In Monopoly Go, tournaments and banner events generally serve as the primary means for players to earn event tokens. Tournaments are somewhat distinctive, however, because they include a leaderboard component that offers bonus Monopoly Go stickers and dice. If you manage to place near the top of a tournament, your rewards tend to be considerably richer than what banner events provide.
Yet many players find that no matter how hard they try, the top spot always seems out of reach. That is why we at IGGM.com are here to walk you through how to identify whale players and effective tactics for climbing the tournament ranks.
Who are your competitors?
Since you are grouped with many unfamiliar players, your opponents come in all types. These include long-inactive accounts, casual players, whales, and bots. Long-inactive accounts and casual players are not real threats if you are aiming for the number one spot. The most formidable opponents are actually whales and bots, as they almost always dominate the top positions and block ordinary players from obtaining more Monopoly Go cards.
Although the official team has never admitted it – and likely never will – many players are convinced that bots do exist. Their purpose is not merely to fill empty slots; rather, they interact dynamically with your in-game actions.
Specifically, the system holds two critical pieces of information. It knows exactly how many Monopoly Go dice you currently have. It also knows the predetermined outcomes of random events. For instance, in a Bank Heist, whether you get a small, large, or mega haul is essentially decided by the system’s probability mechanics, and no player input can change that result.
Whales, on the other hand, are easier to spot. If you open the leaderboard a few hours after a tournament begins and check the top scores, and you see that the frontrunners already have over 30,000 points, then that tournament is not worth investing a large number of dice in. Cut your losses early and save your resources.
The sticker packs awarded by the tournament leaderboards are a major way for players to collect stickers. However, instead of gambling, you can directly buy cheap Monopoly Go stickers at IGGM.com. Easily fill the gaps in your album and claim rewards!

How to handle competitors?
The system’s core logic for manipulating tournament rankings likely revolves around your dice count. When your dice total falls behind that of the leading bots, the system tends to let the bots score preferentially, thereby widening the gap. This disparity creates a sense of urgency and induces anxiety that you need more Monopoly Go dice, which in turn pushes you to acquire additional dice.
The weakness of bots is that they cannot cope with sudden, large bursts of scoring. You can exploit this vulnerability to define your tournament strategy.
Step 1
Once a tournament begins, we recommend that you close Monopoly GO completely and exit the game. Wait for 2 to 3 hours before logging back in. After you log in, roll the dice 1 to 3 times to activate your tournament grouping and initial ranking.
The reason for this delayed entry is to avoid the early rush of impatient players – including numerous bots – so that you are placed into a group with relatively less competitive pressure.
Then stay patient. Continue accumulating dice through daily tasks, gifts from friends, quick wins, and other avenues. Your goal is to build up a dice reserve that, at some point, far exceeds the average level of the bots in your group. If you unfortunately encounter a whale, it is wiser to concede the competition.
Step 2
If you enter the tournament only one hour before it starts, you will run into a massive wave of whales and high-scoring bots and get left behind instantly.
Many players have learned to join the tournament within the final 4 hours. They also choose to sprint at the end, so you may find yourself facing many opponents who follow the same tactic. As a result, fighting for first place becomes even harder.
The optimal entry window is 2 to 3 hours after the tournament begins. This timing avoids the initial peak while still giving you enough room to launch an effective final push.
Step 3
Even if you delay your entry as planned and climb to the top, you must watch out for other players using the same late-surge strategy. If someone erupts from behind in the last stretch and overtakes you by a large margin, do not force a chase. At that point, cutting your losses is more important than taking risks.
You do not need to beat your rivals by thousands of points. A lead of merely 500 points is often enough to secure victory. The key is to continuously monitor the final-stage dynamics rather than blindly widening the gap and wasting dice.
Step 4
If you want to observe other players’ movements, you can exit the tournament interface, roll a few times on the board, and then return to the leaderboard. Check whether the scores of the second- and third-place players behind you have increased within a 10-minute span. If they have not grown, it means they have given up or gone offline, and you are relatively safe.
When the countdown reaches 30 minutes and you are still in the lead, close Monopoly Go completely and refrain from any further actions. Wait for the tournament to end, then come back to claim your rewards. This approach prevents accidental dice rolls that could lose points and also stops the system from inserting a bot to chase you.
Tournaments are not the most critical events in Monopoly Go. If a theme event with more generous rewards appears, IGGM.com suggest that you do not let the tournament distract you too much. The event prizes often surpass those of a single tournament, and the dice consumption for both can be managed naturally in parallel.
