Go straight to jail, says new Monopoly champion

Don’t just visit, make yourself at home (photo: Rex)

Head to Whitechapel Road and Old Kent Road, collect all the train stations or head to Mayfair and Park Lane.

The tips on how to win at Monopoly vary from player to player, but new British champion Natalie Fitzsimons has shared some of the most surprising ones.

The 24-year-old advises people to avoid hotels and stick to the three houses on his property.

Even more shockingly, he advises that after buying up all the properties, one should spend as much time as possible in prison to avoid paying rising rents to opponents.

Ms Fitzsimons, from Saintfield in Northern Ireland, said: “At the start of the game you want to get out of prison as quickly as possible. But once all the property squares have been bought, sometimes the best thing to do is to wait patiently in prison, avoiding high rents while still collecting rent on your properties.

‘Once you get to three houses, the amount by which the rent increases for each house reaches its maximum. If you want to use your money wisely, stick to just three houses.

“If you want to be extra sneaky – stick to four houses and don’t let other people buy houses later in the game once you’ve used them all.”

Just drive past the guy, it’s not worth it (Photo: Rex)

The British & Irish Monopoly Championships were held at The View From the Shard in London.

Ms Fitzsimons will now represent Great Britain and Ireland at the Monopoly World Championships in Macau, China in September.

The eventual winner will receive $20,580 (£13,222) – the total amount of money included in the board game.

She added: “It always seems a bit like cheating, but I never know why other people don’t do it. As soon as you get a monopoly, mortgage everything else and spend every penny on houses.

‘A monopoly with three houses on each square is much more valuable than multiple squares of single properties with low rent. You can always pay them off later in the game.’

I hope you wrote them down – they will make your holiday Monopoly games a little more interesting.