Monopoly is partly a game of chance and partly a game of skills, so these following techniques are all about “increasing your luck” with the use of strategies.
General strategies that would give you an advantage in the game of Monopoly
1. Pursue a peasant strategy if you don’t have a lot of cash and aren’t sure if you can develop a costly monopoly. Your first choice should be the orange properties, followed by Park Place and Boardwalk. These two may cost you an arm and a leg, but since you only need two for a monopoly, it’s still viable and can give you handsome payoffs.
2. Keep buying. You have to have at least one monopoly to win at the game, so buy when you can. If you don’t have enough money, you can always mortgage some of your properties.
3. Use your smarts when building. Refrain from putting houses on your monopoly until such time when you can afford to put three units per property. The returns are so-so when you have one or a couple of houses, but the rent dramatically increases with three houses. In case you have two monopolies, develop one with at least three houses on the properties before you shore up the second monopoly.
4. Don’t always scrimp. Sometimes it’s wise to bide your time at the jail, but if you still need to purchase properties, pay the $50 without hesitation.
5. Be willing to trade. When trading with another player, check his cash position. If he’s flush with cash, avoid trading one of your high-end properties, e.g., the greens, as this will give him a monopoly. He can immediately purchase houses with his money and wipe you out as quickly. Instead, convince him to throw in some cash with the deal to keep him from developing the properties too quickly. When you do this, you’ll have the capacity to develop your own monopoly.
6. If you’re loaded, follow the strategy of real estate tycoons. Concentrate on getting the greens as your monopoly, but refrain from adding houses on them until you can manage to pay for three houses on each one.
Specific strategies
Which properties are the best to spend $2000 worth of houses and hotels on? The orange ones, according to Dr, Irvin Hentzel, a Math professor at ISU in Ames, who has studied the board game extensively. The next best are the ritzy Park Place and Boardwalk, of course.
It’s also important to note that those squares on one half of the game board, from St. Charles Place to Marvin Gardens, are more frequented than the other half (from Pacific Avenue to Connecticut Avenue). This is because a complete trip around the board is preempted when players go to Jail.
In addition, the property most frequently landed on is Illinois Avenue, followed by Go, B & O Railroad, and Free Parking. Next on the ranking are Tennessee Ave., New York Ave., Reading Railroad, and then St. James Place. This information is crucial, of course, for a serious Monopoly player who wants to invest his money wisely.
