How to beat the family if you’re playing Monopoly tonight

It makes a lot of sense.

Breaking out the board games at Christmas is almost a big of a tradition as the festive feast itself. But, with the holiday season, also comes the annual family row over a board game. After all, while peace, joy, love and goodwill may be in the spirits of the season, it's hard not to feel a bit competitive once the dice are on the table. And with the chances being it'll be the classic Monopoly you crack open this Christmas, here are some top tips to help you be crowned the winner. Monopoly champion Josef Kollar has the largest collection of game boards in the world - so it’s safe to say he knows his way around virtual property market. And when he was asked on how to best ensure a win, it turns out it all came down to the colour of the property. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he advised going for the orange properties - the three right before the Free Parking space - as they’re statistically the ones that are most likely to be landed on by other players. But, as everyone knows, sometimes Monopoly doesn’t quite go to plan. So should someone else scoop up the orange properties first, Josef advises going for the light blue properties or the railway stations. And as much as there’s ones you should go for to ensure a win, it turns out there’s some properties that you should definitely stay away from. While it can be tempting to go for the dark blue properties, especially since they’re the highest value squares, they’re the ones that are least likely to be landed on - and should probably be left alone. Once you’ve got your prime properties, Josef says that players should go about creating a housing crisis. He explained:

“In Monopoly, a hotel costs four houses. You don't have to put the houses on the board, but they do have to be available before the hotel can be built.”

There’s only 32 house tokens when the game begins, so Josef’s advice to ensure you walk away with the victory involves building up the maximum number of houses on as many properties as possible - and avoiding making the leap to hotels at all costs. This way, you can make sure you’re getting the maximum profit for yourself - while preventing your opponents from being able to build hotels.