There are many miscalculated moves you can make with this board game. Common sense, for instance, would seem to argue that the best buys are the most expensive, dark blue properties — Park Place and Boardwalk — as they demand the highest rents; but Phil Orbanes, the author of The Monopoly Companion (Adams Media, $8, www.amazon.com) and the World Monopoly Championship’s chief judge, insists the significantly less expensive oranges and reds give more bang for the buck. “They’re landed on most during the game,” he says. “Meanwhile, the high-priced green properties are landed on the least.” Your instinct is probably to get out of jail fast; and early on, this is shrewd strategy. That’s when you want to be buying up property, ideally “monopolies,” or whole color sets, so you can build houses and hotels and charge more rent. But once the board is built up, it’s better to stay parked behind bars. “You can still collect rent, and you don’t have to pay any,” Orbanes says. You can also make deals; building three houses per property quickly is another winning strategy. “The rent increase is significant,” Orbanes says. “But, more important, there are only 32 houses in the game. If you have the most and someone wants to build a house, you have to hold an auction.” It’s during these trading sessions that monopoly games are won and lost. “The best players are likable,” Orbanes further observes. “No one wants to trade with an arrogant bully.”