How to play a Monopoly Deal style card game online with friends
Monopoly Deal is one of the best quick card games ever made: twenty minutes, a pile of rent cards and a lot of revenge. The catch is that it needs everyone at one table with one deck. If you want that same game on a TV for a family night, or with friends in other cities, here's how we do it.
What makes a Monopoly Deal style game work
- Simple turns. Draw 2 cards, play up to 3, and you're done.
- Sets, not dice. You win by completing 3 full property sets, so every card is a decision: bank it, build with it, or use it on someone.
- Rent and payback. Charging rent, stealing a property, swiping a whole set, and the card that blocks all of it.
- No change given. Pay a $2 rent with a $5 bill and the $3 is gone. It's brutal and everyone loves it.
Hostile Cakeover: the same game, in a bakery town
Hostile Cakeover is our own take on the property-set card game. Instead of properties you open cake shops on streets like Sprinkle Lane and Red Velvet Road, and instead of houses and hotels you top a finished street with Whipped Cream and Gold Leaf. If you know Monopoly Deal, you already know how to play.
| If you know Monopoly Deal | In Hostile Cakeover it's |
|---|---|
| Property cards and sets | Lots on 8 bakery streets (2 to 4 lots each) |
| Money in your bank | Dough in your till |
| Rent cards | Rent cards, two-street or rainbow |
| Double the Rent | Double Batch |
| It's My Birthday | Birthday Party: everyone pays you $2 |
| Debt Collector | Pay Up: one player pays you $5 |
| Sly Deal | Sneaky Slice: take one cake |
| Forced Deal | Cake Swap: trade one of yours for one of theirs |
| Deal Breaker | Hostile Cakeover: take a whole finished street |
| Just Say No | Hands Off! (and yes, it can be answered with another one) |
| Pass Go | Fresh Batch: draw 2 more |
| House and Hotel | Whipped Cream and Gold Leaf |
The full rules, every card and the rent for each street are on the Hostile Cakeover rules page.
Why it's easier on phones
- Your hand is actually secret. It lives on your phone, so nobody sees it over your shoulder.
- Nobody does the math. Hangtime adds up rent, doubles it, and lets you choose exactly which cards to pay with.
- No arguing about the rules. When someone plays a Hostile Cakeover on you, your phone shows a Notice of Cakeover and asks whether you want to play Hands Off!
- The whole town on the TV. Everyone's streets, tills and the last card played are on the big screen, so the table can follow the drama.
How to set it up
- Same room: open hangtime.games/cake-tv on a TV or laptop. Everyone joins at hangtime.games/play on their phone with the four-letter code, and the host deals the cards.
- Over a video call: start the game from a phone at hangtime.games/cake and share the code. The whole town shows on everyone's phone.
- Long games: pick a 60 or 90 second turn timer in the lobby to keep things moving.
Put the bakery town on your TV and deal everyone in from their phones. 2 to 5 players.
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Can you play Monopoly Deal online with friends?
Monopoly Deal is a Hasbro card game. If you want a game that plays the same way in a web browser, Hostile Cakeover on Hangtime is a property-set card game with the same draw 2, play 3 turns and the same goal of finishing 3 sets. Each player's hand stays on their own phone.
Is Hostile Cakeover the same as Monopoly Deal?
It plays the same way but it's Hangtime's own game with its own bakery cards and streets. It isn't affiliated with Monopoly, Monopoly Deal or Hasbro.
How many people can play?
2 to 5 players.
Do we need to be in the same room?
No. Hostile Cakeover has a remote mode that runs entirely on phones, so you can play over any video call.
How much does it cost?
Hostile Cakeover is part of the Launch Pack, a one-time $5 (founder price, $10 later) that also unlocks Who's Lying?, Best Answer Wins, Rummy and Bowl Game. Only the host buys it. Players always join free, and three other Hangtime games are free for everyone.