Monopoly Deal: The Ultimate Strategy Guide (19 Pro Tips)

Monopoly Deal is a fun, fresh take on the classic board game that we all grew up with. A game of Monopoly Deal is not only much faster than classic Monopoly but much more strategic. My family and I have recently started playing this entertaining card game quite a bit and together we have discovered a lot of tips and tricks. These Monopoly Deal strategies will give you a big edge and win far more often.

The best Monopoly Deal strategies are to build a bank of small denomination bills early, keep track of powerful Action Cards, and exploit opponents with vulnerable banks. You should also manage Wild Cards to protect your assets and use your ‘Deal Breaker’ and ‘Just Say No’ cards judiciously.

There is a lot of nuance to Monopoly Deal and the strategies you have to use to win are usually dictated by the cards you draw. Some of these strategies are more intuitive than others, but I’ll go into how and why to apply each of them in your own games so that you come out on top more often.

Prioritize cards over value early in the game

These are two of the best cards to have in the early game!

It is essential to build a comfortable buffer of money and cards early on in a game of Monopoly Deal. The flip side of that is that you can gain a huge advantage if you manage to whittle away at your opponent’s resources. Many players prioritize playing higher-value cards early on in an attempt to build their bank, but this is a mistake.

Instead of playing high-value cards and large denomination money cards, focus on playing lower-value cards stealing more cards from your opponents. Some of the most powerful and effective cards on the first one or two turns of the game are:

It’s Your Birthday – This single card is extremely powerful early in the game. Not only do you get quite a bit of money early on, but you will get one or two cards from every player, giving you greater flexibility. The more players there are in the game the better this card is.
Debt Collector – Playing this card on a player with several small denomination cards early on is a huge bonus. Use it on players with lots of $1 and $2 cards so that you accumulate more cards instead of one or two larger denomination cards.

You should also try to use any ‘Pass Go’ cards in your hand in the first one or two turns. Having more cards in this phase of the game gives you more options and control over your fate which can easily snowball into a win.

Build your bank early

Having an adequate bank in Monopoly Deal is a top priority in the early and middle phases of the game. This gives you a buffer so that other players can’t begin stealing properties from you with Rent cards. It also makes you less of a target because players will choose to pick on someone with a small (or less diverse) bank.

To build your bank quickly, consider supplementing your bank with undesirable Property cards or with Action cards that won’t have any purpose until later in the game. Houses and Hotels are good examples – they can’t be played until much later in the game when you have a complete set, so they could be put to much better (and immediate) use in the bank.

Keep small denominations of money

A strong bank is not just about the amount of money you have stored up. Since no change is given in Monopoly Deal, having plenty of smaller denomination Money cards ($1 and $2) is essential. If you only have large denomination money cards in your bank then you will become a target for other players looking to get additional value.

CHECK IT OUT: Do you love playing Monopoly Deal but hate the flimsy cardboard box it comes in? Check out this handy hard shell travel case from Amazon.

One-dollar Money cards are so strong that it is often a good idea to pay rent with undesirable Property cards instead – even if that property card is worth more than $1. Make sure to always pay Rent with the highest denomination bills possible. Always prioritize keeping smaller denomination bills.

Example: You owe $6 to a player and you can choose between paying with two $3 or a $5 and a $1. Opt to pay with the two $3 cards.

Keep track of the most powerful cards

Behold, the most powerful cards in Monopoly Deal.

There are some cards in Monopoly Deal that a complete game changers, and they warrant special attention. If any of these cards are played it is significant enough to change your overall strategy for the remainder of the game. The most powerful cards in Monopoly Deal are ‘Deal Breaker‘, ‘Just Say No‘, and Wild Property cards.

Since the two Wild Property cards are always visible after being played they are easy to keep track of. However, the Deal Break and Just Say No cards are extremely powerful and can pop up unexpectedly. It’s important to know how many of each there are in the deck and to remember how many have been played.

There are 2 ‘Deal Breaker’ and 3 ‘Just Say No’ cards in a deck of Monopoly Deal. If both Deal Breaker cards have already been played then you know it’s always safe to keep your properties in completed sets since they can’t be stolen. Similarly, if some or all of the ‘Just Say No’ cards have been played then you can play powerful combinations of cards without fear of rebuttal.

Rearrange your cards during your turn

One of the most powerful tools that players have at their disposal in Monopoly Deal is the ability to rearrange their Property cards during their turn. This allows you to make sets and favorable combinations to charge rent while also protecting your assets from other players.

Swap the wild card onto the blue property, then charge double rent on it!

For example, you can play a dual-color wild card onto a property set to make a complete set to charge more rent on that turn. Then, after you have charged rent, you can move the wild card back off of the complete set to make sure it isn’t stolen with a ‘Deal Breaker’ card. This strategy allows you the rent-charging benefits of a complete set without risking having a complete set stolen from you in one fell swoop.

Be the one to break an opponent’s bank

It is fairly common for at least one player to have a small, vulnerable bank. Sometimes other players will gang up on a player who is perceived to be winning and they will whittle away at their bank in order to get to their properties. In these cases, it’s usually best to try to save your big rent cards/combinations until that player is almost out of money.

Winning at Monopoly Deal is all about properties. By letting other players use resources to eat away at an opponent’s bank, you can then use your cards to finally make that opponent go bust in their bank and have to start giving up properties. This is far more valuable than the cash value of cards from the bank.

Take money from an opponent all at once

Newer players often use any money-gathering tools at their disposal as soon as they get them. However, this strategy is much easier for opponents to deal with because they have time to rebuild their defensive buffer on their next turn.

It is usually more effective to save cards like Rent, Double Rent, and Debt Collector to be used in combination with one another. Players will feel safe with some money in their bank, but hitting one or more players with a combination of 3 cards at once is very hard to foresee or fend off. This is a great way to destroy an opponent’s bank and start chipping away at their Property cards.

For example, with the hand above I could charge double rent on my blue properties (for $16) and then play ‘Debt Collector’ on the same player for an additional $5. Dealing with a hit of that much money all in one turn is a struggle even if your opponent has seemingly deep pockets.

Be mindful of your opponents’ properties

It’s easy to get laser-focused on your own plans in Monopoly Deal, but it’s essential to always keep an eye on what your opponents are doing. You always have to know what color property cards they’re looking for so that you don’t needlessly allow them to steal one from you. Similarly, if they have a property or wild card that you can use don’t hesitate to try to steal it.

Always have a general idea of how much money each player has in their bank so that you know when they might be vulnerable to attack. You should also try to keep track of the Wild Card combinations they can play so that you aren’t caught unaware. Remember that they can always move a Wild Card to complete a set without it counting towards their 3 card per turn limit, so they may be closer to winning the game than it initially seems.

Exploit a player who has no small bills

An easy way to get some extra bang for your buck is to look for players who only have large denomination bills in their bank. This is an obvious but very powerful strategy, especially early in the game. If you charge $2 in rent to a player that only has a $5 bill in their bank then they’ll either have to pay you with the $5 or with a Property card.

You have to be a bit careful with this strategy so that you don’t become a target yourself. If you only have large bills in your bank then stealing more large bills won’t help much. Instead, try to accumulate some smaller bills to protect your larger ones.

Save ‘Just Say No’ cards for critical situations

There are only three ‘Just Say No’ cards in Monopoly Deal. These are extremely powerful counterspell-like cards that negate any negative Action Card played against you. In general, you should save these cards for critical situations that have the potential to win or lose the game. Some scenarios which you should be saving ‘Just Say No’ cards for include:

When a player plays a ‘Deal Breaker’ on you
Someone plays a ‘Just Say No’ against your ‘Deal Breaker’ (use your ‘Just Say No’ to cancel theirs)
A player uses several cards to charge a crippling amount of Rent
An opponent uses an Action Card that would immediately win them the game

If you ever run into these situations you have to do everything you can to prevent them from happening, so a ‘Just Say No’ card is just the ticket. Don’t waste these cards on relatively minor inconveniences early in the game.

Create many nearly-complete property sets

Having a large and diverse portfolio of properties is a huge advantage in Monopoly Deal because you have more options and paths to victory. By creating several sets of properties that are one card away from a complete set you make it difficult for your opponents to maneuver and you also protect your assets from ‘Deal Breaker’ cards.

My wife has a seemingly supernatural ability to draw Deal Breaker cards. It drives me crazy when playing this game, but I have learned not to complete my property sets too early in the game. She can steal or swap properties, but she has to do it piecemeal and it isn’t crippling when it happens.

Wait to complete your property sets

In this same vein, you should generally wait to complete your property sets until you’re ready to win the game. Try to set yourself up to complete three property sets all on the same turn, through some combination of playing additional properties, stealing properties, or rearranging Wild Cards.

If you’re trying to execute this strategy, be sure to attempt stealing/swapping properties first. If your opponent has a ‘Just Say No’ card they are less likely to play it if you’re only completing your first property set. Then, once that transaction is done, you continue completing the rest of your sets.

The one exception to this strategy is when both Deal Breaker cards have already been played. Once this happens, your properties are much safer in a completed set because they can never be stolen (unless forcibly by Rent).

Stack your cards to obfuscate information

My opponent can’t see my bank, and can’t readily see the other half of my Wild Card property

This tip is more of a meta-game strategy but is very effective and frustrating for opponents. Always stack your bank cards in a single neat pile so that your opponents can’t see the value of the cards beneath the one on top of the stack. This makes it much more difficult for them to gauge how much money you have in your bank and what denominations of bills are hiding under there.

I always put my lowest denomination bill on top of my bank stack, but some players opt to eventually swap and put their largest bill on top. This makes it harder to know if a player has smaller bills in their stack while making it clear that they have quite a bit of money in their bank.

Similarly, you should always place your dual-color Wild Property cards on the bottom of a property stack, with one of the colors hidden. This makes it more difficult for your opponents to know or remember the other color of the Wild Card.

Play all the cards in your hand to draw new ones

If you have a bunch of cards that aren’t useful to you and you can’t foresee how they will be useful in the near future then you should strongly consider just playing as many as you can into your bank. If you do this enough times to empty your hand you will be able to draw 5 new cards on your next turn instead of the usual 2.

This strategy is a bit desperate but it can be the best option if circumstances are dire. You build up your bank with useless cards and you get a much better chance of drawing useful cards on your next turn.

Bait players into completing a set, then steal it

This strategy is very specific but, in the right circumstances, it can easily win you a game. If you have a ‘Deal Breaker’ card in your hand but your opponents don’t have any complete sets for you to steal, sometimes you can bait them into making a set for you to steal.

Look for an opponent who has a nearly complete property set, and see if you have a matching property. You can play that property on your turn to bait them into stealing/swapping it from you to complete their set. Then, on your next turn, you can use your Deal Breaker to steal the complete set back from them!

Utilize two-property sets to win

Two-property sets (brown, light green, and dark blue) are very powerful because you can create complete sets much faster than sets that require 3 or 4 properties. Some players disregard the brown and light green sets because they have low rent values, but this is often a mistake.

Playing one of these properties is especially powerful when you already have a Wild Card on the board that you can use to complete a set. This way, you can create and complete an entire set in one turn while only using one of your three possible card plays.

Example: You have a set with 2 railroads and a black/light green wild card. You have a light green property card in your hand. Play the property card and then move the Wild Card onto it, creating a complete set.

Pay with bad properties instead of from the bank

In general, your bank is there to protect your properties from being stolen by other players. However, sometimes it’s better to just pay with a single property instead of depleting a bunch of cards from your bank.

For example, if you have a single yellow property worth $3 on the board and your opponent has no yellow properties, it might be better to pay rent with that $3 property instead of giving up three $1 denomination bills.

Remember the colors of dual-color Wild properties

When your opponents play a dual-color Wild Card property they may try to hide one of the colors as I described earlier in this article. In this case, make sure to take note of the other color and remember it for future use. You might also get a chance to refresh your memory if your opponent swaps the Wild Card from one property set to another.

Instead of trying to remember every dual-color Wild Card that is played, it may be more useful to remember the color combinations of the cards. Below is a table for reference.

Card	# in Deck
Yellow & Red	2
Orange & Purple	2
Light Green & Black	1
Light Blue & Black	1
Light Blue & Brown	1
Green & Black	1
Dark Blue & Green	1

Be patient before playing a ‘Deal Breaker’ card

Deal Breaker cards are incredibly powerful, so it’s easy to get excited and play it as soon as it comes into your hand. However, sometimes it can be a better idea to hold it for later in the game when it has the potential to win you the game. Playing it too early removes some of the element of surprise and gives your opponents a chance to get some counterplay.

Additionally, Deal Breaker cards aren’t foolproof. If no ‘Just Say No’ cards have been played yet then you run the risk of an opponent countering your action. You can also wait to see if another player plays the other Deal Breaker card before you do. If they steal someone’s complete set then you can steal it away from them with no risk of it being stolen back.

Thanks for reading! If I missed something or you have your own opinions, please drop a comment below.