How to Play Business
Buy properties, collect rent, bankrupt your friends. The desi board game classic.
Business is the desi property board game, the one printed on a folding cardboard sheet at every stationery shop. This online version keeps the 36-space board with Indian cities from Ahmedabad and Kanpur at the cheap end to Delhi and Bombay at the top, plus Train, Bus, Airplane and Speedboat, Electric Co. and Water Works, Club, Rest House, Income Tax and Wealth Tax. Everyone starts with 25,000 and collects a 1,500 salary each time they pass START.
You can play online with friends using a room code, against bots, or by passing one phone around. Auctions, trades, building houses and hotels and a twenty-minute clock are all in the code, along with a ten-minute Quick Mode that ends at the first bankruptcy.
Controls
- Tap ROLL to throw the dice on your turn; the token moves automatically.
- BUY or AUCTION appears when you land on an unowned property.
- TRADE opens a proposal screen: choose cash and properties to give and get, then Send Offer.
- BUILD lists city groups you fully own so you can add houses (four levels, the fourth is a hotel).
- END TURN passes play; the board is scrollable and tappable to inspect any property.
How to play, step by step
- Pick Play Online, VS Computer (2 to 4 players) or Pass and Play, and toggle Quick Mode if you want a short game.
- Roll, move clockwise from START, and buy the city you land on if it is unowned. Declining sends it to auction.
- Owning every city in a colour group doubles the base rent and lets you build.
- Collect rent whenever an opponent lands on your property; utilities charge 100 or 250 times the dice, transports charge more with each one you own.
- Land on CHANCE to draw a card: refunds, repairs, jail, or a trip back to START for salary.
Rules and scoring
- Rent with houses multiplies the base by 4, 10, 16 and 24 for one to three houses and a hotel.
- Transports pay 500, 1,000, 2,000 or 4,000 depending on how many of the four the owner holds.
- A jailed owner collects only half rent, the classic Business twist.
- If you cannot pay, the game sells your houses then mortgages properties automatically, cheapest first; if still short you are bankrupt and assets pass to the creditor.
Tips to score higher
- Buy every transport you land on early; four of them charging 4,000 each is the most reliable income on the board.
- The mid-price groups (Jaipur to Darjeeling) are landed on far more often than Delhi and Bombay right after jail.
- Use auctions when you are cash poor: bots often let cheap cities go for under list price.
- Complete a colour group before building anything; the group bonus alone doubles rent for free.
- Trade for the last city of a group even at a premium; house rent grows far faster than the purchase price.
- Keep 2,000 to 3,000 in cash for Wealth Tax, repairs cards and rent spikes, or the auto-liquidation will mortgage your best street.
Modes and challenges
- Play Online: room code, invite link, bots to fill seats, host starts.
- VS Computer: 2 to 4 players against bots.
- Pass and Play: one device, take turns.
Frequently asked questions
How does the game end?
Either everyone but one player goes bankrupt, or the timer runs out and the player with the highest net worth (cash plus property values plus houses) wins. Quick Mode ends at the first bankruptcy.
Can I refuse to buy a city?
Yes. Choose AUCTION and every player, including bots, bids in steps of 100, 500 or 1,000.
What does mortgage do?
The game mortgages automatically only when you cannot pay a bill. A mortgaged property earns no rent and counts at half value for net worth.
Why did a jailed player charge me half rent?
That is the traditional Indian Business rule, kept on purpose: an owner sitting in jail collects only half of any rent owed to them.