third doubles in a row sends you straight to jail. You must roll before you can end your turn.
Buying property and auctions
When you land on an unowned city, airport or utility you may buy it at its listed price. If you decline it, or you do not have the cash for it, and the room's "Auction on decline" option is on (it is by default), the property goes to a live auction that every player at the table can bid in, including the one who just declined it. The first bid has to be at least one increment, which is a tenth of the listed price rounded up to the nearest $5, and each bid after that has to beat the standing bid by another increment.
The clock starts at 15 seconds and every bid that is accepted puts it back to 12 seconds, so the auction ends when the bidding does rather than on a fixed timer. The highest bid when the clock runs out takes the deed at that price, and nothing is paid until then. You can pass and still get back in: passing is reversible for as long as the auction is running, and if you close the auction screen your bid stands, the clock keeps running and you can still win — the button in the game bar opens it again. If everyone has passed the auction does not slam shut; it takes a three-second last call instead.
Auctions need a table of humans. While an NPC is seated the option is switched off and a declined property simply stays unowned, and that is also what happens if nobody bids, if only one player could afford to, or if the option is off.
Rent
Land on a property another player owns and you pay rent. A mortgaged property earns no rent.
- Cities: each city has its own rent table. Owning the whole colour set with no houses doubles the base rent. With houses, rent follows the table for 1 to 4 houses and then a hotel.
- Airports: the rent depends on how many airports the owner has.
- Utilities: 4 times the dice roll, or 10 times with both utilities.
| Airports owned | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | $25 | $50 | $100 | $200 |
In short, an airport charges $25, $50, $100 or $200.
Houses, hotels and mortgages
- To build you must own the whole colour set, none of it can be mortgaged, and the city cannot be rented out to another player.
- Houses are built and sold evenly across a set. The host can switch that rule off.
- After 4 houses the next build is a hotel. Houses and hotels sell back for half their cost.
- Mortgaging a property pays you half its price. You cannot mortgage while its colour set has houses. Lifting a mortgage costs 110% of what it paid.
Cards, taxes and jail
Chance and Treasure cards can pay you, charge you, move you (for example to GO or the nearest airport), charge repairs for each house and hotel you own, make you pay every player or collect from every player, send you to jail, or give you a Jail Pass. Tax spaces charge a fixed amount. Vacation does nothing.
You are sent to jail by landing on Go to Prison, by drawing a jail card, or by rolling a third doubles in a row. To get out, roll doubles, pay a $50 fine, or use a Jail Pass. After a third failed roll you pay $50 and move with that roll.
Trading
You can propose a trade to any other player, who accepts or rejects it. A trade can combine properties, cash and stock with agreement terms: contracts, rentals, a share of a colour set's rent, buying back such a share, and moving, ending or issuing a bond. See how trading works.
Stocks and bonds
Stocks. You can invest cash in another player. The cash goes to them and your stake is a percentage of that player's cash, so it grows and shrinks with their cash. When you sell, you receive that percentage of their current cash. You cannot invest in yourself. Each player decides whether to open their stock, and their bonds, to other players. Both start closed.
Bonds. You can lend to another player by buying their bond. The issuer sets a rate (0% to 200%) and how often it pays (every 1 to 20 turns). A bond does not mature: it keeps paying until it is ended in a trade or wiped by a bankruptcy, and it can be traded to another player. Read more about stocks and bonds.
Debt and bankruptcy
If you cannot cover rent or a tax, your cash can go below zero: you are in debt. You cannot end your turn in debt. Raise cash by selling houses, mortgaging, selling stock or making a trade, or declare bankruptcy.
When a player goes bankrupt, their properties return to the bank unowned with every house removed, their stocks and bonds are wiped, and their cash is set to zero.
The turn clock
The turn clock is on by default. You get 30 seconds at the start of each turn with no clock shown, then a 3:00 reserve that refills whenever you finish a turn yourself. While you are in debt the reserve widens to 5:00. Each other player can hand you +1:00 once per turn.
If your time runs out, the game rolls for you, buys an unowned property you land on if you can afford it, and ends your turn. It never bids, mortgages, sells or trades for you. After 3 auto-played turns in a row, or as soon as your time runs out while you are in debt, the table can vote to remove you. A removal needs a majority of the human players still in the game (bots do not vote), capped at the number of votes that can be cast. A vote that is still open when the away deadline passes also removes you, unless you play in time. A removed player is made bankrupt.
If you lose your connection
If you disconnect, or leave a running game for the menu, your seat is kept for 3 minutes. Come back in time and the whole game is restored. After that you are made bankrupt.
House rules the host can change
- Starting cash, from $100 to $25,000 (default $1,500).
- Auction on decline: on or off.
- Even building: on or off.
- Bond market: open, or closed so bonds move only by direct agreement in a trade.
- Colour-set equity (selling a share of a set's rent): on or off.
- Pledged sets: tradeable with disclosure, or untradeable.
- Max players: 2 to 6, bots included.
- Room visibility: public, or private (not listed on the menu; players join with the code).