I once beat a friend in Monopoly in twelve minutes.<\/p>\n
I don’t know if that’s a world record but it’s got to be close. During our summer after high school ended we played a game of Monopoly every single day. (I bet you can guess how popular I was with the ladies…) We became extremely quick at the game and memorized every card’s value and the distance between every spot on the board. My twelve minute game was a result of a nearly perfect set of rolls in succession, giving me two complete monopolies within five minutes and my friend landing on them four times in a row.<\/p>\n
After that summer, I ended up winning every game of Monopoly I played for over six years (I’ll tell you how I finally lost at the end of this post!).<\/p>\n
I don’t say this to brag (okay, maybe a little!) but to give a response to people who say \u201cMonopoly is a game of pure luck.\u201d Yes, my twelve minute game was incredibly and positively influenced by luck, but had the same set of rolls happened to someone else, the game may have turned out much differently.<\/p>\n
While there is no doubt that luck plays a role in the way Monopoly is played, luck has actually very little to do with winning the game. Every time you roll the dice, you have no control over the position you land on. You don’t know what \u201cChance\u201d or \u201cCommunity Chest\u201d is going to do to your portfolio. You don’t even have control over who starts the game or what the dice will show.<\/p>\n
You do, however, have control over how YOU play the game that’s set before you. Just like the Casino that has a 51% edge on a game of Blackjack, the smallest edge over the long term will result in almost a guaranteed win. By utilizing small tricks and techniques in Monopoly, you can improve your odds slightly and improve your odds of winning exponentially. Below are three different strategies you can use to improve your game.<\/p>\n
1.) Buy Everything.<\/strong> 2.) Never have more than $100 in cash<\/strong> 3.) Do whatever it takes to get a monopoly \u2013 even a bad one.<\/strong> 4.) Mortgage everything I own and put all cash into that one monopoly.<\/strong> While the four strategic points I discussed above are important \u2013 they are not the most important. The most important rule of Monopoly is understanding that Monopoly is not only played on the board. Monopoly is a game of people.<\/p>\n By watching other players on how they interact with their finances and each other, you can use those players to get further ahead. The easiest way to do this is by finding win-win situations that help you and another player get ahead. As I mentioned earlier, my helping another player gain a monopoly you can eliminate other players decisively.<\/p>\n Furthermore, you will begin to realize the strategies that other’s are playing with. Are they a \u201ccash hoarder?\u201d An \u201cit’s only luck\u201d player? A greedy player? A mean player? A \u201cthis is a stupid game and I don’t know why Mom is making me play\u201d player? There are many different personalities found in the game of Monopoly. Learn what they are, what people truly want, and use that to help them get what they want and at the same time get what you want.<\/p>\n
\nThe first step in winning Monopoly is to buy everything. It doesn’t matter what you land on \u2013 buy it (yes, even the terrible Electric Company. If you are saying right now, \u201cI love the Electric Company! It’s not terrible!\u201d Yes it is. In fact, I’d like to play you in Monopoly. Nevertheless, buy it anyways.)<\/p>\n
\nHave you ever played with someone who loves to show how much money they have in their possession? Do you gloat about that? This is hands down the number one mistake people make when playing Monopoly. Believing \u201ccash on hand\u201d is equal to success is not only misleading but turns that person into purely my own personal savings account for me to collect on later in the game. There is always one in every game \u2013 and I love it.\u00a0 I will buy anything I can, add houses as quickly as possible, and offer to buy properties from others – anything to get my cash out of my hand and into the game.<\/p>\n
\nThe game I won in twelve minutes was won primarily because I bought the first two Monopolies on the board \u2013 the lowest priced ones. It doesn’t matter which Monopoly you get as long as you get one and get one quickly. I will even trade other players a better Monopoly for a worse one. I don’t care that much if they have one as well \u2013 I just need to make sure I have one. In fact, by making a trade which gives you and another each a Monopoly, you essentially kick all the other players out of the game immediately. This is why buying everything is so important (see #1 above). You cannot trade if you have nothing to trade with. (P.S. – Owning the four railroads is not a winning Monopoly. Only collect them to trade later).<\/p>\n
\nOnce I have that one Monopoly, I flip over ever single property I own and \u201cmortgage\u201d them to the bank. The bank will offer me \u00bd of the value of those properties. I then put every dollar (except $100, see #2 above) into building that Monopoly with houses and hotels as soon as possible.<\/p>\nMonopoly is NOT Only Played on the Board<\/h2>\n
Monopoly Applied to Real Estate Investing<\/h2>\n