Monopoly money: pass Go and collect $20,000

More than 275 million Monopoly sets have been sold across 111 countries, and more than a billion people have played the game. But what might be a rainy-day activity for most people has become something of a competitive sport for those playing in the Monopoly championships.

To celebrate the game’s 80th anniversary, tournaments have been held across the globe, with the winners from each country heading to the world championships in Macao, in China, in September. Ireland’s representatives in the UK and Ireland final in London tomorrow, vying for a chance to head to Macao, are unlikely contestants.

Christopher Kavanagh, a 24-year-old from Co Wicklow, won all three of his games at the Irish final, in Wicklow Gaol, on May 31st, but he was only there as his girlfriend needed a lift to the tournament.

“I hadn’t been playing, playing. I would have the odd game every now and then, up in a friend’s house or something. My girlfriend was raring to go, so she was. I was just going along to drive her down. She fell at the first hurdle, and she was raging that I kept going,” says Kavanagh.

Benen O’Toole, the 15-year-old who won the junior final, is a chess champion for his school, Gonzaga College in Ranelagh, Dublin, but was a very reluctant participant in the tournament. “My mum found out about it online, and she suggested me going along, so I just went. She took part 20 years ago, and so she was familiar with the Monopoly championships. It was something I was sort of dragged to,” he says.

O’Toole doesn’t believe his chess background lent him much of an advantage in Monopoly. “The majority of it is luck, to be honest.”

Kavanagh believes that, although any game with dice involves an element of luck, people underestimate the skill you need to become a champion. “Everyone keeps saying, ‘Oh, is it not just luck?’ It’s not really. It’s all about trading. You could get lucky and buy all the properties, but your money is gone then. If you have the properties, what’s the use in having them if you can’t build on them?”

The key decision in any Monopoly game is made before the game even begins, according to Kavanagh, who says that people don’t put enough thought into choosing their playing token.

“I’m the battleship – battleship all the way. You never notice it on the board, because it’s so thin. People aren’t looking out for it. They kind of glance by your token. Whoever sits down first goes straight for the box, and they’re always, like, ‘I’m the dog.’ Everyone’s always the dog or the race car.”

The properties you buy and don’t buy will win or lose you the game, but Kavanagh believes it’s important to remember it’s a balancing act. “Buy what you can. If you land on a pink, say, and you don’t really want the pinks, just buy it. That applies all over the board. Just buy anything you land on, but don’t spend too much money, because you need something to build houses with,” he says. “You have to stay ahead of everyone and block them off if you can. But brown, green and dark purple aren’t worth your time. Keep it cheap and cheerful – pinks, oranges, reds, that’s the way to go.”

Fast and loose

O’Toole largely agrees with this advice, even if his strategy is to play a little more fast and loose. “I think they’re all worth buying in their own right, even if it’s just so that you can trade with them or mortgage them off later. Buy whatever you can, I think, is the best strategy,” he says.

Neither has been putting in any practice ahead of the final in London, but both feel confident of their chances.

Only the adult winners have the chance to head to China, where the prize money is $20,580 (€18,750), the amount in the bank of a Monopoly game. The cash is a big motivatation for Kavanagh, who says he’ll be causing distractions to claim the world-champion title.

“What I’ll be doing is trying to keep everyone talking, because then their minds are off the game. Also, you should always be the first to start trading, because if someone starts trading before you, you can lose out on something you need, and it’s bad news . . . I fancy my chances, anyway.”