A Notre Dame professor and his son have determined the fastest way to win at Monopoly. The game that many families leave on the shelf because it takes too long, really only requires four turns and nine rolls of the dice to win.
Here’s what has to happen, according to an interview on NPR with sociology professor Daniel J. Myers:
“One player moves around the board very quickly, to buy Boardwalk and Park Place, and places houses on them. And the other one ends up drawing a Chance card that sends them to Boardwalk, and they don’t have enough money to pay the rent with three houses, and the game is over.”
However, the statistical odds of winning by using this exact sequence are very long: more than 250 trillion to one!
Here’s how to play the fastest theoretical game:
Player 1, Turn 1:
Roll: 6-6, Lands on: Electric Company
Action: None, Doubles therefore roll again
Roll: 6-6, Lands on: Illinois Avenue
Action: None, Doubles therefore roll again
Roll: 4-5, Lands on: Community Chest “Bank error in your favor, Collect $200”
Action: Collects $200 (now has $1700)
Player 2, Turn 1:
Roll: 2-2, Lands on: Income Tax
Action: Pay $200 (now has $1300), Doubles therefore rolls again
Roll: 5-6, Lands on: Pennsylvania Rail Road
Action: None
Player 1, Turn 2:
Roll: 2-2, Lands on: Park Place
Action: Purchase ($350, now has $1350), Doubles therefore rolls again
Roll: 1-1, Lands on: Boardwalk
Action: Purchase ($400, now has $950), Doubles therefore rolls again
Roll: 3-1, Lands on Baltic Avenue
Action: Collect $200 for passing GO (now has $1150), Purchase 3 houses for Boardwalk, 2 for Park Place ($1000, now has $150)
Player 2, Turn 2:
Roll: 3-4, Lands on: Chance, “Advance to Boardwalk”
Action: Advance to Boardwalk, Rent is $1400, only has $1300 = Bankrupt
GAME OVER
(Thanks to the Scatterplot blog)