Natalie Fitzsimons takes UK and Ireland Monopoly title

For years, it has been the board game that has divided families and turned friends into foes in ferocious battles for money, property and power.

But ruthlessness and splashing the cash on London's most lavish properties will not give you the key to success.

Instead the new UK and Ireland Monopoly champion says mortgaging everything and landing in jail is the real way to win.

Natalie Fitzsimons, from Saintfield, County Down, took the title on Sunday, even beating her husband along the way.

The 24-year-old won her regional heat in Belfast in May to secure a crack at the UK and Ireland crown at The Shard in London, where she overcame 11 other finalists.

Remarkably, Natalie's win comes just seven months after she rekindled her childhood interest in the game when she bought a Marvel Comics edition as a Christmas gift for her husband Andrew.

She even admitted she "didn't really play all that much" before entering the tournament.

Despite going into the competition with no expectation of winning, she emerged victorious when she bankrupted all three of her opponents in the tense hour-and-a-half-long final.

The meant she passed Go en route to the Monopoly world championships in Macau in China in September.

"I still can't really believe it," Natalie said.

"There truly were some great players, but I was just playing casually and having a lovely day."

Natalie felt that her carefree attitude to the competition helped her to victory.

"There are people who take Monopoly very seriously, and some people can be very argumentative when they're doing deals," she said.

"My first game was so serious and so intense, but in the second we all told each other it didn't really matter who won, so it was much more fun and jokey.

"Then in the final there were two competitive people and I knew they would be the ones to beat.

"So, I just kept it quiet and let them sort themselves out. Then it was just me and one other left and from there it really could've gone either way right until the last roll of the dice."

In the later stages of the decider, Natalie spent much of her time in jail, but crucially that meant she avoided paying expensive rents while she continued collecting a tidy sum her own properties.

She also relied on a strong combination of all four transport squares on the board, that made for "a nice little earner", and a collection of yellow properties.

"Quite a lot of it is down to chance, but you also have to keep your wits about you and know what's going on," Natalie added.

"I'd also say you should mortgage everything to buy more property and avoid Park Lane because it is the least landed-on square.

"And sometimes it pays to be nice to the people you're playing with, because if you want a good deal it pays to keep them onside."

Natalie is now revelling in the fact she can say she is a UK board game champion.

"I have been saying it quite a lot to my husband," Natalie laughed.

"He's competitive but I'm not competitive at all, and when we play at home he usually wins.

"The fact I'm a champion of anything - well, he finds it quite weird."

But for now, Natalie will stick to her day job as a software developer rather than making a move into property.

"I love my job at the moment, so I don't have any plans to change.

"Monopoly will just be a hobby for now, I don't think I'll be moving into property development yet."