Monopoly – Special Short Game Rules

Strategy Guide

Table of Contents

Section Page
Introduction 2
Rules – Part 1 5
Rules – Part 2 7
Optional Rules 8
Rules differences – Overview 9
Property sets 12
Chance & Community Chest 14
Buying Property 15
Trading 16
Building and Game States 18
 Introduction
Monopoly is a game that needs absolutely no introduction, possibly the
most popular board game in the world. It has entertained hundreds of millions of
people for many decades, and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.
Themed sets, sweepstakes, pinball machines, video games, lottery scratchers,
slot machines… its legacy is still going strong, in so many ways.

In a sense, it could be called THE defining American board game, complete

with its quirks and values. The hope of building a real estate empire, the
suspense, knowing that it could crumble at any moment… and the thrill of victory,
for the one who takes full advantage of both skill and fortune.

With that said, it’s not a game for everyone.

In a sense, no game is, since every game will have its quirks, not all of
which will appeal to every gamer. With that said, Monopoly has its share of
criticisms, including:

 Player elimination. Monopoly is rather brutal in separating the haves and

have-nots, often very quickly. The eliminated player may have to wait
some time for the game to end.
 Element of luck. Luck will always be a part of a dice-rolling game, but in
Monopoly, particularly so. End games usually comes down to who lands on
the developed property first. With that said, it’s the initial property
acquisition where luck plays the biggest role – if you’ve played this game,
you’ve been the player stuck with 3-4 properties with no hope of being
involved in the big trade that will decide the game.
 Playing time. Stories of 3+ hour games abound, and often it takes a long
time for the game to end even after the game is a foregone conclusion.
 Lack of decision making. This game has often been described as “roll and
move”. For many, the game comes down to buying property, crossing their
fingers on that one big trade, then rolling some more while waiting for the
game to end.

Now I’d like to offer up some rebuttals, while acknowledging the validity of these
points.

Player elimination
Yes, Monopoly can be a cruel, cruel game. We’ve all been on the wrong end, but
we’ve also been on the other end too. It happens. But, player elimination is not
always bad. It allows the player to make a clean break from the game, instead of:
 Not knowing what the heck is going on, making random moves, and
realizing that you lost by 50 points
 Being blocked off in the initial placement and realizing you’re toast, before
making a single move
  Messing up the first 1-2 moves, and watching everyone else build their
engines and networks while you’re left for dead

Losing in a Monopoly game in 30 minutes doesn’t feel great, but I’d argue it’s not
as bad as playing a heavy worker placement game, get stuck in a losing position
within 5 minutes, and waiting 3 hours for the game to end while the other players
race far, far away.

Elimination isn’t too bad as long as you can get into the next game without
waiting too long. My goal in creating special short game rules is to reduce this
downtime.

Element of luck
Monopoly is a game of both skill and luck. In a sense, luck is not always bad. If a
game is 100% skill, you already know who won the game the moment you open
the box. It might be fun for the winner for the first couple of games, but at some
point playing games with a pre-determined outcome gets old. Also in any game
you will have more skilled and less skilled players, and the game should be fun for
the less skilled players too. This means the less skilled players have to win
sometimes – which brings us back to luck.

In Monopoly, skill alone is not good enough to win the game. This brings an
element of tension for even the most skilled player – knowing that disaster looms
with every dice roll. It puts even more importance on the trades, since it puts
additional pressure on the player to make his or her own luck. A very skilled
player might win something like 40-50% of games instead of 100%, and that is
OK. It allows even the skilled players to value and enjoy their wins more, knowing
that nothing is guaranteed.

The reality though is that skill does matter in the game. It’s not like a game of
Yahtzee where even a computer playing perfectly has maybe a 55% chance of
beating even a moderately skilled player. This will become clear as you become
better at playing this game.

Playing time
This is probably the most common (and fair) criticism of Monopoly. For many
players, 3+ hour games appear to be the norm and not the exception, which
comes as a surprise to advanced players whose games rarely exceed 90 minutes.
The most common culprits are:

 House rules that add cash to the game (hello, Free Parking jackpot!)
 Lack of aggression in trading, which also adds cash to the game as players
pass Go many, many times while collecting minimal rent
 Lack of aggression in building, which again delays bankruptcy
 Immunities, special favors, and other illegal deals which again delays
bankruptcy
The best way to deal with this issue is to play according to the official rules. With
that said, lack of aggression is not against the rules and does extend the game.
My goal is to create special rules that discourages this behavior.

Lack of decision making

In my own experience, I haven’t found this to be true. The only truly random part
is at the start, where the game is truly roll-and-move and every player buys
everything they land on. This phase lasts maybe 50 turns at most and lasts
maybe 15-20 minutes.

At that point several potential trades emerge and the game more or less evolves
into a social engineering game, where all the players are thinking about and
suggesting several trade combinations. Meanwhile, the last few properties will
greatly influence potential deals and the player needs to adapt to the changing
environment.

This is the portion of the game where the decision making becomes paramount,
and you’ll pretty much have to re-evaluate after every dice roll. It’s not just the
trades that are made, it’s also the trades that are not made and the trades that
are not proposed. Each of of these represents a decision, albeit a decision that is
made off the board. Things like positioning of the pieces, cash, and the
community and chance cards will all affect the game state, which in turn affects
potential trades.

Even after the initial flurry, secondary trades are always possible, and building
and mortgaging decisions are not always easy. This game is all about the timing,
and getting the timing right for these things will come down to how well you
interpret the current game state and how well you read the other players. It’s not
a matter of how many, it’s a matter of when. The game may come down to 1-2
key moves, but in reality you’re not making 1-2 decisions. Getting the timing
right involves many more decisions, since the choice to delay the key moves until
the right moment is also a decision.

My goal with the custom short game rules is to make the decisions more explicit
and meaningful, while also expanding the decision tree.
 Rules – Part 1
The goal of this game is to shorten the length of Monopoly to ~60-90 minutes,
without sacrificing the core gameplay. It also attempts to balance the strength of
properties to open up multiple methods of winning.

Start of game
Property
At the start of the game, each player is dealt title deed cards at random, which
they must buy from the bank. No player may receive a monopoly in a color group
(but may receive both utilities). Number of cards shown below.

Players Title Deed Cards

3 4
4 3
5 or more 2

In-game differences
Rent
Rent for railroads and utilities are increased, as shown below.

Number Owned Railroads Utilities

1 50 10X
2 100 30X
3 200
4 400

Rent for railroads are doubled while rent for utilities are increased to 10 times
shown on dice and 30 times shown on dice, respectively.

Chance card
For the card “Move token to nearest utility”, throw dice and pay the owner twice
the amount otherwise owed. Rent is now 20 times and 60 times the amount
shown on dice, respectively.

Entering sudden death

When there are no title deed cards available for purchase, the game automatically
enters Sudden Death.
Sudden Death Rules
At the end of the agreed upon time limit (~60-90 minutes), the following rules
apply:
 All unowned properties are auctioned off, from most expensive to
least expensive.
 Salary is no longer collected for passing GO.
 Income tax is increased to a flat $400.
 Luxury tax is increased to $200.
 It costs $200 to get out of Jail.
 All penalty cards from Community Chest and Chance cards are doubled in
value. Note, railroad and utility movement cards are considered penalty
cards since they increase the rent if already owned. Advance Token to
Boardwalk, for example, is not considered to be a penalty card. Also, Go to
Jail is not considered to be a penalty card since it is possible to roll your way
out of jail.

Rule clarifications and other differences

 No loans, immunities, or future favors are allowed. Money can only be
borrowed from the bank through mortgages and selling buildings.
 In a trade, all parties must receive something of value.
 Bankruptcies are to occur in orderly fashion. First, all buildings must be sold
for half price and returned to the bank. If the amount of cash remaining
plus potential cash that can be raised by mortgaging property is insufficient
to pay the debt, the player is declared bankrupt and the remaining cash,
title deed cards, and Get out of Jail Free cards are transferred to the player
who is owed by the bankrupt player.
 If a player is bankrupted by the bank, all title deeds previously owned by
the player are removed from circulation and may not re-enter the game.
Cash is returned to the bank while Get out of Jail Free Cards are placed at
the bottom of the deck.
 A player may concede at any point during the game. If the player
concedes, treat the situation the same as a player bankrupted by the bank.
 A player is allowed to threaten to concede as a bargaining chip during a
trade.
 Rules – Part 2

The goal of Part 2 is to increase suspense and tension, by introducing bigger

swings in fortune and reducing cash.

In general these rules make it more dangerous to build.

Community Chest Cards

- Advance to nearest unowned property. You may buy it from the bank. If all
property is owned, nothing happens. (Replace Advance to Go)
- Class action lawsuit: Pay $35 per house, $110 per hotel (Replace Pay school tax
of $150)

Chance Cards
- Advance to nearest unowned property, must be auctioned. If all property is
owned, nothing happens. (Replace Advance to Go)
- Property tax: Every player must pay $20 per house, $80 per hotel (Replace poor
tax of $15)

Part 1 can be used as a standalone variant.

Part 2 is designed as an addendum to Part 1. You can try using them as a
standalone variant but I think it works better when used along with Part 1.
 Optional Rules

These are some additional rules which I feel improve the gameplay, so feel free to
use them alongside Part 1 and 2.

Time
I recommend activating Sudden Death Mode (see Rules - Part 1) after 60 minutes.
The speed of your group will often dictate the timing, though. As a rule of thumb,
on average you should auction off 1-3 properties at the onset of sudden death.
You will rarely trigger this mode inside of 60 minutes. If you have a slow group,
you may have to extend this to 75 minutes.

I also recommend allowing the players to finish out their turns before triggering
Sudden Death Mode. For example, if the time runs out while Player 1 is in the
middle of a move, Players 2-4 should be allowed to play their turns under normal
conditions before Sudden Death Mode is activated.

Trading
Allow players to ask for a cash count and to see the collection of properties of
potential trading partners. Trying to memorize cash and properties is not fun for
most people. The game is complex enough as is.

Rent
Allow players to collect double rent for unimproved color group properties during
Sudden Death Mode, whether the players have a monopoly or not. Examples:

Example 1.
Player 1 owns Boardwalk but not Park Place. Player 2 lands on Boardwalk during
Sudden Death Mode. Player 2 owes $100 in rent to Player 1 ($50 * 2).

Example 2.
Player 1 owns Boardwalk and Park Place. However, these properties are
unimproved. Player 2 lands on Boardwalk during Sudden Death Mode. Player 2
still owes $100 in rent to Player 1 ($50 * 2).

This makes rent for unimproved color group properties a little more interesting.
 Rules differences – Overview

You probably noticed that the suggested rules change the game significantly.
One person even re-named this variant Broke-opoly – cash will be at a premium in
this game, and you’ll be in a race to bankrupt your opponents, before the bank
has the chance to deal lethal blows to everyone.

Start
You start off with several random properties, and they must be paid for (4
properties in a 3-player game, 3 properties in a 4-player game, 2 properties in a
5-player game). This means you’re down a ton of cash from the very start, and
you reach this state a lot sooner than you would in a normal game.

This will also make the property distribution a little more balanced, somewhat
reducing the luck factor.

Trades are already possible, before a single dice roll. One possible strategy is to
close a trade so that the traders each have 2 of a color group, with the third
property being unowned. This will give each trader a better chance of attaining a
natural monopoly while putting the trader in a good position to make a trade
down the road if a natural monopoly is not obtained.

You will need to watch your cash balance carefully. It may be worth putting
expensive color group properties up for auction. It will be very difficult to build on
them.

Railroads and Utilities

Railroads were already half-decent under the original rules, but now you can
absolutely steamroll your opponents with them. As for Utilities, you were sunk if
you were stuck with them, but now you’re playing with power. No longer also-
rans, these properties can absolutely make or break a game. The associated
chance cards more or less function as instant win cards – especially during
Sudden Death. You may have laughed at Utilities before – but you won’t if you
draw the Utilities Chance card during Sudden Death Mode and now you have pay
120X your roll to the person who happens to have the Utilities monopoly.
Meanwhile drawing the Railroad Chance card during Sudden Death Mode is game
over if someone has 3 or 4 Railroads.

This also means that these properties can be used as legitimate trading chips
instead of being afterthoughts, opening up more trade possibilities.
Sudden Death Mode
Once you’re in this phase, you will die, and you will die quickly. You will reach a
point where you realize there are no good dice roll and your goal will be to die at
a slower rate than the other players. This is what you’ll likely face:

 You will likely be short on cash.

 You will face many improved properties, and possibly monopolies on
Railroads and Utilities too.
 Income Tax is $400, this is a deadly amount.
 Jail and Luxury Tax are not cheap either, at $200 apiece. That “Get out of
Jail Free” card looks a whole lot better now!
 Double penalty on Community Chest and Chance Cards. Railroad and Utility
cards are absolute disasters. There’s also the cards that charge you for
buildings. If you use Part 2 of the rules, it adds two more, including one that
affects everyone in the game. Even something like being elected Chairman
of the Board can really hurt.
 Worst of all, there is no more Go money to relieve the pressure. At this
point, even the Dark Purples can do a ton of damage.

So you’re facing a battle on two fronts: you’re trying to bankrupt the other
players, but the bank can bankrupt you too. Timing on the builds will become
even more paramount, and Railroads and Utilities will become increasingly
valuable (remember, you don’t need to build on them!).

On the other hand, comebacks are very possible – you could be the last player
standing while watching other players tear down their houses and get stuck with
income tax!

Even so, in general you improve your chances by taking matters into your own
hands, so you’ll be faced with some very interesting build decisions.

Concession
Here, a player can quit immediately and declare their properties “dead” - never to
be sold or auctioned for the rest of the game.

This leads to a few situations you might not encounter in the standard game:
 You can’t count on gaining additional properties or monopolies by
bankrupting a player. Maybe it’s for the better since it’s unlikely you’ll be
able to build a second monopoly.
  This gives a player additional leverage, since the player can now threaten to
concede as a bargaining chip during trade discussions. It is possible that
bankrupting this player would be a key to victory for some opponent.
 There are probably several additional unintended consequences I have not
encountered yet.

New Community Chest and Chance cards

Notice that the “Advance to Go” cards have been replaced by “move to nearest
unowned property”. This has the effect of speeding up property acquisitions while
slightly reducing cash in the game.

The class action lawsuit and property tax adds two more landmines for
homeowners. You can and should build to the critical level when possible, but
you’re definitely at a greater risk. Property tax is especially tough since it affects
everyone. If any of those cards are drawn during Sudden Death, it could be game
over for you.
 Property Sets

Not all property sets are made equal. Under the new custom short game rules,
the property sets will behave very differently, so read closely.

Dark Purple/Brown
Never a gamebreaker under the original rules since they’re rarely landed on and
are close to Go. However, under the custom rules they’re a lot more tricky due to
the Sudden Death Mode. A $250 or $450 rent can absolutely be crippling. You
probably won’t win with just this group, but at least you have a chance. Pair them
up with 2 Utilities or 2-3 Railroads and you absolutely have a chance. Or, they
can be used to finance an expensive color group.

Light Blue
Criminally underrated under the original rules, this group is great for setting up
quick KO’s. Under the custom rules, this group is one of the best groups in the
game without a doubt, since cash will be very hard to come by. Build Hotels ASAP
and cross your fingers for a quick game.

Light Purple
Decidedly middle-of-the road, the houses cost the same as the Orange but the
rents are lower and are landed less often. You will need to build to at least 3
houses to compete. Getting there will not be easy.

Orange
Hands-down the best group in the original. In the custom rules, it’s still good but
not the game-breaker it once was. Rent for 2 houses is rather modest so you
need to try to get to 3 for at least one of the properties. You will find this to be a
difficult task, but it’s a winner if you get there (and get someone to land on it).

Red
Boy, it’s really expensive! You will need to do your damage with 2 houses since
it’s extremely unlikely you’ll get to 3. They’re landed on often so you can cripple
your opponent a little bit at a time. Don’t count on knockout blows though.

Yellow
Similar story as the Reds, rent is a little higher but the properties are a little more
expensive. Build to 2 houses if you can, you’ll probably be stuck there.

Green
You may want to consider auctioning this property from the jump. This group is a
poison pill – you need to get to 2 houses, but the chances of getting there is slim.
In a trade, whoever gets the green should be given cash (or properties that can
generate the cash), otherwise there’s no reason to trade for them.

Dark Blue
You’re only building to the 2 house level at best in most cases and they are not
landed on often. It’s like playing the lottery, only this time the top prize is lower
than it is under the original rules. You can win but you either need to get lucky or
find another source of revenue.

Railroads
This is the new game-breaker. Railroads for the win! Well, if you get all 4 that is.
Chances are, 3 will be the best you can do and you will need to pay an arm and a
leg for the 4th. Be prepared to lose all your property and cash for that 4 th railroad
– it’s that powerful.

The Chance card becomes an instant win card with 4 railroads and will almost
certainly result in a KO.

3 railroads are still powerful but probably not good enough to win the game. You
will need to hunt for Dark Purple, Utilities, or just hope to get very lucky.

Utilities
Now you’re playing with power! If you get both, 30X rent will prove to be very
annoying and will prove to be a great cash cow. It can’t win a game for you but it
can finance your builds. Or, if you have Dark Purple or 3 Railroads, you can be
very competitive. In Sudden Death Mode, there is the instant win card that will
give you a good chance of bankrupting your opponent – 120X is nothing to sneeze
at.
 Chance & Community Chest

In this section I will discuss the differences between the original set of cards and
the custom short game rules.

Get out of Jail, Free

This card becomes much more valuable in Sudden Death Mode since the cost to
get out of Jail jumps to $200. This gives it trade value too.

Advance to nearest railroad

There are two of these cards in the deck and it will deal a killer blow if someone
owns a railroad monopoly. Since it doubles rent, it’s considered a penalty card
and you will owe 4X rent in Sudden Death Mode. It’s pretty much an instant win
card if someone has a railroad monopoly. (It’s dangerous to count on that,
though)

Advance to the nearest utility

This is the third instant win card, this time for the player who has a monopoly on
the utilities. At 120X the value of the next roll, the chances of breaking your
opponent is in your favor. There’s only one of these, so at best you can cripple
one opponent. You won’t win with just the utilities even if you get lucky. With
that said you can get halfway there.

Housing assessment cards

There are two extra assessment cards in Part 2, and one of the two hits every
player. If it hits in Sudden Death it may come down to who can survive hits from
the bank.

Other penalty cards

All penalties are doubled in Sudden Death Mode, so some of them will really hurt.
Being elected chairman of the board could mean being out $300 in a 4-player
game. Hospital fees are now $200.

In general the penalties from community chest and chance cards are greater in
the custom rules, and becomes greatly amplified in Sudden Death Mode. Disaster
can come at you fast (but it’s still more likely that it will not strike).
 Buying Property

In general, the early part of the game is mostly similar. You will still be obliged to
buy property early to possibly acquire a natural monopoly, or gain important
trading chips for trade. However, because cash is at a premium under the custom
short game rules, you need to exercise a bit more caution. Once again, I will
mostly illustrate the differences between custom rules and the original rules.
Here are some general guidelines:

 You’re buying all Railroads, Utilities, and properties on the first two streets,
no questions asked.
 Starting from the third street, you need to start assessing the situation. It’s
not easy to build to the 2 house level so based on people’s relative cash
positions and property distributions, you may want to consider offering
these up for auction.
 You should seriously consider putting up every green property up for
auction. You cannot buy all three at a fair price and build to the 2 house
level, not under the custom rules.
 If you’re really feeling brave, put up the Dark Blues up for auction. It’s
extremely risky but the odds are probably in your favor. Put up a half-
decent bid though since you shouldn’t be giving any freebies.
 Pay attention to the timer. There may be an auction at the end of the time
limit and some of them could be key pieces to potential trades.
 Pay attention to the property distribution. The decision to buy and the size
of your bid will depend on the potential trades that emerge. This is
especially true when you reach the last 5-6 properties, because the
potential trade combinations will grow exponentially. Be prepared and do
your best to visualize future trade scenarios. Coming up with the right trade
combination may be the difference between winning and losing.
 Trading

See if you can visualize the potential winning (or at least competitive) positions,
and work backwards to find the path. In truth there aren’t that many winning
positions, since you will almost never be able to build a second monopoly. That
limits you to:

 4 railroads
 Orange, with potential to build to at least 2-3 houses (7-8 houses total)
 Light Blue, upgraded to hotels
 Light Purple, with potential to build to at least 3 houses (9 houses toal)
 Red, with potential to build to at least 2 houses (6 houses total)
 Yellow, with potential to build to at least 2 houses (6 houses total)
 2-3 railroads + Dark Purple, built to hotels
 3 railroads + 2 utilities
 Dark Blue, with potential to build to at least 2 houses (4 houses total)
 Green + 2-3 Railroads, Dark Purple, or 2 utilities

With Green, it’s very unlikely that you will be able to build to 2 houses. You will
either need to ask for cash in a trade, or have a secondary source of revenue like
railroads, utilities, or Dark Purple. Most likely you’ll be a few hundred short so
you’ll need the equivalent of 2 railroads at the very minimum to raise the
shortfall. Be ready to give another player a monopoly in order to receive what
you need.

Remember that properties are only overpowered if the player has sufficient cash
to build on them. With that in mind, here are some keys:

 The 4th railroad is an absolute game-breaker. Make sure you receive cash
so that the person with 4 railroads is 1 crippling hit away from having to
mortgage 1 or more railroads.
 Orange is no longer the killer it was under the original rules. In general if
the player has $800 or fewer in liquid assets after a trade, they can build to
the 2 house level at best and it will be tough to get the 3 rd house. You
should never expect to be in a good cash position with orange after a trade.
 Light Purple must be built to the 3 house level to be competitive, so keep
that in mind.
 Light Blue will probably be built up to hotels. Make sure whatever you
receive has a fair shot against that.
 Utilities are useful trading chips and a monopoly on this set can change the
balance of the game. A player with a very poor cash position and/or stuck
 with expensive monopolies will probably need these (or at least 2 railroads)
to remain competitive.
 Dark Purple monopoly is now able to put in crippling blows in Sudden Death
Mode, since salary is no longer collected for passing Go. It can be
accompanied by either Utilities, reduced number of railroads, or Green.
 Use Get our of Jail cards as trade bait, since Jail costs $200 in Sudden Death
mode it will have much more value.

Most of the trading rules from the original rules still apply, but be mindful of the
differences, as noted above.
 Building and Game States

Building
If you’ve read this far and have played the original game, you’re probably familiar
with the basic strategy:

 Time your trades so that the players are in relatively good board position
 Build aggressively
 The 3rd house is the critical level

Things change a bit with the custom rules though because you will be much more
strapped for cash. For the same reason the amount of cash you can extract is
also limited. There’s no point working up to $1200 rent when ~$200-300 is
enough to cripple your opponent for good.

In addition, the chance and community chest cards are much more punitive and
doubly so in Sudden Death Mode. At that point Go money runs out too. Income
Tax, Jail, and Luxury Tax are all very punitive. Add it all up, and you need to be
more conservative to survive the game.

Here are some building guidelines:

 Dark Purple: Build to hotels as soon as possible. If you need this to finance
a more expensive monopoly, prioritize the Dark Purple first.
 Light Blue: Build to hotels and cross your fingers. At this point your job is
mostly done. If you have a cash cushion, see if you can acquire some
railroads or utilities.
 Light Purple: Build to 3 houses and sit. Try to get a bigger cash cushion
before building further, unless you’re in an emergency situation.
 Orange: Build to 3 houses if you can, chances are you won’t (you should not
expect to emerge from a trade with a decent cash position, not for this set).
 Red: Build to 2 houses and sit. The 3rd house should wait until you are
either in a good position or reach a desperate situation.
 Yellow: Same strategy as Red.
 Green: Good luck, you’ll need it. (Or, other properties to finance it)
 Dark Blue: Build to 2 houses and wait, most games you’ll be left cursing
your luck.

Housing shortages will not happen under the custom short game rules, so you do
not need to worry about that.
Game States
Under the custom short game rules you need to read the board differently, and
things will change dramatically during Sudden Death Mode. Things to consider
include:

 Relative board position. This will determine the timing of trades and builds.
You want to close trades and build when your opponents are approaching
your properties and you are relatively far from their properties.
 Cash positions. This will affect how you build. For the most part, you are
aiming to cripple, not for the one shot kill. If you can cripple your opponent
without over-extending yourself there is no reason to go for broke.
 Dangers from the bank. Between the taxes, jail, and penalty chance and
community chest cards, the bank has plenty of chances of doing great
damage, especially in Sudden Death Mode. If you’re desperate, sometimes
it makes more sense to cross your fingers and hope the bank cripples your
opponent. Standing pat and hoping your opponent self-destructs is a
strategy too.
 Secondary trades. Once the big deals are done, color group properties are
probably worthless but utilities and railroads may still be up for bid. You
may be able to buy them for cash; they will likely prove to be valuable in
the end game. Don’t be afraid to give color group monopolies for utilities
and railroads if your opponent is unlikely to be able to build to a crippling
level on the recently acquired group (usually rents $200 or more)
 Secondary monopolies are almost always worthless unless one of them is
Dark Purple. Don’t be afraid to give someone a second monopoly for cash,
utility, or railroad – if they are not having a easy time building their first one.