You don't need to know the rules.

It's important to start debates on rules that might be advantageous to you in the future. Keep a set of rules with your Monopoly set as to not start arguments in the future. Play by the standard rules. Don't make "Free Parking" a bonus square, and don't make immunity part of any trade. It is the position of Parker Brothers that both of these activities go against the rules and unnecessarily prolong the game. o Each player begins with $1500: 2. 2 $500 bills; 2 $100 bills; 2 $50 bills; 6 $20 bills; 5 $10 bills; 5 $5 bills; 5 $1 bills. o If one or both dice roll off the board, the roll is invalid and you need to roll both dice again.

2 Know the cards well. Keep track of the cards played during the game. Each standard monopoly set includes: Sixteen Chance cards. The odds are high that a chance card will move you to another place, since ten out of sixteen chance cards require you to do so. Additionally, there are two rewards cards which give you money, two penalty cards which take money away, a card that takes away money from building owners and one get out of jail free card. Sixteen Community Chest cards. The majority of the Community Chest cards, nine out of sixteen, give you money. Three Community Chest cards take money away. Of the remaining cards, two move you elsewhere on the board, one takes away money from building owners and one is a get out of jail free card. Property/mortgage cards. You receive the cards every time you buy a piece of property. The card lists the sales price and rental rate.

3 Know your odds in terms of rolling the dice. Seven (7) is the most common roll, and 2 and 12 are the least probable. In order(from least to greatest), the probability of rolling numbers is: o 2 & 12: 3% o 3 & 11: 6% o 4 & 10: 9% o 5 & 9: 13% o 6 & 8: 15% o 7: 17% o Doubles: 17% As you will likely roll a pair of doubles one out of every six rolls, during the average circuit around the board, you will probably roll doubles once. As 28 of the 40 spaces are property spaces, you will likely land on four of the 28 property spaces. As the average roll is 7 and there are 40 spaces, it takes an average of five turns (six dice rolls - one of these rolls being doubles) to get around the board. Mediterranean Avenue and Baltic Avenue are the least-landed-upon properties. The orange properties are the most profitable, since they get landed on the most.

4 Buy as many properties as possible in the beginning. The more property you have, the higher your potential to collect rent, and the more rent you collect, the more money you get. Buying multiple properties of the same color increases your odds of owning a monopoly.

A monopoly is defined as ownership of all properties of one color. The holder of a monopoly is entitled to double the rental rate normally due to be paid. The monopoly holder is also entitled to add houses/hotels (which substantially increases rental rates). Holding a monopoly also greatly enhances your bargaining power during property trades made at later times in the game. Remember, it's okay to be low on cash your first few times around the board, but you need to start building up that empire some time.

5 Buy unowned property if: It is in a color group where no other player owns property. It gives you a second or third property in a given color group. It prevents a competitor from monopolizing a color group. It is an orange property (block this color group whenever possible). o This is a beneficial group to have because people coming out of jail will pass through purple, orange and red property groups, with orange having the highest probability as well as a low cost. There are, of course, some exceptions to these rules. For example, you don't have to block a group when two players each own a property of a group and share a valuable group between them.

6 Keep track of how much cash the other players have. That way you know how much an opponent can bid in an auction, how much rent s/he can afford to pay and/or how many buildings s/he can purchase without needing to mortgage. Before houses appear, your average opponent will make $170 going around the board. 7 Count the number of unmortgaged properties owned by your opponents and divide that number by seven. This will provide you with an estimate of how many times you'll have to pay rent the next time you go around the board. 8 Stay in jail later in the game. In Monopoly, unlike in real life, being in jail is not necessarily a bad thing. Early in the game, you should pay $50 to get out of jail so you can continue purchasing unowned and undeveloped properties. However, later in the game, if most of the properties are owned or if most of the properties between the Jail and Go to Jail spaces are developed, simply roll the dice and hope to stay in jail. This is a welcome alternative to paying rent. 9 Remember, Monopoly is not just about competing. It's about socializing with friends and family! Build houses and hotels. While building gets you closer to your goal of bankrupting everyone else, spending all of your money on buildings isn't always the safest strategy. It is best to build once you own your first complete color group or when doing so will still leave you with enough cash for a "high probability" expense such as rents on railroads and utilities, luxury tax and certain Community Chest cards. If possible, wait until you pass the part of the board where there is the highest likelihood of paying the highest penalties. Often, this is the last few squares of the game (possibly high-rent railroad, chance with 5/8 chance of paying money out, high-rent Park Place, very steep luxury tax, and high-rent Boardwalk). There is a high likelihood for most players of having to pay money through this stretch; yet there is a $200 reward as soon as players pass Go. Therefore, waiting to buy houses/hotels until after you pass the spaces requiring you to pay more money is a sound strategy. 10 Cause a building shortage. When you have only three or four low-rent color groups, you should put three or four houses on each property to restrict the availability of houses to owners of high rent color groups. Don't move up to a hotel if returning houses to the bank would enable your opponent to develop an expensive color group. 11 Extrapolate earnings when buying houses. The difference in earnings between a blank property and the first house is the biggest. This difference decreases until the fourth house. Because expected profit increases much slower than developing costs, often many slightly developed properties are much smarter than a few stacked properties. Unless you are absolutely loaded, build only one or three houses on each lot.

 12 Get the most out of mortgaging. Mortgaging allows you to raise capital at crucial points in the game. However, keep in mind that it will cost more to unmortgage the properties than the total amount raised from mortgaging it in the first place. Follow these mortgaging tips: Single properties should be mortgaged first. Don't mortgage a property from a group where you own 2 or more properties unless it's absolutely necessary. If you need to raise money, mortgage single properties if it allows you to own a color group of at least three houses per property (or hotels in the Light Blues or Purple group). As you cannot collect rent once a property is mortgaged; try not to mortgage those properties that players land on frequently or get higher-than-average rents from landers.

13 Evaluate trades carefully. Know your fellow players' preferences, if any, and use that knowledge to your advantage. Trying to trade for a full line of colored properties is good, as it allows for building expansions. However, you want to avoid trading down for these color sets. For example, while gaining all of the pink properties in a trade may be good, it may not be wise if the trade enables another player to own all of the orange properties. You will likely pay more in rent to the owner of the orange properties. Recognize before you make a deal whether it will be advantageous to you in the future - What will this do for me in the long run, and how will this trade help me bankrupt my opponents?

Know the rules. Starting debates on the rules may result in something to your advantage. o Keep a set of rules with your Monopoly set so as to not result in arguments. Keep an emergency reserve. Each time you get some cash take half or whatever works for you and put it off to the side. Don't use it, watch it grow, then use it when you accidentally land on someone's property so you always have money. Once a monopoly is obtained, try to put at least 3 houses on each property as the greatest difference between rent is between the 2nd and 3rd house. Remember to conserve and spend your money wisely. One wrong decision players make is trying to earn the most money. Remember: The object of the game is to make all other players go bankrupt, not to be the wealthiest player.

To understand the game you must understand the board:

The more players, the more politics. When one player is near bankruptcy, he/she may effectively give away all his/her property and money to another player (often in the form of overly generous trades); so, making friends along the way can pay off as they go broke. If you are playing in a sanctioned tournament, this tactic will probably not be allowed. Most trades are win-win for the players involved, but a loss for everyone else. The stingy player stagnates, while everyone else prospers. If you're not obviously in the lead, point out to everyone how awful it is that the leader is going to win. Do whatever it takes to stop your opponents from trading with each other. Try to get the other players suspicious or stingy toward each other: you only want them trading with you. Keep in mind that it takes about 5 turns to get around the board. In an average course around the board, you usually earn about $170, including collecting money, paying rent, and passing GO. Trade with as many people as possible. Even if a trade benefits the other person a lot, but you only moderately. You thereby decrease trading between your opponents, and you make friendships that can pay off later.

Purchase or trade Illinois Avenue any chance you have! The three most landed on spots on the board are Illinois Avenue, Go, B.&O. Railroad, and Jail. Buy the railroads. Since these babies are all around the board, they provide a steady income, especially if you own three or four of them. Know when to pay 10% Income Tax. If you have not yet traveled three times around the board (remember you start with $1,500), your assets are probably under $2,000. This is when you pay the 10%. Since you must decide whether to pay the $200 or percentage before calculation, just quick think, Okay, so if my assets are below $2,000, the 10% would be cheaper. If not I pay the $200. (i.e. I have about $1450 cash, Oriental Avenue, St. James Place, and Boardwalk. Those properties all add up to about $75 ($5 for Oriental, $20 for St. James Place, and $50 for Boardwalk. Therefore, I should pay the 10%.) By the way, that would add up to $1450 + $6 + $16 + $50 = $1,552. Understand that the cheap properties are sometimes worth it. Here are some advantages for each of the color groups: 1. Dark Purples/Browns: These properties are useful for building housing shortages. If there aren't any houses in the bank, your opponents can't build. And even if there are hotels, you can't build a hotel without houses. This is a good strategy to all the color groups, but it's really all you can do with the dark purple/brown color group, since maximum rent is $450 and the properties are not landed on much. Light Blues: Your opponents could easily soon be bankrupt as maximum rent for these can be near $1,000. But since they're cheap to buy houses, feel free to spend as much as you want on these as you'll get a lot of profit. While you may not bankrupt any of your opponents with these, you'll sure increase their chances of going under. Light Purples: While not a very productive group, these properties have been known to bankrupt opponents later in the game. Oranges: If you have a strategic mind, this should be your favorite of the color groups. While your opponents could be spending thousands of dollars rent on these, they're also cheap to build on, making them a good buy. They're also the most landed on color group. Reds: These are one of, if not the, most landed on color groups on the board. Build on them and they'll provide a steady income and steadily take money away from your opponents. Yellows: While these can easily bankrupt an opponent with not much assets, they are also rather expensive. Most players are rather neutral. Greens: This is the least favorite color group of many a player. They're expensive to build on, but do provide large income. You decide. Dark Blues: Ah, yes. The famous Boardwalk and Park Place. Many players, while building on these properties, since houses cost $200 each, buy a house every time they go around the board. Don't. While this may seem a sensible solution, you don't know what's to come yet around the board. The best thing to do is wait until you've dodged each of your opponents' properties and know you are safe, then buy a house when the time comes. When an opponent is approaching your royal properties, make sure to build on them as fast as possible just in case of the chance of them landing on thine majesty. These properties will bankrupt an opponent when fully upgraded if their assets are $2,000 or under. Finally, don't cheat! If anybody catches you cheating, they probably won't play the game with you again since they don't like cheaters(who does?)Do not spend all of your money at once. If you do, you will be broke. Buy the railroads first, then the two blue spots (the two that are right in front of start.) And then buy the more expensive ones to the cheep ones until you own as much as you can own. And then put houses on them. And then put hotels on them to be the winner of the game. Have a good attitude. No one likes a player who's a jerk and a sore loser. Be happy when you play, complement other players and be modest. These things can even help you trade.