"Why do people like Monopoly so much. All you do is buy a house, what the fuck?"
In this post I wish to explore the sentiment expressed by this reductionist viewpoint to see if, in my own understanding, Monopoly is truly no deeper than rolling dice and buying property. As a slight spoiler before I begin - I believe the game is ultimately deeper than my girlfriend gives it credit for.
Using a standard board, there are a number of different properties on the board that are available for a player to purchase. The board is broken up into 4 sides, which I will call "legs" for reference. Each leg is broken up into a couple of different sections which bear the same colors, which I will call "color groups". Let's break down the spaces that are most valuable, and lay out some general tips for the best games.
The strategy in Monopoly revolves around, ultimately, one very simple question:
"How long will I have to wait to make money if I buy Boardwalk?"
Everything you do should be based around the odds of making the money you've spent back in the lowest number of dice-rolls possible. This also means that there is a method to how much you should build on properties, as well as which properties you should pay money for and which you should avoid.
Control Color Groups
You should always purchase property with the mindset of figuring out how many turns it will take before you have been refunded for your spend. To this end, you must seek to control entire color groups for the most payout. The only time you should find yourself holding a single property outside of a group is when you are strategically holding it to prevent another player from completing a group.
The railroads
The railroads are very valuable for a player to own, but the maximum benefit comes from owning all 4 of the railroads. This is because the rent for a railroad starts at $25 and doubles with each other owned railroad. Because there are various event opportunities in the game which move a player to a railroad directly, and there is one railroad on each leg of the board, the railroads are the most important spaces in the game. You should always look to own all 4 to get the highest payout, owning 1 or 2 is only good when strategically preventing another player from holding the set.
Optimal house count
The optimal number of houses to have is 3 houses on most color groups. The one generally accepted exception to this rule is in the case of the dark-purple color group which is the spaces immediately in front of GO, where it is more optimal to have a hotel. The reason 3 is the optimal number in most cases is due to the cost of a house as compared to the multiplying factor it brings. The first house is always a must, it usually jumps the rent 5x from the empty lot value - Virgina Avenue for example jumps from 12 to 60 dollars on a single house. From there, each additional house brings around 3x in value, so up to 3 houses is generally optimal. Past this point, 4 houses or a hotel cost significantly more without as large of a multiplying factor (to prevent the game from getting overly large rent values). A 4th house usually brings in only an additional $100 dollars, and a hotel usually only an additional $200, despite costing the same as the first three houses. Instead of spending money on the 4th house and the hotel, you should look towards expanding the number of properties you own instead.
Property Priority
The best properties in the game to own are on the third and fourth legs of the board - the orange section with St. James and friends, the red section with Kentucky and friends, and the yellow section with Marvin Gardens and friends. This is because, due to how the dice rolls work, a person is statistically most likely to land on the orange section of the board. Following the orange roll, they would next visit either red or yellow. Quickly capturing and building property here can help you get a commanding lead in the game.
Stopping Group Ownership
It is highly important that you opportunistically purchase properties outside of your currently owned color groups, so that you can avoid other players having total control over a color group.
Go to Jail
In the early game, getting into jail can mean you lose opportunity to purchase other property, so you should always immediately pay the fee to get out so you can roll to claim new property in the early game. Jail is your favorite place in the late game though, because jail is free to stay. You should always take the opportunity to go to jail, because it avoids you needing to move around the board and putting yourself at risk of paying a large amount of rent to another player. While you are in jail you still collect rent, so its a win win! Late game Monopoly strategy can be summarized as: "The best way to win Monopoly is to not play."
Be nice
People are creatures of emotion. While not always a guarantee, if you are nice to another player, they may be nice to you. You should always try to be nice to the other players so that when that critical property goes to auction you can convince them to not challenge you - or you can sweetly whisper away that critical single railroad that you need while you offer them a large sum of money for it. Being nice can often make other players put their guard down and deviate from the optimal strategy, which can in turn allow you to correct mistakes you may have made. Be nice!
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These are just a small set of essentially robotic strategy that produces the most optimal result. The variety of the game comes from the fact that no situation will play out exactly as this ideal scenario has. People will refuse to give up properties, or give away properties to your opponents. You will find yourself rolling poorly and never claiming full color groups, or you will find that your statistically high property is never landed on. The game is ever changing because of the people involved, and you must always be willing to adapt to your situation at hand. Also, remember not to take things too seriously, don't get frustrated if other players don't seem to be following an optimal strategy. It is, after all, just a board game.
As we can clearly see, Monopoly is at is core much simpler than just buy a house - roll a dice - win a game. In a reductionist viewpoint yes, those are the core steps, but the actual behind the scenes brainwork that goes into deciding where to buy a house, and the slight social manipulation evolve the game into something far deeper. Monopoly may not ultimately be the deepest thought worthy board game out there, but it does at least possess more depth than simply rolling dice and buying houses.
And finally, let me end with this - this is not a conversion attempt. If you dislike Monopoly I am not attempting to change your opinion. Regardless of how I understand the game to be, any perceived depth does not ultimately change whether or not the game is fun to play. If you like it, you like it. If you don't you don't. No amount of strategy discussion will ever seek to change that. I hope that you can assess the game as something which objectively can have depth and strategy, even if subjectively it may not be entertaining.
Code stuff next time. Stay tuned!
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========================
Follow pyamsoft around the Web for updates and announcements about the newest applications!
Like what I do?
Send me an email at: pyam.soft@gmail.com
Or find me online at: https://pyamsoft.blogspot.com
Follow my Facebook Page
Check out my code on GitHub
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