What Are the Red Squares in Monopoly?

As an devoted Monopoly player and content creator, I get asked often – what‘s the deal with those bright red properties on the board? Namely Kentucky Avenue, Indiana Avenue, and Illinois Avenue. While they may not be the famous dark blues that everyone covets, they serve an important strategic role. Grab some dice as we delve into the secrets behind one of most underestimated property groups!

An Overview of the Monopoly Board

Before understanding the red squares, it helps to see where they fall on the iconic Monopoly board:

There are 8 property color groups as you traverse the board:

• Brown – Mediterranean, Baltic
• Light Blue – Oriental, Vermont, Connecticut
• Pink – St. Charles, States, Virginia
• Orange – St. James, Tennessee, New York
• Red – Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois
• Yellow – Atlantic, Ventnor, Marvin
• Green – Pacific, North Carolina, Pennsylvania
• Dark Blue – Park Place, Boardwalk

The 3 red avenues sit right after the orange properties, as highlighted above.

Red Property Locations and Details

Let‘s examine the specifics of the red squares in Monopoly:

Kentucky Avenue

• Located between Free Parking and a Chance space
• $220 rent with no houses
• $1,100 rent with 1 house
• $3,300 rent with 2 houses
• $9,200 rent with 3 houses
• $11,000 rent with 4 houses
• $13,000 rent with hotel
• 3.29% chance of landing on it

Indiana Avenue

• Located between Chance space and Illinois Avenue
• $220 rent with 0 houses
• $1,100 rent with 1 house
• $3,300 rent with 2 houses
• $9,200 rent with 3 houses
• $11,000 rent with 4 houses
• $13,000 rent with hotel
• 3.29% chance of landing on it

Illinois Avenue

• Located between Indiana Avenue and Reading Railroad
• $240 rent with 0 houses
• $1,200 rent with 1 house
• $3,600 rent with 2 houses
• $10,000 rent with 3 houses
• $12,000 rent with 4 houses
• $14,000 rent with hotel
• 3.04% chance of landing on it

They may not be as pricey as those coveted dark blues, but mid-to-late game they can provide excellent income potential.

Why Focus on the Red Properties?

Simply having ownership isn‘t enough – to leverage the reds, you need houses and hotels! This allows you to charge astronomically higher rents:

With just 1 house on each red, you can charge over $3,000 when an opponent lands there. This only scales up as you develop them further!

By comparison, the pink and orange groups take longer for rents to exceed the red‘s:

Based on this analysis, from a return on investment perspective, the red squares have excellent growth potential for rents.

Probability of Landing on Red

Of course, higher rents don‘t help much if no one ever lands on them. Let‘s examine if the dice roll odds can work in the red‘s favor:

Each red square has a 3-4% chance for an opponent to land on during a roll. Compare that to a coveted property like Boardwalk at just 2.6%, the reds actually see more foot traffic!

So the reds offer strong recurring revenue potential. Now let‘s see how to build a winning Monopoly strategy around them!

Tactics for Owning the Reds

Here are my top tips for dominating through the ruby red properties:

• Wheel and deal early game: trade, negotiate, maybe even scheme a bit to buy the reds before housing shortages hit
• Develop evenly: apply 1 house to each red property first, then 2, and so on. Avoid tilting all houses to just one red until hotels
• Pool funds if needed: combine financial forces with other players to have the capital for those big red hotels
• Create housing shortages: opposing housing development cuts rents for you. Buy houses aggressively once you own key groups
• Sink opponents on laps 2 & 3: the mid-game rings around the board passing the reds can crush opponent funds. A few unlucky rolls is all it takes…
• Finish them! Late game, opponents will struggle to overcome consistently huge red rents with depleted reserves.

Trust me, I‘ve used these red property techniques many times to pull off epic comebacks and cinch victories!

The Thrill of Red Domination

There‘s nothing quite like the rush of owning a fully-developed red monopoly late game. The sight of 4 convincing red hotels simply makes opponents shudder when spinning fate‘s wheel, especially with few remaining properties left for them to purchase.

I‘ll never forget the feeling when my friend Paul landed on my 4-housed Indiana Ave, needing $11,000 but only having $9,800. Bankrupt! That single unlucky roll gave me the game after trailing for 1 hour+. The power of red shall not be underestimated!

So in summary, don‘t ignore those tempting red avenues next time you play Monopoly. Own them, build them, profit from them. Master this color group, and enjoy watching the competition crumble turn after turn at the might of red!

Let me know your own stories and experiences with the red properties in the comments below! Until next time, fellow Monopoly moguls!