How to win at Monopoly?: What are the rules?

The object of Monopoly is to ruin your opponents…before they ruin you. After each throw, you will have to make the right choice, if you want to win in the end. Admittedly, the “luck” factor plays a significant role in this game, but any decision that is a little risky risks jeopardizing your fortune and therefore your victory. This is why you need one or more strategies that allow you to optimize your investments and minimize the negative blows. On these two conditions, you will win.

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Part1

play smart

Monopoly is primarily a dice game.Admittedly, it is not blackjack, but it is important to know the probabilities that you have of making such an amount on the dice, of hitting such and such a particular square or on such and such a property.

• In terms of probabilities, with two dice, you are more likely to roll a 7 than a 2 or a 12.
• On average, we make a complete turn of the board in 5 or 6 moves. As 28 of the 40 squares in the game are landed properties, you will come across four of them on average.
• You have a 17% chance of rolling a double on the dice. In other words, and statistically speaking, you risk making a double every 6 turns, which is roughly the number needed to make one turn of the board.

Not all boxes have the same visit rate. Some are little frequented, such as Boulevard de Belleville or rue Lecourbe, while others stop many players, as is the case for orange properties (avenue Mozart, boulevard Saint-Michel and place Pigalle) . As the prison is the busiest square in the game, owning the nearby orange properties will allow you to make a profit from your investment. If you manage to get your hands on all three properties, you will have a good chance of winning the game

• The prison square is the one on which we are, statistically, the most likely to fall, just like those of the avenue Henri-Martin and the Gare du Nord, if we consider the properties. A hotel on avenue Henri-Martin is the most profitable, apart from the hotel on rue de la Paix.

Some cards come out more often than others. You will certainly have to draw cards from one of the two piles, “Chance” or “Community Chest”, located in the center of the board. If you manage to memorize those that have already been released, by you and your opponents, you can better anticipate. Outside the game, take the time to memorize these cards well so that you can react as well as possible when the time comes. A classic Monopoly game features the following

• 16 “Chance” cards  : most often, these allow you to advance in 10 out of 16 cases. Two of them make you win money, just like two others take it from you. Finally, there is a card that you will keep, because it will allow you to get out of prison. The last penalizes only those who own buildings.
• 16 “Community Chest” cards  : nine of them will make you gain money, three will make you lose it. Two will send you somewhere on the board, one will allow you to get out of prison and finally, a last one will only penalize those who have built.

Play according to the rules laid down by the authors. Often, everyone goes by their own rules and in this context, it is more difficult to win. We will rely, for this article, only on the rules laid down by the publisher Parker (formerly, Parker Brothers 

• Do not accept to play if someone proposes to make the free park a bonus box or if it is proposed to set up immunity for those who fall on such or such box.

Part2

Buy and build to win

Quickly buy lots of properties. The more properties you have, the more rent you will collect, the faster you will ruin your opponents. This is why the first part of the game must be, for you, a frantic period of purchases.

• Don’t wait until you have some nest egg before buying properties. Don’t focus on rue de la Paix alone. Buy all the properties that come up. The more and sooner you buy goods, the stronger your position will be. It is true that the first reflex in this game is to want to increase your money and to hoard, but this is not the goal of the game, which is to ruin the opponent .

1. The goal is to earn money with its properties, not before acquiring them. Whoever spends a lot from the outset is not a suicidal madman, on the contrary. 

Try to become the owner of monopolies. Don’t let your opponents buy properties in the middle of yours! Buy them if the opportunity arises. You still have to buy a vacant property, even if no one has one in that color yet. Over time, you may well succeed in building up a monopoly by buying a second, then a third property. Orange properties are worth owning, as players frequently stumble upon them. It is even the most popular color

• When a player succeeds in holding all the properties of a single color, he has a “monopoly”. At that time, whoever falls on one of these squares must pay double rent. Similarly, the owner can then buy houses, then a hotel. In this case, the rent is proportional to the number of houses. You will also be in a position of strength when it comes time to exchange properties, i.e. when all the land is sold.

Buy properties envied by other players. Even if you don’t intend to build a monopoly, this will prevent others from having one. Needless to say, you will then be in a position of strength when trading. Watch the game and if you are lucky enough to acquire a property that upsets one of the players, buy.

• If two players each have a property of the same color, do not try to block the monopoly, since they are already neutralizing each other. Take an interest in other properties.
• The ideal during a trade is to find an opponent with whom you can get along on an equal footing. It is possible, because of the variable prices, to exchange two inexpensive properties for a more expensive one  

Have a strategy with stations and companies. The former are much more profitable than the latter. However, stations are only really interesting if you own them all. That’s why some players make it a point to buy them all, while others don’t care. Up to you

• Everyone knows it: buying a company (water, electricity) pays little and rarely (probability of 1 in 38). Many players prefer to invest in properties and houses, it is more lucrative 
• In some cases, it is wise, if possible, to buy a station to prevent one player from having a monopoly on the stations.

Quickly build all three houses. As soon as you have a monopoly on one color, build until you have three houses on each of two or three streets. The rent is then much higher for those who have the misfortune to stop there. This is one of the ways to get rich and therefore increase your chances of winning the game 

• Buy your homes at the right time. Always remember to have cash in anticipation of “forced expenses”, such as station rents, water bills, card fines, luxury tax… Often, the best is to buy houses once you have passed the most dangerous district for you, that is to say the one that does not belong to you… especially if it is just before the “Departure” square!

Attempt to create a house shortage. Thus, if you have unprofitable properties, quickly buy as many houses as possible (they are inexpensive) in order to deprive your opponents of doing the same, but on more lucrative properties. Clearly, exhaust the stock of available houses. Similarly, do not exchange your houses for a hotel, you would thus put houses back into circulation, which will delight your opponents. Said like this, it seems obvious, yet he says it 

Part3

play to win

Use mortgages wisely. Sometimes we have to resort to it. Reminder: this operation will cost you money insofar as you will have to repay more than you have raised, since you will have to pay the costs of release. Do not be afraid! When mortgaging, if you want to win, remember a number of principles.

• Isolated properties should be mortgaged first. Unless absolutely necessary, do not block, by mortgage, a property which belongs to a group of two and even less to a monopoly.
• If you need money, mortgage your isolated properties if it’s to buy a third house or a hotel (especially if it’s in the light blue or the green!).
• Knowing that you will not receive any rent from your opponents if they come across one of your mortgaged properties, avoid blocking those on which others often stop or those that are of good value.

Trade smart. Try to guess what your opponents’ fundamental strategies are in order to be in a position of strength. Creating a monopoly seems in itself a good thing, but if one of your opponents, after a trade, also obtains a better yielding monopoly, it’s a bad game! Thus, if you obtain the monopoly on the red, but that your adversary constitutes, thanks to you, that on the green, you will have made a bad operation. If you both fall on one of the other’s properties, you will lose.

• Before an exchange, you have to think carefully. Always ask yourself what it will bring you later and if it can bring the ruin of one of your opponents.
• When you trade, the ideal is to constitute an absolute monopoly. If this is not possible, a relative monopoly may suffice  

Try to stay in jail for a long time. This is especially true in the second half of the game. Unlike real life, being in jail in Monopoly isn’t such a bad thing! However, in the early game, it is better to pay the 50 euro deposit to get out quickly, otherwise you will miss purchases. Later in the game, stay as long as it takes. Indeed, houses have been built by your opponents and between the prison and the “Start” box the rents are more and more exorbitant. Roll your dice hoping not to roll a double. You can stay three rounds before having to pay the deposit. It will always be cheaper than having to pay rent for three houses on rue de la Paix… which does not belong to you  

1. “Finish off” struggling players. Monopoly has a reputation for endless games, but know that it can be remedied. As soon as all the streets are sold, launch your exchange offers. Try to convince your less fortunate opponents to give you this or that property or resell it to the bank. It then becomes available again on the market and will quickly find a buyer

• If a player blocks monopolies, refuses any trades, and after several turns nothing happens, offer to end the game. You can then start another game.

Part4

unite with others

1. Ally yourself with other players. Does your brother win all the time? Form an alliance with other players before starting the game and plan how this time you will ruin his empire! You can prevent him from having monopolies and take advantage of them… If you prevent a good player from achieving his goals, the wheel may turn in your favor.

Tips

• One way or another, have Avenue Henri-Martin! The four most frequented squares in French Monopoly are in order: the prison, the avenue Henri-Martin, the “Start” square and the place Pigalle.
• The more players there are, the more tactically you have to play. When a player goes bankrupt, he or she may want to thank a player who has been benevolent by bequeathing their title deeds. This is why, during the game, you have to identify very early on who is going to go bankrupt and make a friend of them. If you are playing in a tournament, this practice is prohibited. The titles of the loser are put back into play.
• The only transfer of money between players takes place when buying a get out of jail card. Use this possibility to advance money to someone who has come across a street that interests you, and the buyer will return it to you when the time comes. In the same way, let’s say that one of your opponents, not very wealthy, comes across a street with a hotel, which does not belong to you. Make a kind of loan to this unfortunate player. To do this, buy him his prison release card by paying him a sum that allows him to pay off his debt… until he comes across one of your hotels! This is high strategy!
• Spend with caution. The object of the game is to ruin your opponents, not to have as much money as possible.
• Let’s say that when the game is well advanced and you already have streets and houses, you go to jail. Stay there! This way, you will not risk bankruptcy. The others will pay, not you!
• Buy houses as soon as possible, but don’t forget to keep some “working capital” in case you run into one of your opponents.