rick@ucla-cs.UUCP (11/11/85)
<<< not even-6-even-8, not even-6-even-8, ... argh >>>
After playing a game of Rail Baron last night we decided something needs to
be done about getting nailed with *bad* destinations. They can unfairly
shift the game to one player, or make it impossible for some player to do
well much less win. There was a suggestion made here some time ago about
allowing a person to decline 1 of their first 3 destinations. We will give
that one a try next game. We thought about the following:
If these were real companies they wouldn't make a long haul run that would
cost them a small fortune (eg. Miami without owning the SAL or the ACL).
Instead they would pay some penalty and go somewhere else. The first
suggestion we had was to allow someone to decline *any* destination, but
their next trip would then be 1/2 price (ie. they would lose half the money
they should make). And they could continue to decline, and continue halving
(1/2, 1/4, 1/8, ...), until they got something they like. The problem with this
is that a person with enough money to win would just keep trying to roll his
home city as a destination. So we thought that it might work if they could
only decline one destination when they were rolling for new destination, and
would be stuck with the second one (and half the money). I am uncomfortable
with this idea though. Anyone out there got any ideas?
--
Rick Gillespie
ARPANET: rick@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
UUCP: ...!{cepu|ihnp4|sdcrdcf|ucbvax}!ucla-cs!rick
FISHNET: ...!flounder%tetra!rick@ichthyssrt@ucla-cs.UUCP (11/11/85)
< Damn! Rick beat me to it! >
Hey, I thought up the halving the next destination rule! Problem is, I'm
not as fast on the keyboard...
On other matters, I've noticed during the last two games that owning a large
number of railroads doesn't seem to be too healthy. In the two previous
games, Rick or I ended up with a large number of railroads (i.e., >10) and
in each case the person with the large number of railroads lost the game.
The optimal number of railroads seems to be about 6 (with good coverage).
Scott R. Turner
ARPA: (now) srt@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA (soon) srt@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
UUCP: ...!{cepu,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!srt
FISHNET: ...!{flounder,crappie,flipper}!srt@fishnet-relay.arpawrd@tekigm2.UUCP (Bill Dippert) (11/18/85)
> <<< not even-6-even-8, not even-6-even-8, ... argh >>> > > After playing a game of Rail Baron last night we decided something needs to > be done about getting nailed with *bad* destinations. They can unfairly > shift the game to one player, or make it impossible for some player to do > well much less win. There was a suggestion made here some time ago about > allowing a person to decline 1 of their first 3 destinations. We will give > that one a try next game. We thought about the following: > If these were real companies they wouldn't make a long haul run that would > cost them a small fortune (eg. Miami without owning the SAL or the ACL). > Instead they would pay some penalty and go somewhere else. The first > suggestion we had was to allow someone to decline *any* destination, but > their next trip would then be 1/2 price (ie. they would lose half the money > they should make). And they could continue to decline, and continue halving > (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, ...), until they got something they like. The problem with this > is that a person with enough money to win would just keep trying to roll his > home city as a destination. So we thought that it might work if they could > only decline one destination when they were rolling for new destination, and > would be stuck with the second one (and half the money). I am uncomfortable > with this idea though. Anyone out there got any ideas? > -- > Rick Gillespie > ARPANET: rick@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU > UUCP: ...!{cepu|ihnp4|sdcrdcf|ucbvax}!ucla-cs!rick > FISHNET: ...!flounder%tetra!rick@ichthys ****************************************************************************** Do not know if this got out to the net or not, but thought that you might be interested in it. If you have seen it before, let me know, as at the moment we are not certain whether anything posted from tekigm2 makes it past Tektronix. ****************************************************************************** From postnews Tue Nov 5 08:18:33 1985 Subject: REPOSTING OF "SEATTLE RULES" RAIL BARON THIS IS A VERY LONG ARTICLE ON "SEATTLE RULES" CHANGES TO RAIL BARON A few years after "Rail Baron" was first published, several individuals in the Seattle, Washington, area came up with an alternate set of rules and an alternate destination chart. The alternate destination chart was designed to correct some of the inequities of the original, namely that of the NE positive bias and the SE negative bias. The rules changes were designed to correct some other things which were felt to be basic faults of the game itself. The game as originally played did not seem to be enjoyable on a long term basis. The changes were only incorporated after much trial and error in trying to find out what was wrong with the original rules. We have also come up with an alternate to the payoff chart, namely that of measuring the distance between the two cities and paying off using a $ to cm relationship. (See optional rule no. 3.) The alternate payoff method, the alternate destination chart, and the optional rules are all independent of each other and each may be implemented independently. However, all three together constitute the alternate "Seattle" (or "Portland" *) rules and we feel should be implemented together for a much more enjoyable game. Finally, credit must be given to Paul Vaughn of Seattle who contributed the most to these revised rules. (* Paul says that his original "Seattle" rules differ from these --"Portland"-- rules in one respect. Since I no longer can remember which rule we disagreed on, technically these are "Portland" rules, not "Seattle" rules.) These rules have had almost ten years of practical experience in using them and seem to work out better then the original rules. SEATTLE RULES _____________ DESTINATION TABLE (Roll twice to find your DESTINATION. First roll and consult the REGIONS chart to find the region, then roll again and consult the chart for that region to pinpoint the destination city.) ODD EVEN ODD EVEN REGION SOUTH CENTRAL 2 NORTHEAST 2 PLAINS 2 BIRMINGHAM 2 MEMPHIS 3 SOUTHEAST 3 NORTHWEST 3 DALLAS 3 SHREVEPORT 4 NORTH CENTRAL 4 SOUTHWEST 4 FORT WORTH 4 SAN ANTONIO 5 SOUTH CENTRAL 5 NORTHEAST 5 HOUSTON 5 NEW ORLEANS 6 PLAINS 6 SOUTHEAST 6 LITTLE ROCK 6 NASHVILLE 7 NORTHWEST 7 NORTH CENTRAL 7 LOUISVILLE 7 MEMPHIS 8 SOUTHWEST 8 SOUTH CENTRAL 8 MEMPHIS 8 LOUISVILLE 9 NORTHEAST 9 PLAINS 9 NASHVILLE 9 HOUSTON 10 SOUTHEAST 10 NORTHWEST 10 NEW ORLEANS 10 FORT WORTH 11 NORTH CENTRAL 11 SOUTHWEST 11 SAN ANTONIO 11 DALLAS 12 SOUTH CENTRAL 12 NORTHEAST 12 SHREVEPORT 12 BIRMINGHAM NORTHEAST PLAINS 2 ALBANY 2 PITTSBURGH 2 DENVER 2 KANSAS CITY 3 BALTIMORE 3 NEW YORK 3 DES MOINES 3 PUEBLO 4 BOSTON 4 WASHINGTON 4 FARGO 4 OMAHA 5 BUFFALO 5 PORTLAND 5 KANSAS CITY 5 MINNEAPOLIS 6 NEW YORK 6 PITTSBURGH 6 MINNEAPOLIS 6 OKLAHOMA CITY 7 PHILADELPHIA 7 PHILADELPHIA 7 OKLAHOMA CITY 7 KANSAS CITY 8 PITTSBURGH 8 NEW YORK 8 OMAHA 8 FARGO 9 PORTLAND 9 BUFFALO 9 PUEBLO 9 DES MOINES 10 WASHINGTON 10 BOSTON 10 ST. PAUL 10 DENVER 11 NEW YORK 11 BALTIMORE 11 KANSAS CITY 11 OKLAHOMA CITY 12 BALTIMORE 12 ALBANY 12 OMAHA 12 DENVER SOUTHEAST NORTHWEST 2 ATLANTA 2 TAMPA 2 BILLINGS 2 RAPID CITY 3 CHARLESTON 3 RICHMOND 3 BUTTE 3 SPOKANE 4 CHARLOTTE 4 NORFOLK 4 CASPER 4 SALT LAKE CITY 5 CHATTANOOGA 5 MOBILE 5 POCATELLO 5 SEATTLE 6 JACKSONVILLE 6 ATLANTA 6 PORTLAND 6 SPOKANE 7 KNOXVILLE 7 JACKSONVILLE 7 RAPID CITY 7 PORTLAND 8 MIAMI 8 KNOXVILLE 8 SALT LAKE CITY 8 POCATELLO 9 MOBILE 9 NORFOLK 9 SEATTLE 9 CASPER 10 NORFOLK 10 CHARLOTTE 10 SPOKANE 10 BUTTE 11 RICHMOND 11 MIAMI 11 SALT LAKE CITY 11 BILLINGS 12 TAMPA 12 ATLANTA 12 PORTLAND 12 SEATTLE NORTH CENTRAL SOUTHWEST 2 CHICAGO 2 CLEVELAND 2 EL PASO 2 SAN FRANCISCO 3 CINCINNATI 3 CHICAGO 3 LAS VEGAS 3 TUCUMCARI 4 CLEVELAND 4 ST. LOUIS 4 LOS ANGELES 4 SAN FRANCISCO 5 COLUMBUS 5 MILWAUKEE 5 OAKLAND 5 SAN DIEGO 6 DETROIT 6 INDIANAPOLIS 6 PHOENIX 6 SACRAMENTO 7 INDIANAPOLIS 7 DETROIT 7 RENO 7 LOS ANGELES 8 MILWAUKEE 8 COLUMBUS 8 SACRAMENTO 8 PHOENIX 9 ST. LOUIS 9 CLEVELAND 9 SAN DIEGO 9 OAKLAND 10 CHICAGO 10 CINCINNATI 10 SAN FRANCISCO 10 RENO 11 CINCINNATI 11 CHICAGO 11 TUCUMCARI 11 LAS VEGAS 12 MILWAUKEE 12 ST. LOUIS 12 LOS ANGELES 12 EL PASO CHANGES TO THE ORIGINAL RULES NOTE: deletions will be shown thusly -- {delete} changes or additional material will be shown thus -- [xxxxx] First page: No changes. Second Page: The Bonus Roll: .... 3) He owned a SUPERCHIEF when he rolled the dice during his normal turn. (So a player with a SUPERCHIEF gets a Bonus Roll every turn.) {deleted} The [white dice are] rolled once for a bonus Roll. The player must move his pawn the number of dots he rolls on the [white dice] and he must abide by all of the normal rules for movement--he may not move along a section of rail line he has already used this trip, he must move the full number of dots he rolls (unless he arrives at his destination), and so on. {deleted} If the Bonus Roll brings him to his destination, he immediately collects his PAYOFF and has a chance to buy from the Bank. A player can get no more than one Bonus Roll per turn, no matter what he rolls and what he owns. If he is entitled to a Bonus roll he must take it. [A player is not entitled to a Bonus roll once he arrives at his destination.] ..... USER FEES: .... 1) You must pay the Bank $1000 if your pawn moved along any rail lines that {deleted} the Bank owns. You pay only $1000 per turn, no matter how many of {deleted} the Bank's rail lines you used that turn. If you do not use any of {deleted} the Bank's rail lines, then you do not have to pay the $1000. ..... 3) As soon as all of the rail lines have been bought, the $5000 penalty goes up to $10,000 {deleted}. After all the rail lines have been bought, you must pay $10,000 to a player if you used any of his rail lines that turn. (This $10,000 penalty remains in effect [until a rail line is sold back to the Bank later in the game. Once a rail line is sold back to the Bank, the penalty is $5000.]) ..... Example B, last paragraph: You must pay all your penalties. If you do not have enough money, you must sell a rail line (see SELLING below) and keep selling until you have enough money. If you don't have any rail lines and cannot pay your penalties, you are out of the game. [You are no longer "established" once your pawn arrives at its destination.] ..... [OPTIONAL RULE NO. 3] [In order to aid in making payoffs to players reaching their destinations, a metric rule may be used. One centimeter = 500 dollars. For example: 42 centimeters = $21,000, 20 centimeters = $10,000.] [Explanation of optional rule no. 3 -- measure the distance in centimeters from the city that your trip started to the your destination city (to the nearest centimeter) and convert to $.] ADDITIONAL SUGGESTION FROM OTHERS: (NOT INCLUDED IN SEATTLE RULES) [OPTIONAL RULE] If a player reaches a destination with $250,000+, then they must declare.