RealSNR
11-22-2006, 11:35 PM
Just played a huge mega-game with some family members visiting. With 5 people playing, here's a great strategy.
-Do the usual by buying as much shit as you can early in the game. Be sure to have at least one green property and two or three (total) of the yellows, reds, or oranges. Meaning it's okay to have Atlantic, Kentucky, and St. James since you own one of each and at least have your foot in the door. Also would be nice to have a railroad/utility or two. Again, do what you can with so many people playing.
-If playing with prize money on free parking, then make an attempt to purchase some more of the unusual properties. A fair asking price is maybe $400 for another railroad or the 2nd utility. If you own two railroads people may be less keen to give them up. They will probably ask for property, but don't give in. If they gain a monopoly, you're screwed. If there is no prize money on free parking, keep playing until bad luck selects someone who is doing poorly.
-With your extra "odd" properties, continue playing until they turn a relative profit so you can feel comfortable. Maybe have around $300 in your pocket with no properties mortgaged.
-Trade these for 2nd properties in the yellow, red, or orange sets. If you can have two properties in two sets, that's great.
-By this time some people should be pretty weak, with bad property or lots of mortgaged stuff and no money. Remember who the weak ones are, they're the people you don't want to trade to. Knock them out instead of allowing them back in the game.
-And by "letting back in the game", I mean making critical trades of the game. You've still got some ownership in the green and blue sets, you traded away your "odd" properties and are strong in the middle of the board. Time to take action. Trade with someone. Give them your green/blue for their yellow/red/orange. Here's an example. Give someone Pacific so they'll have a monopoly of greens and they'll give you Kentucky so you make a monopoly of reds. That's unfair, but here's what you ask for in return: money. Offer Pacific for Kentucky and say... $600. For more effective trades, try to give away monopolies in green and blue for TWO sets out of the yellow/red/oranges. Just be sure to add in money on their side. How much money? Enough to leave them at 0 dollars with one or two things mortgaged.
-Now life is good. Start building up your properties with their money. As others land on your stuff and give you money, you become stronger, while their investment in the expensive properties is delayed because they need more money and lots of it to buy houses for their stuff. If they land on your stuff... excellent.
-If they get some money and put houses on their expensive stuff, don't worry. If you played things right, you should be in a good position to keep buying houses while others keep landing on your stuff. As players drop out, it becomes cheaper to survive the game. Eventually you should be able to force the other player to sell all his houses and after that, all it takes is one time on your property to render this player bankrupt and for you to win the game.
Why does this work?
The most often landed on properties are Illinois Ave and New York Ave. By that same token, the red properties are the most often landed on group while the orange are the 2nd most. The yellows are 3rd. For the amount you pay for them and for how many times people land on them, and how much you make off of them is the key to winning. You can make more from these 99.99% more often than Boardwalk/Park Place/the greens.
That's it. Anybody know when the Nobel awards are announced? I need to book my plane tickets to the award ceremony.
-Do the usual by buying as much shit as you can early in the game. Be sure to have at least one green property and two or three (total) of the yellows, reds, or oranges. Meaning it's okay to have Atlantic, Kentucky, and St. James since you own one of each and at least have your foot in the door. Also would be nice to have a railroad/utility or two. Again, do what you can with so many people playing.
-If playing with prize money on free parking, then make an attempt to purchase some more of the unusual properties. A fair asking price is maybe $400 for another railroad or the 2nd utility. If you own two railroads people may be less keen to give them up. They will probably ask for property, but don't give in. If they gain a monopoly, you're screwed. If there is no prize money on free parking, keep playing until bad luck selects someone who is doing poorly.
-With your extra "odd" properties, continue playing until they turn a relative profit so you can feel comfortable. Maybe have around $300 in your pocket with no properties mortgaged.
-Trade these for 2nd properties in the yellow, red, or orange sets. If you can have two properties in two sets, that's great.
-By this time some people should be pretty weak, with bad property or lots of mortgaged stuff and no money. Remember who the weak ones are, they're the people you don't want to trade to. Knock them out instead of allowing them back in the game.
-And by "letting back in the game", I mean making critical trades of the game. You've still got some ownership in the green and blue sets, you traded away your "odd" properties and are strong in the middle of the board. Time to take action. Trade with someone. Give them your green/blue for their yellow/red/orange. Here's an example. Give someone Pacific so they'll have a monopoly of greens and they'll give you Kentucky so you make a monopoly of reds. That's unfair, but here's what you ask for in return: money. Offer Pacific for Kentucky and say... $600. For more effective trades, try to give away monopolies in green and blue for TWO sets out of the yellow/red/oranges. Just be sure to add in money on their side. How much money? Enough to leave them at 0 dollars with one or two things mortgaged.
-Now life is good. Start building up your properties with their money. As others land on your stuff and give you money, you become stronger, while their investment in the expensive properties is delayed because they need more money and lots of it to buy houses for their stuff. If they land on your stuff... excellent.
-If they get some money and put houses on their expensive stuff, don't worry. If you played things right, you should be in a good position to keep buying houses while others keep landing on your stuff. As players drop out, it becomes cheaper to survive the game. Eventually you should be able to force the other player to sell all his houses and after that, all it takes is one time on your property to render this player bankrupt and for you to win the game.
Why does this work?
The most often landed on properties are Illinois Ave and New York Ave. By that same token, the red properties are the most often landed on group while the orange are the 2nd most. The yellows are 3rd. For the amount you pay for them and for how many times people land on them, and how much you make off of them is the key to winning. You can make more from these 99.99% more often than Boardwalk/Park Place/the greens.
That's it. Anybody know when the Nobel awards are announced? I need to book my plane tickets to the award ceremony.