How to play Landlord (Cờ Tỷ Phú): buy, build and collect rent

Rolling and buying, auctions, colour groups and houses, jail, debts and the time limit, for 2 to 4 players.

Updated 31 October 2026

Landlord is the classic property game: roll the dice, go round the board, buy the places you land on and make everyone else pay to stop there. In Vietnamese the whole family of these games is called cờ tỷ phú, the billionaire's game.

In GatherPlay's Landlord the board is in 3D on every phone, with 22 places from all over Vietnam, from Cà Mau to Bờ Hồ, and four toy tokens: a nón lá, a basket boat, a lantern and a bánh chưng. A game has a time limit, so it fits an evening.

The goal

Be the richest player when time runs out, or the last one standing when everyone else has gone bankrupt. Your worth is your cash, plus every deed at its printed price (half for a mortgaged one), plus what you paid for your houses and hotels.

The tokens

• 

  Nón lá

  The conical hat. Green seat.

• 

  Thuyền thúng

  The round basket boat. Red seat.

• 

  Đèn lồng

  The silk lantern. Blue seat.

• 

  Bánh chưng

  The New Year rice cake. Yellow seat.

A turn

1. Tap Roll the dice. Your token moves that many cells. Every time you pass Xuất phát (Start) you collect 200.
2. Land on a deed nobody owns and you may buy it at its price. Tap the deed to see its rents first.
3. If you don't buy it, it goes to auction at once: everyone bids with +10, +50 or +100. The auction closes 8 seconds after it opens, and every bid keeps it open a few seconds more.
4. Land on someone else's deed and you pay them rent. Taxes go to the bank. Cơ Hội and Khí Vận cards move you, pay you or make you pay.
5. Rolled doubles? Go again after your move. Three doubles in a row and you go to jail.
6. When you're done, build if you can, then tap End turn.

Colour groups, houses and hotels

• Each place belongs to a colour group of two or three. Own a whole group and its rent doubles, even with nothing built.
• With a whole group you can build houses on your turn, evenly: no place gets its next house before the others in the group have the same number. After four houses comes a hotel.
• Each house raises the rent a lot. A hotel on Bờ Hồ is the most expensive stop on the board.
• Stations pay 25, 50, 100 or 200 depending on how many you own. The two companies charge 4 or 10 times the dice.

Jail

• You go to jail by landing on Vào tù, by drawing a card that sends you there, or by rolling doubles three times in a row.
• To get out, roll doubles, pay 50, or use a get-out-of-jail card. After three failed rolls you pay 50 and move.
• In jail you still collect rent and can still build on your turn.

Debts and bankruptcy

• Owe more than you have? Sell houses back for half their price or mortgage deeds for half their value until you can pay.
• A mortgaged deed collects no rent. Lifting the mortgage costs its value plus 10%.
• If even selling everything would not cover the debt, you are bankrupt and out. What you have goes to the player you owe, or back to the bank.

The time limit

The host picks 20, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, or no limit. When time is up, the round is played to the end so everyone has had the same number of turns, then the richest player wins.

Tips

• Buy early. Deeds are cheapest when nobody has much, and every deed you own blocks someone else's group.
• Players leaving jail often land on the orange group: Huế, Hội An and Đà Nẵng.
• Let a deed you don't want go to auction. Someone may overpay for it, or you may get it cheap.
• Keep some cash. Running out means selling houses at half price.

Start a game

1. Open GatherPlay and host a Landlord game. A TV is optional: open the game screen on one and the whole room sees the board.
2. Two to four players join with the code or the QR code.
3. Pick the time limit, the time per decision and the starting cash, and start.