Monopoly is a game that teaches a lot about life and management too. Its a really popular game in this modern era and most real estate agents and those who aspire to be one will find this game quite intriguing. Its has the real-life board type as well as the application. I couldn't lay hands on the application as of now but i got something close, Europoly.
This Europoly a game has the same basic principles of play as the Monopoly counterpart. As I've said earlier its a board game with lot of squares on it, each square represent different locations in Europe but there are a few squares that have some specific instructions on them, like the go to jail, the starting square lottery, casino etc.
Lets get into the game play now. Its played by at least two individuals and can reach a max of 4 in the app version. Anyone can start the game by rolling the dice ( small twin cube like objects with imprinted numbers on it). You move according to the number displayed on the dice. So if player A manages to roll out a total of 7, he get to move 7 squares forward and pass on the dice to the next player. You get to play again if you roll doubles ( i.e same number on both dice) but will go to jail if you roll doubles three times consecutively.
You start the game with some preset amount equally amongst all players. Each squares/location has a price and can be bought. Once bought, you own the right to collect rent from everyone else that lands in that square. You'll notice that each square has a color and some groups have the same color. If you manage to buy all (mostly three) locations with the same color, then you get to place buildings and earn more rent money.
There are also some transportation companies in there, like the airport (we have four of them here) and the motorway (land) and ferry(sea). Your rent increases as you own more airports like wise the other two types of transportation squares. There's an extra achievement tag you get when you manage to own all these squares.
Then there are some that can't be bought. Like the casino and lottery for example, when you land on any of these squares, some specific instructions will be dished out to you. One time I was asked to go to jail, while on another occasion I was asked to pair for repairs on all my houses, this cost me a lot and I went bankrupt. We also have the free square, nothing happens here. There's also the local tax and tourist tax where you get to pay fixed amount of taxes. Go to jail square simply sends you to jail in the 'Jail square'. You receive a little token each time you pass the start square.
While in jail, there are some options by which you could get out. You may choose to use your "get out of jail free" card, or you could go out by rolling doubles or simply pay a fine. Either way, these are options for you to choose from, the choice is yours to make.
Winners and losers are decided based on how much you have and don't have. You loose in this game when you don't have enough resources to get you out of bankruptcy. You know you can buy properties and earn rent, well you will also have to pay rent to others too when you're in their property. At times the rent you pay will be more than the cash at hand, so you'll be in the red.
There are a few means by which you could get out of the red zone. You could mortgage your properties (houses and lands alike) at a lesser price than you bought them till you're out of the red. Another way is to make deals with other players and look to sell some of your properties to them. If all of this proves futile then you're out of the game. The winner is simply the last man standing.
The whole game is about 'Monopoly' so why not take the game by the name from the very start. What I'm trying to say here is that I try to own all squares of the game. How will i do this when there's limited funds and each player has to take a turn? Well i do this gradually.
You know how each player has to play from the start to the end of the game and they can buy properties as well as you can buy. The trick here is to strategically buy these properties from them. How?
Well firstly, I look to buy a piece of all the colored squares so that no one gets to own all of them and build any houses. Paying rent to properties with houses can be really expensive. Most times I buy these properties from them higher than they actually bought them but not to worry, I got what I wanted anyway.
After I must have successfully gotten one from each, then I look to own identical colors so that I can build on them. If some of them are owned by others, i offer to buy them off, at a much higher price, many times this is usually successful. So I build and wait for someone to land in them. Boom!
I repeat this process till everyone pays rent to only me. Later I try to own all the other squares and soon no one is safe from me in the game. I also refuse their offers to me in game cos its mostly not in my favor and outrageous.
