Generally I've found that going all in on an early monopoly, on the first two sides of the board, is the key to victory. The auction rule's important to this st

Generally I've found that going all in on an early monopoly, on the first two sides of the board, is the key to victory. The auction rule's important to this strategy - let people waste money on expensive properties, so they have no money for houses, or will at least be more amenable to trades involving cash. By the time you've bought all the greens, your opponents will have hotels on the light blues, purples and (most desirably due to the proximity to jail) the oranges, and you'll never have enough money to build any houses. That said, you can always bid just below the mortgage value of a bad property, and sometimes get lucky. It partly comes down to who you play with. If, like my wife, they utterly refuse any and all trades (and I even like to propose very generous ones just to get an early monopoly), then you might as well just be playing a game of chance. Anyway, upon discovering D&D and Magic: the Gathering, I lost most interest in board games, but despite the rivers of tears my family's shed over the Monopoly board, I still fully intend to put my kids through the same rite of passage.