Honor System

LAND GRAB

The Game of Land Speculation and Development

THE PLAYING BOARD

Lay the playing board out on a table. You are looking at a planned new subdivision near a major city. The streets have been laid out, and park areas set aside. The blocks of remaining land have been divided into lots of various sizes and shapes. The unmarked lots are all owned by a national Bank. Those marked "Crown Land" and numbered, are owned by the government. All are for sale to major Development Corporations - namely, you.

OBJECT AND PRINCIPLES OF THE GAME

For this project, your Corporation has allowed you a limited sum of money. You must use and invest it carefully so as to produce sufficient returns to enable you to expand your operations and outstrip your competitors. First you need land to construct buildings; these will give you revenue to buy more land and build bigger buildings. These, in turn, will give you higher revenue, and so on.

Buy as much land as you can afford. Try to acquire lots of land adjacent one another, in order to form larger properties on which you can eventually construct larger buildings. At the same time, try to buy lots of land in areas that your competitors are trying to build up, to prevent them from forming large properties, or to resell to them at higher prices. This is land speculation at its most profitable.

Construct buildings on the land you buy. The return from these buildings is your main source of revenue. At first you will build smaller buildings at costs you afford, but as the returns increase your funds, you can acquire more land and build larger buildings. Larger buildings produce a higher revenue per area than smaller buildings do.

The ultimate object in the game is to build the Sports Stadium.

SETTING UP THE GAME

1) Two to four players may play. (A fifth player may serve as Banker, not taking part in the play, but controlling the Bank money and Building Cards. Otherwise, one of the players in the game is appointed Banker.)

2) Arrange the Bank money and the Building Cards beside the board. The Building Cards should be laid out in rows according to size. Within each row they should also be separated according to:
a) whether they are commercial or residential buildings (coloured Red or Green); and
b) whether, in the case of non-square cards, they are pictured horizontally or vertically.

3) Each player takes $200,000 (1 -$50,000; 5-$1O,000; 1 -$100,000). He also takes all the markers of one colour, which he will use to identify his lots of land and buildings. 4) Shuffle the Venture cards and place them face down beside the board. Shuffle the Crown Land cards and place them face down beside the board. (There is one Auction card for every lot of Crown Land (16 in total).)

MOVES ON EACH TURN

On each of your turns, you may do any or all of the following, in this order-

1) Collect the total amount of returns due from all of your buildings (this will not be possible before the third turn).

2) Roll the die (this you must do). According to the roll, you may buy land, turn over an Auction Card to auction a lot, Crown Land, or pick a Venture Card.

3) Build one building, if you wish (not possible on the first turn of the game).

4) Demolish one of your buildings on the board, if you wish.

5) At any point during the above (usually after collecting returns) you may offer to buy or sell land or buildings to other players.

THE DIE ROLL

On each turn, you throw one die. If you throw:

1) One: you may buy Bank land from zone 1.

2) Two: you may buy Bank land from zone 2.

3) Three: you may buy Bank land from zone 3.

4) Four: you may buy Bank land from any zone you choose.

5) Five: you may choose to either:
a) Pick the top card of the Auction deck, which will put one lot of Crown Land up for auction; or
b) Pick the top Venture card.

6) Six: Same as a throw of Five.

Note: Once all the Auction cards have been turned up, on throws of five and six you must pick a Venture card.

BUYING BANK LAND

The board is divided into three major zones:

Zone 1 is the whole area below the river - marked by a "1".
Zone 2 is the area above the river and left of the wedge-shaped park - marked by a "2".
Zone 3 is the area above the river and right of the wedge-shaped park - marked by a "3".

Each city block is divided into several lots of land. Each lot is made up one, two, three, or four "acres'. An acre is the smallest unit of land 1 inch by 1 inch. Every lot of Bank land (the unmarked lots) sells for a market price of $20,000 per acre, So the price of any. particular lot will depend on how many acres are in it.

On a throw of 1 to 4, you may buy one lot of Bank land of any size, in the zone indicated by the throw, or in the zone of your choice if the throw was a 4. You pay the market price to the Bank. You place one marker on the lot to indicate ownership. (Note:you may decide, after your throw, not to buy any land.)

BUYING CROWN LAND

When an Auction card is turned over, it indicates one lot of Crown Land on the board, and a minimum price for it. This price applies to the entire lot, not to each acre in it.

All players may bid on this lot. If you picked the card, you start the bidding, at the minimum price indicated. If you don’t want to bid on it, the first bid passes to the left. Bids must rise in units of $10,000. The lot goes to the highest bidder, and he places a marker on it.

The purchase money for Crown Land is also paid into the Bank.

After an Auction card is bid on, place it face up under the deck. If a lot of Crown Land is not bid on at the time it becomes available, it is also placed face up under the deck, and cannot be made available again. When all Crown Land cards have been turned up, the deck is set aside.

BUYING AND SELLING BETWEEN PLAYERS

Land
At any time on your turn you may offer to buy or sell one or more lots of undeveloped land (no building on it) for any price a buyer is willing to pay you. The marker is changed to the new owner’s.

A portion of a lot of land may be sold (in one piece), but only if the other portion is occupied by a building.

Buildings
Buildings may also be bought and sold between players in the same way as land, for whatever price the buyer is willing to pay. (This should reflect both the cost of the building and the value of the land it is on.) The marker is changed to the new owner’s, and on the following turn, the returns from it will go to him.

CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS

On each turn, you may construct one building of any size on undeveloped land you own, anywhere on the board, according to the following rules:

1) The cost of construction is stated after "price" on the Card. This money is paid into the Bank.

2) The building may cover one lot, any combination of lots, or portions of lots.

3) You cannot build on a lot you have just bought on that turn, whether from the Bank or the Crown, or from another player. (This means that no building may take place on the first turn of the game.)

4) The building must touch a street on at least one side. And that side must be the one bearing the price and income figures, so that the building "faces" on a street. (Since the cards that are not square are pictured some vertically, some horizontally, not all of them, in some cases, can be placed on an area of their shape.)

5) Zoning Bylaw: As soon as the first building is constructed within a block, all further construction in that block must be of the same class, commercial or residential:

a) Commercial: coloured Red (Office Buildings, Industrial Plants, Garages);
b) Residential: coloured Green (Apartment Buildings, Townhouses, Homes, Shopping Centres).

If demolition removes all construction within a block, then either class of building may start again. Note the exception covering the building of the Sports Stadium (coloured Yellow) (see under "Winning the Game").

6) One marker is placed on the building to indicate ownership.

7) If a portion of a lot is left undeveloped, a marker is placed on it to show ownership. (This portion may later be sold.)

RETURNS ON BUILDINGS

The price noted after "Income" on the card is the amount of income which that building returns to its owner on every turn. This money is received from the Bank.

DEMOLITION OF BUILDINGS

On each turn, you may choose to demolish one of your buildings anywhere on the board. The cost for demolition is $10,000 per building, no matter what the size. Since demolition takes place after construction (see "Moves on Each Turn") you cannot build over demolished land until the next turn.

You may demolish a building on the same turn as you buy it from another player.

You will demolish a building only when you want to use that land as part of the site for a larger building, since tha return on a larger building is always greater than all the returns you could get on smaller buildings covering the same area. Moreover, your ultimate object is to build the Sports Stadium, and for this, demolition is usually necessary, since you will find it difficult to amass a 9x9-acre property without a building on it along the way for needed returns.

But note that since only one building can be demolished per turn, it may take several turns to clear the site for a larger building, and you are meanwhile losing the returns from those demolished buildings!

VENTURE CARDS

When you pick a Venture card, you must act on it immediately, unless the card applies to the next turn. In either case, the contents of the card must be immediately revealed.

When the card has been used, place it face up under the deck. When all the cards have been used, reshuffle the deck and place it face down again.

SELLING TO PAY A DEBT

A Venture card may put you into debt. If you have not enough cash, you may auction any undeveloped land, or any buildings you own, to the other players, and sell to the highest bidder.

Neither land nor buildings can be sold back to the Bank.

If you cannot raise enough money in this way, you are bankrupt and out of the game. Your undeveloped lots return to the Bank and may be bought in normal fashion by the other players. Your buildings remain in place and are auctioned off one at a time to the other players for the highest bid. (The purchase price is paid into the - Bank.)

WINNING THE GAME

You win the game if you are the player who builds the Sports Stadium.

The Sports Stadium, being both a commercial and a leisure operation, is coloured Yellow, and may be built in any block, regardless of what that block is zoned for at the time; that is, whether there are other commercial or residential buildings already in it.

Alternative ends to the game:
a) when a predetermined time limit is reached regardless of whether the Stadium is built or not.
b) when no further building can take place.

In either case, the winner is the player with the greatest assets, namely the total of: Cash; plus Undeveloped land value ($20,000 per acre); plus The construction value of all his buildings.