How to win at Monopoly

I’m competitive.

A simple board game with me can get heated. Vicious. Brutal.

And when I play with my family, who are all exceptionally similar when it comes to ‘lighthearted games to pass the time’ … things always get blown out of proportion.

These days, I don’t play many board games. Michael is usually not interested in playing (“Oh darl, the bees are out. It’s nice to sit and watch them”) and if he DOES play, he doesn’t mind if he’s losing, and that… well, it takes the fun out of the victory.

But look, the holidays are coming up, so….. if you are ready to destroy your family in a heated competition, I mean, enjoy a nice family game, here are my list of tips to get ahead.

Some of these have come from my own, hard-won experience, and others have come from this rather incredible list of tips I found while, um, yes, researching and strategising my next win.

1. Don’t offer to be the banker.
   It’s an additional chore, and keeps your mind off your properties and plan for world domination. Sure, it gives you the chance to cheat, but wouldn’t you rather win clean?

2. Buy every property you land on.
   I’ll say that again: buy every property you land on. If you don’t have cash flow, mortgage your other properties. Why are properties good?
   a) you can build houses like every good property developer
   b) you can utilise them to trade with other players (side note: utilities and water works aren’t as good, but buy them anyway as you can always throw ‘em in as a sweetener). Basically, buy everything!!

3. Railroads aren’t that great… but still buy ‘em.
   If you have all four, you get $200 for each time someone lands on one.

4. The Orange properties are the best.
   You have more chances of landing on these compared to any other property, and your return on investment is the best (you invest $1,500 to get a max rent of $1,000, as opposed to the Greens, where you’re going to invest $3,000 and only get a max rent of $1,200). Red properties are also good.

5. Buy as many houses as you can.
   There are only 32 houses available. Once those houses are gone, no one can build on their properties. Not even hotels.

6. And on that note, don’t buy hotels.
   I know. This is very off brand for me, who was only moments ago telling you to BUY EVERYTHING, but don’t buy hotels.  The only thing you’re doing when you buy a hotel is putting more houses back on the market. Houses that your enemy can buy and that can eventually bankrupt you.

7. Put three houses on your property STAT.
   This is where the rent starts increasing exponentially.

8. DO buy yourself out of jail.
   At the start of the game at least. Early in the game, you want to be out on the streets, buying properties, putting houses on your properties etc. You know the drill – I’ve taught you well by now!

   BUT as the game progresses, it’s not a terrible idea to stay in jail a little longer (as long as possible in fact) because if you’re on the board, moving around, chances are you’ll land on a property and owe someone else big rent. So, kick back, enjoy your time in there.

9. Be nice.
   Others will be more willing to negotiate with you if you’ve been nice to them throughout the game. Those suckers! They’ll believe anything ?

Good luck, my friend,
And godspeed.

Turia x

PS – If you’d like my strategies for other things, like, say how to actually get out the door for a run when you’ve got kids, I’d recommend popping your name on the list for my new running program for Mums! The next round opens in June. Pop your name on the list here and I’ll keep you updated!