Advice for Monopoly Pub Crawlers

The idea of a Monopoly Pub Crawl is to, in a single day, visit and drink at each of the 26 locations (22 properties and 4 stations) appearing on the UK version of the Monopoly Board. I have done this many times, so here is some advice.

Routes

• Plan your route in advance. This is a 26-pub crawl, you do not have time for dithering and improvisation.
• Not every property has a pub - you need to pick one that's nearby instead.
• Don't do the properties in board order, this involves stupid backtracking. Start at Old Kent Road and then spiral into the centre of London.
• In fact, why not use a route which is known to be good?
• Plan meals. Lunch is at Liverpool Street Station. Grab some fast food and eat it while waiting for the bus. Dinner is in Leicester Square. Get some pizza from a cart or something.
• If possible, bring along people who've done the Crawl before and know the route.

Preparation

• Eat the biggest, greasiest breakfast you can.
• You'll be walking all day, during the hottest part of the day. Wear the best walking shoes you've got.
• Carry as little as humanly possible. All you really need is an Oyster card and ~£60 in cash. Forget about bringing an actual Monopoly board.
• Aim to meet at 10:30am for an 11am start.
• You have a hard deadline of 11pm. This is just under 30 minutes per pub (drinking AND travel time).
• Make sure the following day is free for recovery.

Group dynamics

• Nominate a Routemaster. This person is your leader. Their job is to always know where you are, where you're going next, and how to get there.
• Spend about 15 minutes at each pub, from entering the door to drinking up. Nominate a Timekeeper. This person's job is keep you on schedule, using a stopwatch if need be.
• For the purposes of drinks ordering, split into groups of 3-5 people. At each pub, a person from each group orders a round for the rest of their group. This is simpler than (1) everybody ordering a drink individually (which takes too long) or (2) one person ordering all the drinks at each pub (which requires a good memory and too many arms).
• In the later stages, do a surreptitious head count after each pub. People have a tendency to visit the toilet just as everybody else is leaving.

Drinks

• Drink halves, not pints. I didn't think this needed saying, but apparently it does.
• Stick to beers that you trust. One bad drink can throw your game off.
• Drink water. Carry water.
• Listen to your body.
• Sticking to the schedule is more important than drinking at every pub.

• Do not attempt sightseeing. This is not a tourist's tour of London, it takes you through some very weird areas.
• Many of the pubs are sort of rubbish, too.

Good luck!