3 Expert Tips To Make Sure You Always Win At Monopoly

The holidays are here, which means lots of family time and a healthy dose of board game rivalry. Be the envy of your family this holiday season with these proven methods to win Monopoly.

1. Buying the utilities are useless.

According to a TED blog post by mathematicians Hannah Fry and Thomas Oléron Evans, you should skip buying the utilities. Yes, that’s right, your long-lived strategy of snapping up Electric Company and Water Works is doing you more harm than good.

Here’s why: They don’t lead to a monopoly. The two utilities have only a one-in-36 chance of earning you $120 if someone lands there, according to this gaming strategy site. The more realistic scenario is that you’ll make maybe $70. That’s not going to help you win. Use the $300 it would cost to buy them to invest in a property or hotel.

2. Don’t be the banker.

Competitive Monopoly players Craig Way and Ken Koury told Thrillist that being the banker doesn’t help you win. All it does is distract you from the board and gives you an extra opportunity for paper cuts when making change for everyone.

Plus, everyone always accuses the banker of stealing money, so just skip the scrutiny and focus on buying those properties.

3. Buy the Orange properties if you can.

Oranges are your best strategic buy, Thrillist reported. According to Koury here’s why Oranges get landed on more than other properties:

• Jail is the most-landed on square because there are various ways to get there. For example, two cards send you there, you get sent if you roll doubles three times, and there’s that pesky “Go to Jail” square. However, jail is also just one roll away from the Oranges.
• The “Advance to St. Charles Place” card puts you one roll away from the Oranges.
• The “Go Back Three Spaces” card puts you on New York Ave one out of three times.
• The “Advance to the Nearest Utility” card puts you on Electric Company two out of three times, which is one roll away from the Oranges.

Additionally, your investment of $1,500 gets you $1,000 max in rent, which is superior to Green, which costs $3,000 and only returns $1,200 in rent.

Follow these three tips and you’ll be the cause of your family’s next holiday Monopoly fight in no time!