Most of us know of, or have played Monopoly before as the board game is one of the most well-known in the world, being licensed in over 103 countries and printed in more than 37 languages. The goal of the game is to force opposing players into bankruptcy through the collection of rent, the purchasing of properties and development. What if I were to tell you that I could bestow upon you the knowledge to never lose a single game again?
The answer to that, is the number seven. The number seven is everywhere – the seven seas, the seven wonders of the world, and the number of main ingredients in a Big Mac. Its also the most common roll between the two six-sided dice that are used in Monopoly.
Author Erik Arneson says “You are six times more likely to roll a 7 than a 2 or a 12, which is a huge difference. You are twice as likely to roll a 7 as you are to roll a 4 or a 10. However, it’s only 1.2 times
more likely that you’ll roll a 7 than a 6 or an 8. Another way of looking at these numbers is that, over time, you will roll one 4 or 10 for every two 7s rolled. You’ll see six 7s for every 2 or 12.” [thesprucecrafts.com]
According to Jim Slater on The Mayfair Set, the Orange property group is the best to own because players land on them more often, as a result of the Chance cards “Go to Jail”, “Advance to Pall Mall”, “Advance to Kings Cross Station” and “Go Back Three Spaces” [The Mayfair Set, E4: Twilight of the Dogs] In game, Trafalgar Square (Red), Vine Street (Orange), Fenchurch Street Station, and Kings Cross Station are the most frequently landed on properties.
However, using the probability of rolling a seven to move around the board, I believe it is more likely that you will land on Northumberland Avenue (Pink), and the Waterworks Utility – which in my opinion are the two most powerful sets on the board. Continue rolling sevens often, and you will also likely hit the Stations, Light Blues and Oranges.
Providing the players that you are playing with are willing to trade and aren’t stubborn, getting a full set of whatever you want to use which in this case is the Pinks, Utilities and Oranges shouldn’t be difficult as long as you have the properties and funds to entice them. The general rule of thumb is to buy as much as you can to stop other players completing sets, and to give yourself leverage in trades with other players (and to mortgage off should you need it). Personally I avoid trying to attain the stations as everyone wants them and they aren’t nearly as profitable as the rest of the properties on the board when used correctly, especially in the late game. I also like to have the Brown set, as they are cheap to develop on and often not seen as a risk by other players.
Once you have your chosen cards, you immediately start building properties – but only to the build limit for houses, never hotels. There are only a finite amount of houses in the game – so when they’re gone, they’re gone. This stops other players from building on their properties, meaning that you won’t be paying out much to other players. Knowing the probability of any dice roll will also allow you to identify many of the unknown variables in the game, permitting you to pre-empt payments to other players and purchases in advance.
Having the Pinks, Utilities and Oranges creates a ‘Death Row’ of sorts, having control of every single property that pays out on 1/4th (one whole side) of the board bar the station. In the endgame I personally also like to buy the Dark Blue set and build houses on them. To do this, you have to free up some houses by turning the two Brown properties into hotels, and use the houses produced by that to build on the Dark Blue set. At this point, you likely control half the board – and the rest speaks for itself.