zombola
01-27-2016, 02:55 PM
http://i.imgur.com/aT9twd0.jpg
If you just want to know how to win, scroll down to "EARLY GAME: Establishing the first monopoly". If, after reading the rest of the post, you have questions like "How could you do such a thing?" or "Why would you be so cruel?", this section contains the explanation. For various reasons, I think Monopoly is not that great of a game, but since everyone owns it, it still gets dragged out every once in a while.
Nobody knows how to play it, but they still end up hating each other.
Because Monopoly is one of the best-selling games of all time, most of us learned to play it as children. As such, most of us know the basics of going through a turn, such as rolling, moving, buying and improving properties, collecting rent and so on. However, few people know all the rules (more on this later) or how to form a cohesive strategy. This results in games were people more or less roll the dice and go through the motions until somebody wins. Because of the way the game is designed, this inevitably results in one person acquiring a majority of the assets on the board, and beginning the slow, painful, friendship-destroying process of grinding the other players out of the game, turn by turn. This is why Monopoly starts as a fun exciting romp, only to turn into a bitter cesspool of despair.
This is intentional!
http://i.imgur.com/LMpCPYZ.jpg
Monopoly was, in fact, a rip-off of "The Landlord's Game", a game designed decades earlier by Elizabeth Magie, a proponent of Georgism (hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism). The game was designed to teach children about the inherent unfairness of the capitalist land-grabbing system, and demonstrate how it enriches landlords while impoverishing tenants. Interestingly, it also included rules for a co-operative, anti-monopolist "Prosperity Game", in which victory was achieved when all players had at least double their original stake.
Make sure your friends never want to play Monopoly again.
http://i.imgur.com/YXaQNCk.jpg
I like board games, and I play them frequently. When the original Landlord's Game was developed, it was certainly fresh and innovative. However, 110+ years of advancement in the field of game design has produced games that are far superior, packing more strategy, nuance, and fun into a fraction of the play time. Monopoly is, by comparison, a long, boring, unpleasant slog. On the now-rare occasions that people insist I join a game of Monopoly, I play in a way that ensures not only that I'll win, but that they'll be more open to my suggestions for other games in the future.
PROTIP: Make sure the rulebook is handy
This strategy involves the use of rules that many people don't know about, and having the rulebook nearby will speed up the process of dealing with the numerous complaints you'll receive during the game.
EARLY GAME: Establishing the first Monopoly
Your goal in this portion of the game is to gain a monopoly and begin improving those properties. The earlier you can do this, the better, and a three-property group is far superior to a two-property group if you need to choose.
Step 1: Acquire properties
Begin more or less as you normally do, rolling and buying up whatever you land on. Once you start running out of money (say, $500 left), start working on the next step.
Step 2: Trade to acquire a monopoly on a group
It's extremely important that you do this as quickly as possible. If it means paying a stupidly high price, or even giving another player a monopoly at the same time, do it. You can force the other player out later.
Step 3: Improve your properties with three houses each
At this point, there should be a decent jump in your cash-flow from rent. Spend the bulk of it on buying houses for your properties. Three houses on each is a good target, as there's a significant rent hike at the third house.
MID-GAME: Establishing a second monopoly and creating a housing shortage
The goal in this stage is to gain a second monopoly, and buy enough houses to create a housing shortage, effectively locking down the game for the other players.
Rule Tip: Housing shortage
http://i.imgur.com/yDRAfmn.jpg
A little-known rule of Monopoly is that the game has exactly 32 houses and 12 hotels. Once you run out of houses, no more can be purchased until they re-enter the supply by being sold or upgraded to hotels. If there are more players who want to build houses than there are houses available, they are auctioned off to the highest bidder, one at a time. The core of this strategy is to buy up as many houses as possible before anyone realizes what you're doing, and never upgrade to hotels to prevent people from improving their own properties.
Step 4: Second monopoly and more houses
http://i.imgur.com/wwUDH1Z.jpg
If you just want to know how to win, scroll down to "EARLY GAME: Establishing the first monopoly". If, after reading the rest of the post, you have questions like "How could you do such a thing?" or "Why would you be so cruel?", this section contains the explanation. For various reasons, I think Monopoly is not that great of a game, but since everyone owns it, it still gets dragged out every once in a while.
Nobody knows how to play it, but they still end up hating each other.
Because Monopoly is one of the best-selling games of all time, most of us learned to play it as children. As such, most of us know the basics of going through a turn, such as rolling, moving, buying and improving properties, collecting rent and so on. However, few people know all the rules (more on this later) or how to form a cohesive strategy. This results in games were people more or less roll the dice and go through the motions until somebody wins. Because of the way the game is designed, this inevitably results in one person acquiring a majority of the assets on the board, and beginning the slow, painful, friendship-destroying process of grinding the other players out of the game, turn by turn. This is why Monopoly starts as a fun exciting romp, only to turn into a bitter cesspool of despair.
This is intentional!
http://i.imgur.com/LMpCPYZ.jpg
Monopoly was, in fact, a rip-off of "The Landlord's Game", a game designed decades earlier by Elizabeth Magie, a proponent of Georgism (hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism). The game was designed to teach children about the inherent unfairness of the capitalist land-grabbing system, and demonstrate how it enriches landlords while impoverishing tenants. Interestingly, it also included rules for a co-operative, anti-monopolist "Prosperity Game", in which victory was achieved when all players had at least double their original stake.
Make sure your friends never want to play Monopoly again.
http://i.imgur.com/YXaQNCk.jpg
I like board games, and I play them frequently. When the original Landlord's Game was developed, it was certainly fresh and innovative. However, 110+ years of advancement in the field of game design has produced games that are far superior, packing more strategy, nuance, and fun into a fraction of the play time. Monopoly is, by comparison, a long, boring, unpleasant slog. On the now-rare occasions that people insist I join a game of Monopoly, I play in a way that ensures not only that I'll win, but that they'll be more open to my suggestions for other games in the future.
PROTIP: Make sure the rulebook is handy
This strategy involves the use of rules that many people don't know about, and having the rulebook nearby will speed up the process of dealing with the numerous complaints you'll receive during the game.
EARLY GAME: Establishing the first Monopoly
Your goal in this portion of the game is to gain a monopoly and begin improving those properties. The earlier you can do this, the better, and a three-property group is far superior to a two-property group if you need to choose.
Step 1: Acquire properties
Begin more or less as you normally do, rolling and buying up whatever you land on. Once you start running out of money (say, $500 left), start working on the next step.
Step 2: Trade to acquire a monopoly on a group
It's extremely important that you do this as quickly as possible. If it means paying a stupidly high price, or even giving another player a monopoly at the same time, do it. You can force the other player out later.
Step 3: Improve your properties with three houses each
At this point, there should be a decent jump in your cash-flow from rent. Spend the bulk of it on buying houses for your properties. Three houses on each is a good target, as there's a significant rent hike at the third house.
MID-GAME: Establishing a second monopoly and creating a housing shortage
The goal in this stage is to gain a second monopoly, and buy enough houses to create a housing shortage, effectively locking down the game for the other players.
Rule Tip: Housing shortage
http://i.imgur.com/yDRAfmn.jpg
A little-known rule of Monopoly is that the game has exactly 32 houses and 12 hotels. Once you run out of houses, no more can be purchased until they re-enter the supply by being sold or upgraded to hotels. If there are more players who want to build houses than there are houses available, they are auctioned off to the highest bidder, one at a time. The core of this strategy is to buy up as many houses as possible before anyone realizes what you're doing, and never upgrade to hotels to prevent people from improving their own properties.
Step 4: Second monopoly and more houses
http://i.imgur.com/wwUDH1Z.jpg