In Monopoly, if your Community Chest card reads "Go back to ...." , do you move forward or backward?

Question

This page lists all the community chest cards, and none of them say "go back to." What edition do you have, and what is the complete text? https://monopoly.fandom.com/wiki/Community_Chest — jejorda2, Nov 26 '20 at 01:55
I don't know what version that page is based on, but I certainly remember the monopoly set I played on as a kid having a "go back to old kent road" card. — Peter Green, Nov 26 '20 at 03:26
@PeterGreen - Not just you. :-) And it's listed on this page as "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" along with "Go Back to Baltic Avenue" which was apparently in four U.S. editions prior to 1936. — T.J. Crowder, Nov 26 '20 at 13:10
@jejorda2 - See above. UK editions have "Go Back to Old Kent Road," and a long time ago there were four U.S. editions that had "Go Back to Baltic Avenue." — T.J. Crowder, Nov 26 '20 at 13:12
why do you even need to ask whether "go back" means to go forwards or backwards? — user253751, Nov 27 '20 at 17:55

score 42 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 25 '20 at 20:16

42

It says 'Go back to', so that definitely means backwards. There are no tricks involved, it's just plain English.

There are other cards for moving forwards, e.g. a (Chance) card which says 'Advance to Boardwalk'; they use a different phrase.

answered Nov 25 '20 at 20:16

Glorfindel

1

And the 'go (directly) to jail' cards, which don't care about forwards or backwards but tell you to go there right away. The 'do not pass GO' variety. Forward, backward, right to jail, those are the options. – Mast Nov 27 '20 at 22:19

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 27 '20 at 21:28

2

The reason for "go back to" is to prevent you from passing GO and collecting $200.

answered Nov 27 '20 at 21:28

STEVEN GREGORY

3

Unless the target tile is in front of you, in which case backwards actually puts you over GO, right? The cards that don't want you to pass go explicitly say so. – Mast Nov 27 '20 at 22:20
1

@mast Exactly. In fact it could be just as likely to make you pass GO, which makes the above answer incorrect. – ben svenssohn Sep 01 '23 at 08:57

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 29 '20 at 22:53

0

In the standard Monopoly game, there are no Community Chest cards that say "go back."

There IS one Chance card that says "Go back three spaces." That is basically the only time in the game when you would "go back."

answered Dec 29 '20 at 22:53

Tom Au

3 Answers3