i wrote about the nitty gritty of playing the board game monopoly a while back. now there is a surefire strategy of winning the game of monopoly which has been documented by extremely heavy statistics and strategic positions on the board.
How to win at Monopoly – a simple strategy:
- Always buy Railroads; never buy Utilities (at full price)*
- For every other property type, only buy them to complete a monopoly or to prevent opponents from completing one. Often this may mean buying as many properties as you can early in the game, but watch your cash reserves.
- At the beginning of the game, focus on acquiring a complete C-G (Color Group) in Sides 1+2, even if it means trading away properties on Sides 2+3. After acquiring one of these C-Gs, build 3 houses as quickly as possible: no more houses, no less!
- Once your first C-G starts to generate some cash, focus on completing a C-G and building 3 houses in Sides 3+4.
- Note: 3 houses is the “sweet spot” in the game as shown in Table 1 below. That’s where you’re making the best use of your money.
- Single properties are the least good investment if you don’t build on them.
- The only exception to the above rules are when you need to acquire stray properties to prevent your opponents from completing their C-Gs to accomplish the above strategy.
- Jail can be good. Stay in Jail as long as you can if an opponent owns a monopoly – at that point in the game, moving around the board will likely lose you money. Until that happens, though, pay the $50 and leave Jail as soon as possible: you need to be in the property acquisition race and collecting your $200 salary.
- One interesting exception: Do you need St. James or Tennessee Aves to complete your C-G? Then stay in Jail and try to get out by rolling doubles: doing so will increase your chances of landing on those squares by about 25%.
Keep reading for more superb insight.