Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 zorkmids.


 * You die... Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 zorkmids. : A message that appears if you die at turn 1. (If you enabled the time option, then "T:1" indicates that it is turn 1. "Zorkmids" are the currency of NetHack.)

The message is a reference to the Monopoly board game, in which one penalty is, "Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200." Monopoly players periodically pass the Go space on the board and earn 200 more dollars each time. Players going directly to the Jail space must not pass Go, even if Go is between their current position and Jail.

Causes
Many players never receive this message, but there are a few rare accidents that can cause it.
 * The most common way is probably, as a Knight, to attempt to #ride your pony at turn 1, fall off, and take enough damage to die. Note that #ride uses a turn if you mount successfully, but does not use a turn if you mount and fall off. So if you first fall off and survive, and then repeatedly retry #ride and again fall off, then you can also trigger this message.
 * As your first move, you might unluckily trip a trap that kills you. Most of the sufficiently dangerous traps never appear at dungeon level 1, but you might trigger a dart trap with a poisoned dart of instadeath, for example.
 * You zap a wand or spell as your first move, and the ray bounces from a wall and kills you.

The following accidents might trigger this message, though we remain unaware of these ever happening.
 * The game places an unidentified object on the first up staircase, autopickup grabs it (not using a turn) and you immediately use it, but it kills you. A cursed wand might do this.
 * The game places an artifact on the first up staircase, you take it and it blasts you to death. (But does the game ever place artifacts at the first dungeon level?)
 * The RNG places several monsters around the first up staircase, and they all kill you at turn 1. (But do any of the available monsters do enough damage?)

The "200 zorkmids" message only occurs if you die at turn 1. So if you already consumed the first turn (for example by puttin on a ring or quaffing a potion), then you will not receive the message. Also, if your pet dies at turn 1 (maybe to a falling rock trap) but you survive, then there is no special message.

Example
In this example, you begin as a Wizard with a wand of polymorph. You decide to polymorph yourself, but unluckily trigger a system shock and die.

The messages are: "You shudder for a moment. You die... Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 zorkmids. Do you want your possessions identified?"

Strategy
To avoid a 1-turn death, if you are a Knight, do not try to #ride your pony until you know that you can survive the possible 14 hp damage from falling off. If you do fall off and turn 1, do not try to #ride again until you have more hit points.

Avoid using a wand or spell to fire a ray at a wall that might bounce the ray back at you, unless you resist the ray's damage. This is good advice during the entire game, not only turn 1.

A 1-turn death from a trap is extremely rare. You need not search as your first action in every game. If you suffer an annoying 1-turn death, you can simply start a new game.

Intentional 1-turn death
If you want to intentionally trigger the "200 zorkmids" message, one way is to start a Wizard and zap yourself with a sufficient wand, such as a wand of fire. (Zapping force bolt at yourself will fail, because of your cloak's magic resistance.)

You could try to start a Barbarian and throw the battle-axe or two-handed sword at the ceiling, but this never seems to provide enough damage.

It would take an extremely annoyingly long time, but you could overflow the turn counter to turn 1 and die. You would probably prefer to attempt 1-turn ascension.