Monopoly Tycoon:
The All-in-One Strategy Guide

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By: The Ambassador
Email: [email protected]
Last Updated: 09/04/06
Version: 1.33

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Guide Information
Version History
The Guide
 Starting off
 The 12-9 Shadow
 Long-run Strategies
Variations for Scenarios
Variations for Multiplayer *NEW*
Buildings of Importance *NEW*
Miscellaneous *NEW*
Contact Info/Legal Stuff *UPDATED*
 Other Guides
 My Big Question

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GUIDE INFORMATION:

This is not designed to be a long guide. I have played this 
game several times through, as well as several open-ended 
games. Throughout the game, especially on the 4th and 5th
missions on Hard, I have created an all-in-one strategy. This 
is not for beginners. There are other guides for you and an 
in-game tutorial. This is for those who have played around and 
know the basics. If you use this strategy, you can literally 
slice through Hard CPU like butter. I have done so. My reason 
for writing is that I simply have not seen this strategy in 
other guides, so I decided to share it.

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Version History:

0.60: Finished the core and started on the variations section.

0.62: Continued on the variations section.

0.64: Up to Sell, Sell, Sell!

1.00: Finished the basics of the guide.

1.33: Added three new sections and updated others.

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THE GUIDE:

I can sum up my strategy in two words: "Aggressive Monopoly." 
Start off running. Grab a cheap monopoly and build on it. Go 
nearly into debt the first day, but not all the way so you can 
go into debt the second day. Then, either build up in a 
middle-income area or go after your opponents. Continue to 
lease blocks and buy all good ($100+ profits) opponent stores 
at the now discounted rates. Continue until you drive them to 
bankruptcy.

Starting Off:

First of all, choose a character that you like. Most of the 
time, the characters act rather randomly. I did find that my 
strongest competitors were Racecar and Top Hat. With that 
said, I like to go for Shoe or Battleship. Not only are they 
my favorite characters, but they are the only two basically 
guaranteed to build up in the cheap sections.

Now to the game. I generally start off on the docks (the three 
brown at the bottom). My strategy is to start at low-income 
districts, and these are the first triple. Also, the 
Mediterranean/Baltic is normally built upon already.

First of all, put one of the places to auction, starting off 
with the one with the most buildings on it already. If there 
is not an apartment already, build one. Make it so it goes 
into the middle (I build day businesses around it, not night 
ones) and goes up the nine floors. It may cost upwards of 
$5,000 but do it anyways. The first day is really for setting 
up the second day. Having a strong population nearby is 
essential in this game.

Then build alphabetically. I do NOT use polls, except in rare 
occasions. The rule of thumb for day businesses is around 35-
45 for food and other cheap items, closer to 20-25 for 
mediocre items such as furniture toys and electronics, and 10-
15 for expensive items such as jewelry and hardware. The main 
exception to these rules is the Ice Cream Parlor, which can go 
up as high as you want and still sell out (not above 70)(and 
be sure to raise the prices for ice cream to make even more 
money).

Build up instead of out is the general strategy. Take the 
smaller possible floor areas and make them several stories 
high. This way, in 2000, you can have one of each business on 
only three square. 

By now, the first bidding should have started. When I ask you 
to bid, the rule of thumb is to go as high up as it takes to 
buy the property. This is how you can get monopolies. The 
first two properties of an undeveloped triple normally run 
less than a thousand with the final running less than two 
thousand. These monopolies are a key part of my strategy. DO 
NOT send a property you want up for bid unless you are willing 
to go as far as it takes to buy it (so when the 24-hour 
warning is on, it is not a good time to be bidding). If you 
need to withdraw or if the CPU is started a bid you do not 
want, Pass DO NOT Pull Out. I have found that the CPU will pay 
an average of an extra $1000-$1500 if you only Pass. Getting 
rid of their money is quite important.

Once the first bid is over, put the second on immediately. 
Finish building up on your current block and then move on to 
the one you bought. By now the day part is almost over, so 
build night businesses until you reach $0 (this guide is 
generally best for a starting of $10,000 but it does work with 
other amounts). Once 6pm comes around, you will bring in 
money, but you will be needing that for the second bidding 
that will be starting shortly. Buy the property. Wait for 9-10 
O'clock for the third one, so you will buy it after midnight. 
This way you don't have to worry about the 24-hour warning. 
Another note: Chance cards are up to you. I generally do not 
use them unless I am within a few dollars of being in the 
black and it is 11:58.

Once you buy it, build a hotel on the undeveloped (by you) 
property. Also build on this property the rest of the day 
shops that did not fit on your first one. Make sure that the 
souvenir shop is right next to your hotel (easy double-
dipping). Don't worry about going into the red. I normally 
make up all of the money I've lost, making over $5,000 daily 
profit. Also, this is why we did not go into debt the first 
day, so we could do it today. 

The 12-9 Shadow:

In this, my guide is consistent with just about any other 
guide out there. Use this time to go through your shops. If 
they sold out quickly (check their graphs), increase the price 
slightly. If a shop is not blinking, knock down the prices. If 
one is in the red, drastically hit prices (maybe a third off). 
This will keep you maximizing your money. Never waste a 
moment. If you need a break, press "P" for pause. I will admit 
that if I am drastically ahead at the endgame, I do put the 
game on 4x to speed up my win. 

Long-Term Strategies:

After the second day, the start is over with. The third day I 
begin to expand. That is how fast this strategy is. My next 
stop is generally the Oriental (White) group in the upper-
left. If there is a large buildup, I monopolize the properties 
and buy out any that are making money. I tend to stay away 
from the Railroads and Utilities for if I have the money to 
buy them, I would rather buy a monopoly and buy out the 
competition. 

Never forget about your previous shopping centers. When new 
items (not necessarily new shops) become available, add them 
to your existing ones. Do not add many of the repeats. Places 
like Supermarkets and Superstores do NOT do well in this game 
(at least I have had awful luck with them). Besides, you 
already have the items for sale.

Remember to build apartments/hotels in your shopping centers. 
Not only do they bring in customers, but they are major money-
makers. Apartments can be built as big as you want, but hotels 
should not be that much bigger than 40 for low-end and 50 for 
high-end hotels. Otherwise, you will be selling above 
equilibrium (you will have to drastically drop prices to stay 
sold out).

In a long game, especially open-ended games, you can literally 
drive CPU opponents out of the game. It takes a great deal of 
micromanagement, so start your day businesses management 
during the nighttime. What you do is create a nice nest egg, 
say $25,000 and knock down your prices until you are barely 
making any money at all. You will also have to build many more 
shops (from the nest egg) as the demand will now be much 
higher than what you can supply (DO NOT be building any more 
apartments/hotels as that is counter-productive). This way, 
everyone (who is smart ;) ) will be buying only from you and 
your opponents will start loosing lots of money. To make 
things even better, buy the utilities/railroads to make money 
at the start. A continued low-spending will be hard to keep up 
without a large backup of money or owning lots of properties, 
but just think about how much your opponents are hurting. This 
is how you can win open-ended games.

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SCENARIOS:

Note 1: All strategies are for Hard mode, as Hard mode 
strategies 
will also work in easier modes.
Note 2: The general strategy will work in all Hard mode 
scenarios. 
A few might need slight variations, but not nearly what I have 
written. These variations are for masters. If you can pull off 
a 
win by the days I say to win by, you are among the most elite 
players.

Scenarios 1+2: Sales
If you need help with these, this guide is not for you.

Compete for Sales: 200 Sales
Use the general strategies just build fast. I have gotten the 
200 
sales by the time I built the News Stand. Only build day 
businesses. You won't be waiting past 6 if you make the stores 
extra big (add around 10 capacity to each).

$3000 Daily Profit:
This is hard but not impossible to do in one day. Go for day 
2. Buy one of the Oriental (white) places. Start building an 
entire day business shopping center in another. Once the 
bidding is complete, build an apartment and the rest of the 
day businesses on the new place. Once all of the day 
businesses have been built, build the night businesses on the 
owned space. You may go to the -$10,000 point, but the goal is 
the second day. On the second day, micromanage while the 
stores are open. If a store is quickly selling out, increase 
the price. If goods aren't moving, decrease it a lot. This was 
scary for me as I had less than $1500 profit at the end of the 
day businesses, but the moment the night ones opened, I won 
the game. I made over $1500 in less than 10 seconds. Also, it 
may be possible to win on day 1 as I have gotten up to around 
$2500 on it, but that is unconfirmed. Considering that the 
Hard mode barely puts up a fight to this aggressive of a 
strategy, another one may be to not go into debt on the first 
day, get all leases (and maybe a railroad or two) on the 
second day as well as the rest of the buildings and shoot for 
the third day.

First to be Worth $20,000:
I would go to the docks. You are shooting for the third day, 
although the second day may be entirely possible. Just build 
up 
one district. Prices will have to be drastically cut as there 
is 
so much competition. Also drop the price of the apartment you 
buy 
out and your hotel. The objective is to maximize selling to 
increase your money. Do not go into debt the first day. Save 
that 
for the second day. Go for one day business and one night 
business 
district in the first day. After 12, build up like crazy, get 
the 
third of the monopoly, and buy out all other businesses.


From here on out, my general strategy will be all that you 
need as 
the next mission (Greatest Empire Value by 1945) is the start 
of 
the long missions (lasting longer than 11:59 on the third 
day). 
This is what my strategy is for. Just don't forget landscapes 
in 
First to be Mayor/Last Man Standing games. Good luck to you. 
If 
you need any help with a specific scenario, feel free to email 
me.

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MULTIPLAYER

Please realize that as I have never played against a human in 
this game, major points will come from you, the readers of 
this guide. With that said, I do have some decent ideas of how 
another human player would be like.

First of all, the buildup monopoly strategy still works, as if 
your opponent notices and starts building there as well, you 
can easily buy out their properties when you get the monopoly 
(which actually hurts them more than if they hadn't tried to 
stop you at all.

Also, the bidding changes some. As Jeyan pointed out, your 
opponent could just keep driving up the price. This STILL 
works out in your favor! Simply have an idea of how much you 
are willing to pay. If your opponent drops out before then, 
you have still gained. If he/she goes over your limit (it MUST 
be a solid limit (once you set it, stick with it)), then let 
them have it! A human opponent is much more deadly than the 
CPU, so while it hurts you to not have the property, it hurts 
your opponent even more to not have the money and instead 
having a property not worth the cost (just make sure they 
don't get a monopoly in your stead, which would be hard to do 
anyways as the prices you would be setting would be somewhat 
high, but be careful anyways). 

There is, however, a somewhat easy counter to my strategy. The 
counter is simple: your opponent has a worthless property all 
set up to bid, and immediately after your bidding is over, he 
puts the worthless property up. This stalls time, and when 
done enough, can stop my strategy. The counter to this is, of 
course, for you to also be ready to put up your block for 
auction. This would create a reflex duel. As another note, 
your opponent, using my strategy, might instead try putting up 
one of his blocks to auction, making things even more 
interesting :).

Comments on these variations or missing areas would be 
appreciated.

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BUILDINGS

Most buildings follow the basic pattern of about 30 for day 
businesses and about 50 for night ones, but some need some 
extra notice. This is the section for them.

First of all is the Ice Cream Parlor. I know several players 
who do not like it, but it is my favorite shop. You can double 
or even triple the original prices (so do so) and still sell 
over 100 cones, making a strong, STEADY profit. It seems like 
no one ever can give up a good ice cream, so once you achieve 
100% sell/profit, you can keep it there as it doesn't 
fluctuate like other businesses.

Electronics, Music, Sports, Computer, and combined stores 
(Delicatessens, etc.) are stores I rarely, if ever make. 
Generally, I will make maybe one of each store on the entire 
map. Now, I generally build in the low-end districts, so 
perhaps if you build for the high-income crowd, these items 
increase in popularity, but for low-income, try to stay away 
from them, as they rarely sold out for me.

Furniture, Jewelry, Healthcare, Hardware, Antique, Travel 
Agent, Toy, Phone, and Clothing stores are some more of my 
lesser favorites. They can net money some days, but they tend 
to fluctuate more than others.

For night businesses, generally build as small as possible, 
with exceptions being Bars, Pool Halls, Fast Food, and Videos. 
Generally, building the smallest possible will give you about 
100% sell/profit without much micromanagement.

Again, let me know if you would like to add any of your 
experiences with particular businesses.

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MISCELLANEOUS

Jeyan found that it is possible to mod the game, such as 
changing the message for winning. For the computer programmers 
out there, this would spell new scenarios, campaigns, etc.

Can anyone figure out another way to win? That would be sweet!

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CONTACT & LEGAL

Reasons to write me:
@BUGGING ME TO FINISH THE LAST SECTIONS
@MY BIG QUESTION
@Questions
@Comments
@Using this guide on another site
@Seeing this guide on another site
@Your own strategies
@Multiplayer
@Buildings
@More about modding or about other things you have found

CONTRIBUTERS:
Jeyan: Multiplayer and Modding ideas.

This guide is only to be published on Gamespot.com, supercheats.com, and 
Gamefaqs.com. If you find this on any other site, please let 
me know.

Other Guides:
Mario Tennis: Power Tour
Galactic Civilizations
Cossacks 1
Gallop Racer 2004

My Big Question:
Does anyone else have this problem? I like this game 
(otherwise I would not be writing a guide for it), but I have 
had it on two different computers. One is somewhat old in 
graphics. The current one is almost state-of-the-art. Both 
have had troubles with this game. I have to run on the 
absolute lowest setting! My computer plays top-notch games 
with relative ease, but this game has terrible performance. If 
I have the graphics/sound any better, the game will freeze my 
entire computer. I even had my entire computer restart and 
then say that there was a problem with nVIDIA. I have looked 
online and I seem to be pretty alone in having problems with 
the game. If you had the problem, fixed it, or just know what 
to do, please let me know. Thanks.

My email address: [email protected]

Do NOT email me any type of vulgarities whatsoever. Keep the 
emails clean. Thanks.