ccs020@ucdavis.UUCP (Kevin Chu) (10/02/85)
Within the group of friends that I play RB with, we have come up
with some rules/statagies that are interesting.
- If a player reaches a destination with $250,000+ then they MUST
declare. We added this rule so people couldn't wait around
until they rolled their home city as their destination. It can
make the end of the game a little more interesting.
- If you are locked out of your destination, try to take one player
in and another out. This keeps the money distributed.
- If you are in a 3 player game, and feeling bold, you might want
to save up for a super-chief as your first buy. Especially if your
first trip was a long one.
- Once a player is declared, we give everybody some time on their
turn to "count dots". Why spoil a good game due to a dumb mistake?
We do, however, enforce the "no hesitation" rule once the dice are
rolled.
These are, of course, just our way of playing, so please keep your
comments to yourself of you don't like them.
We also use a computer (apple 2) to help speed up the game. It
rolls destinations and determines the payoff. This is a REAL time
saver. If you play alot, then you might want to write a program
like I did. The only hard part is entering all of the charts.
As far as buying statagies goes, it usually depends on the number
of people playing. I prefer the PA and the ACL over the NYC and SAL.
The reasons are: 1) They're faster and 2) if anyone else has to go
into the NE or SE, they are more likely to take the PA or ACL.
However, the first rail I try to buy is the L&N.
Now I have a question, in how many of your games is the N&W the last
rail to be bought?
--
--Kevin Chu
..ucbvax!ucdavis!vega!ccs020
/excmt@myrias.UUCP (Chris Thomson) (10/06/85)
One rule modification folks around here use is:
Each player may refuse ONE of his first three destinations and roll again.
This prevents a permanent poverty cycle if someone rolls Miami either after
the SAL is bought or before, but from far away. It is very important to have
an opportunity to buy a northeast railroad early, and being poor early will
almost guarantee that you lose. [Miami is the most expensive monopoly on the
board, and one of the easiest to obtain.]