wws@whuxlm.UUCP (Stoll W William) (09/10/85)
PBM Monopoly Information and Protocol ------------------------------------- [This protocol may be modified by individual moderators, but since it was contributed to by all, it should be pretty stable] 1) The Moderator's duties: a) Disputes The moderator will handle all disputes, staying within the official rules as much as possible. b) "House" rules In the interest of simplicity, no "house" rules (that is, rules other than official Parker Brothers rules) will be used. Moderators may solicit house rules if they wish. c) Trades All trades must be approved by the moderator; this will allow any nebulous aspects of the trade to be clarified (preventing later disputes). For more info, see TRADING below. d) Holidays Moderator will anticipate holidays and tell players about "gaps" in the play. It is players' responsibility to tell moderator if they will be on vacation, moving, etc. e) Quitting If a player quits, moderator will try to get a substitute to take the player's position as it stands. Otherwise, all the player's possessions will be returned to the bank. f) Librarian Moderator will keep a log of the game such that he/she may be questioned at the end of the game about any player's status at the end of any given round. g) Miscellaneous Moderator will keep track of the game's progress and submit a complete report at regular intervals (see below for more specific info). Moderator will perform banker duties. 2) Preparation for Play Players will each be assigned a moderator. Moderators and players will establish contact to determine whether net response time for certain players is bad enough to warrant changing players with other moderators. Moderators will submit any modifications of this protocol to the players, who may comment and/or request another moderator (quickly, in the latter case!). Players can submit confidential info to moder- ators in an attempt to speed the game (e.g., player may say to the moderator, "buy every property", "pay my way out of jail immediately until further notice", etc). When all players are ready, the moderator will make the initial set of moves (see below for details). 3) The Play a) OVERVIEW: Given that there are N players in the game, the moderator will move for N-1 players at a time and mail the results to the players. Therefore, in games with five players, a round will consist of four moves (there will be one non-moving player in each round). Mailings look something like this: ------------------ Results of last move: Joe bought Reading RR for $200 (giving him ALL FOUR Railroads!!) Betty subsequently landed on it Josie is at Park Place and choose not to buy it: After a round of sealed bids Ralph bought it for $750 (giving him the monopoly on that colour group) Ralph is still in jail (he's been there for two moves) This move: Joe rolled [3][5] putting him on Boardwalk. Betty rolled [4][6] and landed on Reading. Josie rolled [1][1] putting him on Baltic... he then rolls [3][1] putting him on Ralph rolls [5][5] getting him out of jail and onto Free Parking. Left to resolve this turn: Does Joe want to buy ? If not, who will??? If so, what will he mortgage (if Reading, he can't collect rent from Betty). Can Betty afford the rent on ANOTHER railroad??? Can Josie afford the rent for ?? Get those responses in quick!!! Current holdings: Betty: Oriental (light blue) 4 houses Vermont (light blue) 4 houses Connecticut (light blue) 3 houses Joe: all four railroads... Josie: Baltic (purple) 1 house Mediterranean (purple) Ralph: <nothing> -------------------------------- Each individual would also get a message of the form: -------------------------------- Betty: You currently have $675 dollars in cash and the following properties: Oriental (light blue) with 4 houses. Mortgage value: $150, houses are $50 each. Vermont (light blue) with 4 houses. Mortgage value: $170, houses are $50 each. Vermont (light blue) with 3 houses. Mortgage value: $150, houses are $50 each. -------------------------------- The players will then make "adjustments" and moderators will dis- tribute the new state of the game with the header ROUND 13, ADJUSTMENT 2 or somesuch. Some samples of adjustments: --"I want to buy/sell [1-4] house(s)/hotel(s)". This could cause an auction (see BUYING/SELLING below). --"I don't want to buy water works". This causes an auction (see AUCTIONS below), but the other players' moves stand. --"I'd like to submit a trade agreement". All involved traders should send a copy of the agreement, just to let the moderator know that there is in fact AGREEMENT. See TRADING below. --"I don't want to collect that rent". Return the money to the debtor. --"He cheated. You messed up. etc etc". Mediate the argument; try to let all players know what's going on. --"Fine with me." No adjustment. Some notes: o Adjustments regarding past events are handled before any current or future events. For example, adjustments concerning resolution of "how rent will be paid" or "how cash will be raised to buy property" or "property auctions" will be handled first. If they are handled in some way other than the "default" presented when the round was first distributed by the moderator (usually by cash- on-hand), the new "surprise" state is distributed and must be acknowledged by players as they request "current" adjustments. The wise player will preface "current" adjustments with the comment "If there are no other adjustments..." if they think they would change their mind should a trade be made or a house be bought. An example: Day 1: Moderator announces that Joe landed on Boardwalk (unowned) and that the default action is that he buy it with cash-on- hand. Frank landed on Jane's Illinois with 2 houses. Default: Frank will use one of the free lands sold to him by Jane. Day 2: Moderator receives mail from Betty that she wants to buy a house on Baltic, and mail from Joe that he wants to mortgage Reading Railroad to help pay for Boardwalk. Moderator reports to all players what Joe did, and doesn't mention Betty's request. In fact, Moderator won't act on Betty's request until he hears from her again and she acknowledges Joe's action. Day 3: Frank says he won't use a free land, and will pay Jane cash instead. Moderator makes the adjustment and sends mail around, describing the change. o If there are NO adjustments, Moderator rolls the next round. o If there are adjustments, distribute the new state of the game and solicit more adjustments. Each new round begins with a summary of what happened last round. b) BUYING/SELLING: When anyone wants to buy/sell houses, the sale is not final until all players have had a chance to react. The rules say you can buy houses "at any time" (to be reasonable, we add EXCEPT between the time the dice were rolled and the player moved), and if a housing shortage exists, more than one player may wish to buy houses. AND if a player owns hotels, he/she might want to sell back a hotel to "soak up" the houses to prevent the other players' buying them! (BTW, the hotel owner selling (soaking) has priority over the person wanting to buy houses). If no one else wants to buy, the sale is made final, the new state of the game is distributed, and adjustments are solicited. If more than one player wants to buy, an auction takes place (see AUCTIONS below). If the response to a sale is a trade agreement (suddenly, other players can buy houses where they couldn't before, and now THEY want to buy as well), the initial request for houses is granted before the trade goes through (at the time the first player requested the houses, there was no need for an auction). If the trade agreement arrives at the same time as the request for houses, the traders have an equal right to the houses. c) AUCTIONS: Each player submits a bid indicating how much (or how little) he or she is willing to spend to get a given property/house/hotel that's available. If two people make the same bid, then THOSE two only get to submit new bids until the tie is broken. In the case of bids for houses/hotels, players must bid no less than the amount they would have had to pay normally. When the auction ends, the new state of the game is distributed and more adjustments are solicited. If more than one round of bids is submitted, new bids must be higher than the tie bid. If all new bids are less than or equal to the tie bid, the bidders are barred from the auction and the other bidders' first-round bids are reviewed as if the offenders had submitted requests not to participate in the auction. If all players end up barred from the auction, no further auctions may take place that round. A Weird Case: Joe lands on Boardwalk (unowned), Mary lands on Joe's Reading RR, and Jane lands on Free Parking. Joe puts Boardwalk up for auction, and subsequently buys it for $300 in a round of sealed bids (yes, Joe has the right to bid!). If Joe mortgages Reading RR to help raise the $300, Mary no longer has to pay him rent. There are other weird cases; the moderator's resolutions are final. d) TRADING: Deals are negotiated in private, but players are reminded that they can often get better deals if they involve other players in their discussions. All players involved in a deal should submit copies of the agreement to the moderator (to ensure that "agreement" has taken place). Agreements are reviewed for blatant inconsistencies, then made final and distributed, and more adjustments are solicited. e) PLAYER PRIVACY: A player's cash-on-hand is never broadcast by moderator (except as requested by the player). However, any player may request information about another player's holdings (e.g., properties. "get-out-of-jail- free" cards, trade agreements). Some moderators may wish to send out some of this information every round. f) RENT COLLECTION: Rent is collected automatically by Moderator. Players reserve the right to refuse to accept rent or to accept other items instead of rent. If a player doesn't have enough cash, moderator does not betray this fact. g) BANKRUPTCY: A player is bankrupt when he cannot pay his/her debt. If Joe lands on Park Place with a Hotel and can't afford the rent (even after mortgaging, selling, etc), Joe is bankrupt in the state he was in when he landed on Park Place. This rule prevents endgames in which sore losers sell all their property for $1 and give the $1 to the creditor. If you don't have the cash and can't raise it, you go out to the owner of the hotel, not your buddy. Of course, developed property can't change hands; any houses/hotels must be sold before property can get a new owner. h) HOLDING the DICE: The players' rights to hold the dice (suspending the game) should be determined in the individual games. Games that require players to "acknowledge" the current state of the game don't need this rule, since acknowledgement can be postponed a bit (but not too long! Time depends on speed of e-mail link) This method puts control more firmly in the moderator's hands, and is therefore recommended. i) ERRORS by moderator: "You pays your money, you takes your chances" -- if moderators break a rule or screw up, flame them. If you can prove they're wrong, they will have to work out a fair solution. If not, what the moderator says goes. 4) Bugs in PBM Monopoly Although the player that goes first in the round has a bit of an advantage (can decide which property to mortgage based on the moves of the other players), this advantage rotates, and this method speeds the game tremendously. We have a bit of protocol that must be ironed out in the individual games, and some we probably haven't even thought of. The result might not really be Monopoly, but maybe it'll be close enough to have some fun. Bill Stoll, ..!whuxlm!wws