Friday Fun: Monopoly!

Not sure if there's any other conceivable productive activity for a Friday at 4:55 other than writing a Friday Fun post...

I love Monopoly! And I often play quite well, so much so that my family hates playing with me. In fact, sometimes I'll sit out the game and just "advise" various people in strategy.

A post at BoingBoing links to a page with some very good suggestions on how to win. I'll quote the same bit at BoingBoing:

• Always buy Railroads; never buy Utilities
  
• At the beginning of the game, focus on acquiring a complete C-G (Color Group) in Sides 1+2, even if it means trading away properties on Sides 2+3. After acquiring one of these C-Gs, build 3 houses as quickly as possible: no more houses, no less!
  
• Once your first C-G starts to generate some cash, focus on completing a C-G and building 3 houses in Sides 3+4.
  
• Single properties are the least good investment if you don't build on them.
  
• The only exception to the above rules are when you need to acquire stray properties to prevent your opponents from completing their C-Gs to accomplish the above strategy.

I actually think I have a book lying around the house somewhere on winning at Monopoly that has a lot of the same suggestions. There are also other fun Monopoly posts at BB.