Summary:
- Only roll when it is advantageous to do so. That is the biggest thing.
- Do not "go after the prize." This is the second biggest thing.
- Do not play deep into most events. Only take the early rewards from most events. That is the third biggest thing. I think if you are not using technical analysis of some kind, this still applies in the current Monopoly culture, but if you are using a more scientific analysis, some of it no longer applies. The Seventh Apprentice pointed this out to me.
- Do maintain reserves until you need them to complete something. You only need to do this until the account is established. Once it has a bunch of dice, it is no longer needed.
- I will go into detail below.
Methods that may work, but methods I do not use
- APM - I do not use Airplane mode. This works for some people. It does not work for many people. Many people consider it cheating and resent it. I do not mind others using it at all at a personal level, but I have never tried it. I want my Monopoly to be game of strategy and not that one.
- Dice Boosting. I do not use dice boosting. I think this is when you hand your account over to someone else, they get you tons of dice and hand it back. I could be wrong about the mechanics, but it is something like this. Some people may say APM is one form of dice boosting, not sure. I would never do this for many reasons.
- I NEVER purchase dice through Scopely. I would never pay a cent of real money for fake money. Also, I don't think this would work long term. It is a band aid, and then you have would have to pay more money.
Without using any of he above methods, I never run out of dice. I have multiple accounts, but until the end of the sticker season, each stands on its own. They are only intended to help each other at the end. I will list below what I think helps, and in the order of importance.
Mistake One: Playing Too Far Into the Events
Note: Some of this analysis is no longer valid with how Scopely is currently managing events. At times, it is profitable to go deeply into some of the events. You cannot assume it is, though. This was pointed out to me by the
Seventh Apprentice, who knows exactly how far into each event one should travel.
I believe the biggest mistake people make is playing too far into the main events (top events) and in the side tournaments.
- The main event is always your target. It has the best and cheapest rewards.
- The side events should always support the main event. If you cannot or should not play a side event, you should usually stop playing the main event, even if it makes sense to play the main event otherwise.
Rewards in these events become "inverted." By this, I mean if you pursue the event rewards at some point you will start losing dice. Early in the event, you will usually gain dice or at least not lose dice. About a third to halfway in, you start consistently losing dice. In normal operations, you should stop there. Do not donate dice to Scopely just to watch a token hop around an electronic board.
Often a new event and a new tournament start at the same time. This is your sweet spot. Roll until you get one third to one half way into the tournament, and then stop.
You may be a quarter into the tournament at this point. Wait for the next tournament. Roll at least a third or half way into it unless it makes sense to stop in the main event, in which case stop then.
Related to this is not knowing when to time out (not play at all). If an event does not promote gathering dice, don't play it. If you have a lot of dice and a dig is coming, and there is an awful utility event in front of you, you do not have to play.
Mistake Two: Not Keeping a Safety Net
- I don't spend cash. I let it get heisted. Cash is only good for increasing net worth, and increasing net worth, I believe, has negative value. It is true that spending as you get cash gives you small numbers of dice, but then your safety net is gone. I spend cash when there is a sticker boom or wheel boost that overlaps another event, such as a landmark rush, or when I have so much cash that I can never spend it all in those events. Otherwise, I spend it if an account is low on dice and will need more. It is a safety net that makes sure that even if an account runs too low on dice to finish the dig, for example, I can get 2-4k upon demand.
- Note: I don't care if half my cash gets heisted. I need the safety net far more than I need the cash. Additionally, I need the rewards from wheel boosts and such more than I need the cash. Cash is trash. Remember that.
- I don't complete sticker sets. I let them complete. In an emergency, I can then complete sets and get dice. Of course, when the album is closable, then I start completing stickers sets.
- And I don't trade duplicate fives so I can apply more stickers to my album. The fives themselves are currency and give you the power to act. Do not spend your currencies when you don't have to. Stickers in inventory translate to dice when you need them, if you don't spend them, just to complete a sticker set. If you spend them to complete a sticker set, you kill two of your safety nets, one, the incomplete sticker set, now complete, and two, the sticker in inventory.
Mistake Three: Going After the Prize
The most common flavor of this is probably trying to win a tournament. It rarely makes sense to try to win a tournament and the attempt almost always costs you dice, even if you win. There are two types of tournaments, one day and two day.
- One Day - I don't ever try to win a one day. It has a few dice and Blue Pack as a reward and on balance if I go after those, I will lose more than the value of a few dice and blue pack getting there.
- Two Day - I don't start out competing in this tournament, but I do often compete. If I see I am, or can easily be, in the top three, I compete for third place. The top three places generally get a purple pack. However, if I am way into the main event, then I will not compete. I will lose more dice competing than a purple pack is worth.
The second flavor of this is going after purple packs in the main event. They are usually very expensive to get and cost more dice than a purple pack is probably worth. I do go after them on occasion, and I usually regret it.
Finally, it sometimes makes no logic sense to go after a Wild Pack in Prize Drop Peg-E for example. If you think it will cost 8k dice to get there (and it may, depending on where it is), unless that card is going to close your album, it is a huge mistake to pursue it. Just because something is shiny, it does not me we have to give everything we have to get it.
For example: if you need 7 gold cards and want to get the PEG-E Wild Pack to reduce the number to six, the potential for total dice loss is high. If you spend all your dice and get it, you then need six gold cards. That gold card that took all your dice, will almost certainly appear as a dupe before you get the other six golds you need. You probably just flushed your dice down the toilet for nothing. Protect your assets.
Note: if you are very mathematical about it, the Seventh Apprentice pointed out that it does sometimes make sense to go after the prize. However, if you are not that precise, then I think it does not, as it will burn you more often it will save you.
Mistake Four: Spending Currency For No Reason
Keeping dice, in part, involves have the power to act when you need to. In Monopoly, I do not play to increase net worth. I play to increase my ability to act or to respond to a situation when needed.
These are my currencies in the order of importance to me:
- Stickers and stickers in Inventory
- If I have three Monopoly Tune stickers and I trade the two extras for two other five star stickers I need, I now have no power to use those two stickers to close a set that becomes closable (which I would only do if low on dice and an event was coming where I needed it). If I keep them in inventory, I can spend them where I need them and when I need them most. Stickers in inventory are dice when you need them.
- Dice
- The power to act is lost when you run out of dice. This, in Monopoly, is incarceration.
- Stars and Vaults
- Stars give you vaults, which can give you stickers when needed. Spent stars give you nothing. They are gone.
- Additionally, stars can be spent to get five star cards.
- I do not open a vault out of boredom. I keep the vault and retain my power to act. Once opening vaults can close my album, or once I am just getting too many stars or when there is a sticker boom and I have other safety nets, then I will open a vault. I do not, however, open a vault just to get that vault spent the the stickers it yields applied to my board. Both of these things decrease my power to act and decreasing my power to act takes away from my ability to keep dice. They reduce the size of my safety net.
- Cash
- Cash translates to dice when you need it, via the build process. It also translates to stickers during a wheel boost. Cash saved is very valuable and cash spent is almost worthless.
Mistake Five: Not Actively Networking
Note, I am leaving this here, but with the current gold-locked album culture and fives being as easy as butter to get when they are not golden, the summary below, is no longer valid:
Retaining dice is often tightly coupled with the power to act. The power to act often requires the assistance or cooperation of others. Those who have a large contact list and a network of friends can often recover more quickly from an emergency. Those who go it alone are almost doomed from the beginning. If you see someone with a ton of dice who is not capitalizing on any of the Monopoly vulnerabilities, you can be pretty sure they have a network of allies working with them.
The Prestige Album
The following was written before Scopely made albums near useless. I currently believe you only lose dice if you make any effort to close your album or to work another. Do not do it. Getting cards is expensive. Instead, roll when favorable. Here is the older, no void, analysis:
This does not discuss a mistake, but cements the need to network and sticker trade. Unless you use
"cheats" of some kind, you will probably find it challenging to collect dice. I used to lose dice until I get to the prestige album and then collect dice while on the prestige album. It is easier to maintain dice on the Prestige album. Here is why:
How to Gain Dice
Everything I discussed above talked about how maintain dice. There are also things that I that believe help you get dice in the first place:
Disclosure
What I have described is one set of ways to keep dice, but not the only ways. I believe these will work if you have a single account or multiples. My accounts each stand on their own until the end.
Some people will argue with some of these points. In some cases, they may keep dice a very different way, but still do it. Their methods may well be better. However, if they argue the points, but they themselves run out of dice, I would largely dismiss their arguments. They may still be valid, but they are unable to keep dice, so I would be weary of doing what they do.
Addendum
Be fair, be honest and network and you will have the cards you need. Play sensibly, don't play when conditions are not favorable and do not go after the purples in the main vent or peg-e and do not try to get first place in tournaments. Make slow, steady and reliable progress and you will do well in monopoly.
In trading, look for win/win scenarios. It is part of networking, and networking allows you to get the cards you need when you need them. Win/win deals make a friend. "I win" deals get you some card at this moment.
