Spent Christmas and new year huddled over a board game, retaining a vice-like grip on the rules and a hawk-eye on the family cheat? Well, that sort of commitment and skill could come in handy for the Leeds Met Monopoly Challenge which is being hosted throughout February and Easter.

In case you didn't get one for Christmas, a Leeds version of the popular board game has been released (finally) and in aid of that, and for charity, the Leeds Met Monopoly Challenge has been launched. It aims to get 8,000 Loiners playing Monopoly. It's hoped the quirky challenge will raise £250,000 for the community.

Met students, bless 'em, are taking time out of their study (and the Otley Run) to get as many people signed up to the Leeds Met Monopoly Challenge as possible. And to make sure you have a hope in hell of not being sent straight to jail, owning Queen Street (it, along with Roundhay Park, weirdly, occupies the unpopular brown spaces) or being unable to spend your money on anything other than rent, they're hosting workshops.

And these are worth going to because Jason Bunn, former world-champion and Loiner, has given the students a few tips of his own. Whether they'll share them with you is another matter. But I've managed to pick up a few...Jason reckons you should let everyone else decide what token they want to be. This seems odd to me because who in the right mind wants the boot? No one, that's who, which means you'll end up with the boot. But he is the champ and he believes if you do this other people will like you, and possibly pity you, especially if you end up with the boot.

He also believes you should go for the orange set of properties as statically these are the streets most landed on. Interesting...
Anyway, you can sign up to the Leeds Met Monopoly Challenge up until February. Heats begin in February and go on until Easter. Semi-finals and the grand final will be held on Monday, May 4 with the overall winner taking home a £6,000 holiday.

Entry costs £30 and participants can raise this fee by gaining sponsorship or organising an event. The attempt is to get 8,000 people to play in the tournament which would also be a Guinness World Record.

For more information on the Leeds Met Monopoly Challenge visit www.leedsmet.ac.uk/monopoly