Natalie Fitzsimmons is the best Monopoly player in the UK – and the sixth best in the entire world. So who better to listen to for tips on how to beat your family without having to resort to nicking money when the banker has their back turned?

And a few of her tips – as told to The Mirror – are actually pretty surprising…

Mortgage, mortgage, mortgage

Probably bad advice in real life, but Natalie believes the best way to get ahead in Monopoly is to borrow as much as you can - ensuring that you can buy as many sets and houses as possible and start raking in that sweet rental cash.

“This always feels a little like cheating, but I never know why other people don’t do it,” she said. “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 ‘un-mortgage’ them later in the game.”

Skip the hotels…

Once you have enough houses to build a hotel, it can be tempting to go for it - that little red status symbol means EVERYTHING when you’re struggling with your game.

But, according to Natalie, you shouldn’t really bother - just stick with the houses.

“The amount the rent increases per houses maxes out” at three, she says – so just build houses somewhere else on the board.

…And skip Park Lane while you’re at it

Another Monopoly status symbol, many of us spend the entire game trying to get our grubby little mitts on Park Lane or Mayfair - preferably both.

Don’t bother - because even if you get them, chances of anyone else landing on them are pretty slim.

“It may be prestigious but Park Lane is actually the square in the game landed on less than any other,” Natalie explains. Community Chest and Chance cards are heavily concentrated around the middle of the board - meaning that players are often catapulted straight past the purples.

This is - definitively - how to win Monopoly this Christmas