Natalie bankrupts the opposition to earn world Monopoly final spot

Natalie bankrupts the opposition to earn world Monopoly final spot

22 July 2015

SAINTFIELD’S Natalie Fitzsimons is off to China to compete in the World Monopoly Championships after being crowned UK and Ireland champion last Sunday in London.

The software designer beat off all competition at The Shard and will be packing her bags for the Far East this September when she heads to Macu to compete for the top prize of almost £13,200.

Natalie will be up against the top Monopoly players from across the globe and her board game skills will be tested to the limit during the heat of a world final.

The 24 year-old went along to the Belfast heat at the Crumlin Road Gaol last month with her husband Andrew to support him and compete herself. Not for a moment did she imagine she would win. But win she did, securing a place in the UK and Ireland finals in London.

She has now gone from never expecting to win a single game of the hugely popular board game to securing two championships and the prestigious world title is now within reach.

In September, Natalie will be up against players from 24 other nations and is looking forward to the trip to China. Last weekend’s success made headlines in a number of the UK’s major daily newspapers.

Speaking after her success after a tense 90-minute final against three other opponents on Sunday evening, Natalie said she never expected to win the tournament, admitting it’s her husband Andrew who is the real fan of the world famous board game.

While a Monopoly fan, Natalie admitted to not being an aficionado, despite being within reach of the prestigious world title.

“Like most people, I played Monopoly as a child at my granny’s house, but I only started to play again recently when I bought my husband the Marvel Comic monopoly board for Christmas,” she said after her London success.

“I didn’t think I had a chance of winning at all. My husband Andrew has the competitive edge in our house; I had much greater expectations that he would win the Northern Ireland heats. I’m not really that competitive at all, my husband is the competitive one and that’s what’s really funny about the whole thing.”

Despite having now won the Northern Ireland and the UK and Ireland championships, Natalie remains modest about her Monopoly abilities.

“I only just about got into the final. It was so close the whole time and to be honest it could have gone either way. At the end, when there’s only two people left, rather than being a game of skill and strategy, it’s all down to chance,” she explained. “I just got really fortunate. I never usually win, normally Andrew does.”

Natalie revealed she was both “ecstatic and surprised” to have won the UK and Ireland final, explaining in the past she has always played with friends and family over the years, collecting a few top tips by playing them.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to hope the dice is on your side,” she continued after defeating Oli Martin, a recruiter from Bristol, who was bankrupted after unluckily landing on two of Natalie’s yellow properties in a row, handing the Saintfield woman the championship.

Natalie also believes that personality is key to success, revealing a competition game goes much more quickly than when you play at home. 

“I definitely don’t have any magic tricks,” she said modestly. “My first tip is that you should always be nice. No one is going to want to help you out and trade properties with you if you are being a bad winner or loser. My second tip is to simply have fun.”

Natalie believes it is vital to keep your Monopoly opponents favourable, mortgage everything, stick with three or four houses and leave Park Lane – the least landed on Monopoly square — well alone.

She added: “Mortgaging everything always feels a little like cheating, but I never know why other people don’t do it.  As soon as you get a monopoly yourself, mortgage everything else and spend every penny on houses. A monopoly with three houses on each square is far more valuable with lots of low-rent single property squares. You can always unmortgage them later in the game.”