Game: Advance to Boardwalk

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unixrevolution — 2008-11-13T15:48:07+00:00

Game in progress.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules and 'number' dice missing

byronczimmer — 2008-06-02T21:04:40+00:00

whac3 wrote:
The rules were giving two SEPARATE examples in the case you mention.

Seems an odd place to put two separate rolls, in a section talking about tossing all three dice simultaneously, and then totaling the amount you get to spend.

Every other example discusses the individually rolled values (on each die) and then states the sum. Given that sums do not carry over, it makes it more confusing.

I can accept that the dice are 'normal' (1-6), but it seems like such an odd anomoly in the rules, and one that made me wonder/hope that maybe the dice gave a non-uniform distribution versus the standard 2d6 curve.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

whac3 — 2008-06-02T14:11:06+00:00

byronczimmer wrote:
So your money any given round is the sum of 4d6 then?

No, as I said those are two different instances of dice rolls. Money is the sum of two [2] dice rolled.

The dice in my set-- which is complete and was purchased new years ago-- are 2 d6 ordinary dice and one die with squares of each of the four colors on the board-- yellow, red, blue and green-- on four sides, a W on another side for "wild" and F for fortune card on the sixth side. If one rolls anything but F on the third die, one gets to spend up to the amount [in millions] rolled in the area indicated. W allows one to pick any color but one must build only within a single color zone. Thus, 3,6,green means you have $9M to spend in the green area. It can be broken up however one likes but must be spent in the green area and any money not spent on a turn is lost.

The rules were giving two SEPARATE examples in the case you mention.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

byronczimmer — 2008-06-02T14:02:00+00:00

So your money any given round is the sum of 4d6 then?

I don't think so... The section reads:

Roll all three dice together (numbers + color)
The numbered dice indicate how many millions of dollars you have to spend this round.
Example
You roll a 3 and a 7, you have a total of $10 million to spend.

That indicates to me that these are NOT normal d6's, and that at least one of them has at least one '7' on a face.

If I have the distribution, recreating the dice is easy.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

whac3 — 2008-06-02T09:59:21+00:00

It's just the total of two dice in two separate instances.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

byronczimmer — 2008-06-02T03:42:09+00:00

Query:

The DICE are missing, and the rules make reference to rolling 'a 3 and a 7, for a total of 10'.

"SEVEN" ?!?

Hard to do with normal d6's, so what's the distribution on the dice?

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

whac3 — 2008-06-01T14:18:13+00:00

My father bought me a copy when I was probably ten or eleven which I still have. Though it is not my favorite game, one does have to think a little bit so that it's neither all dumb luck nor truely a roll-and-move game.

I would however note that it is more interesting IMHO if one allows [as per the original rules] the possibility [such as on the green] that a player can roll and not be able to build at all.

The game is a very simple intro to resource management where what one has available on each turn is random and one has to make the most of it to both more one's self toward the target property value and to take property away from other players.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

unixrevolution — 2008-06-01T04:36:35+00:00

byronczimmer wrote:
Actually, it looks like a simple enough filler, and one that players comfortable with the Monopoly branding might be able to get behind.

Despite claims to the contrary, it is a fairly interesting game. I have a thrift copy missing the origial dice; fortunately we made a reference chart so the color die isn't needed.

It's a neat little filler, and those in the Monopoly mindset will find the theme and artwork comforting as they wade into unfamiliar territory.

I, for one, certainly wouldn't say it's good only for parts for better games. Who knows? You may like it.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

byronczimmer — 2008-06-01T02:31:46+00:00

Actually, it looks like a simple enough filler, and one that players comfortable with the Monopoly branding might be able to get behind.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

GlennG — 2008-05-31T22:45:12+00:00

Sadly, the only thing this game is good for is adding parts to the original "Can't Stop" by Parker Brothers. There are so, so many better games out there to spend time on.

Thread: Re: Flea market find - rules missing

Spielfreak — 2008-05-31T21:55:11+00:00

The Links section for this game contains a link to a PDF file on the Hasbro website.

Thread: Flea market find - rules and 'number' dice missing

byronczimmer — 2008-05-31T21:25:50+00:00

Just picked this up for a dollar in a flea market.

It was missing two things:

1 pair of normal dice (easily replaced)**
the rules

Is the review posted here sufficient rules coverage to play this game?

Is there anywhere that the rules are available for download?

** Based on RULES read, these are not normal d6's. So what are they?

Thread: Re: roll too low

Beowulf — 2008-03-31T08:49:38+00:00

AllenDoum wrote:
skrebs wrote:
I've played this game several times but recently ran into the following and I just can't find the answer in the rules. What happens if I roll green and 2? I can't buy anything so do I just pass the dice?
Either that or reroll. Either way, it is a house rule. I would prefer the reroll rather that completely stiffing a player.
I just salvaged this game from my mother's house. While playing it tonight with my son, we ran into this situation. I agree that any solution will be a house rule, because the rules are mute on this point. Our approach was to treat an "under funded roll" as an opportunity to pick up a Fortune card. You don't have to build if you roll an "F," so this solution worked well for us.

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Andre_g54 — 2007-11-08T09:18:41+00:00

1985 ADVANCE TO MARBLE ARCH by Parker Brothers

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Andre_g54 — 2007-11-08T09:17:07+00:00

1985 ADVANCE TO MARBLE ARCH by Parker Brothers

Thread: Re: A filler and a gateway game

docreason — 2007-09-28T22:43:20+00:00

I consider this a good filler game also. Definitely separate from Monopoly. This game introduces people to Manhattan, and then you are on your way.

Thread: Re: A filler and a gateway game

OldestManOnMySpace — 2007-09-28T14:25:15+00:00

NickB wrote:
Sure, it's light and somewhat lucky, but there's enough strategy to keep it interesting. Although, I would say it's more of a tactical game, deciding where to put hotels so you can hit card spaces and passing up a higher score for better board position.
You're right, it's far more tactical than strategical, if strategical at all. I always get those two messed up.

Thread: Re: A filler and a gateway game

NickB — 2007-09-28T14:17:56+00:00

Nice to see a review for this game. I got my copy in '86, and it's been an active part of my collection ever since. Sure, it's light and somewhat lucky, but there's enough strategy to keep it interesting. Although, I would say it's more of a tactical game, deciding where to put hotels so you can hit card spaces and passing up a higher score for better board position. It's also a game that kids can easily learn and discover there ARE more interesting mechanics to games other than roll and move

Nick

Thread: Re: A filler and a gateway game

OldestManOnMySpace — 2007-09-28T13:54:25+00:00

ekted wrote:
Nice review!
Thanks! That's a great compliment coming from you, because I recall that this GeekList item was the one that made me try this, although I already owned it.

Thread: Re: A filler and a gateway game

ekted — 2007-09-28T12:56:06+00:00

Nice review! Advance to Boardwalk is surprisingly good considering its ancestry.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/213831

Thread: A filler and a gateway game

OldestManOnMySpace — 2007-09-28T11:54:22+00:00

SUMMARY:
Advance to Boardwalk is a 1985 game designed by Charles Phillips. It’s more milking of the Monopoly theme, a large cash cow for Parker Brothers, but the game really has little to do with Monopoly. It scales from 2-4 players, and is not particularly unbalanced for any number.

THEME:
The game is loosely themed, and really shares very little in common with Monopoly besides the theme. The intended theme is purchasing hotels in a prime location for beach visitors, and the player with the most hotels in any given location gains consumer dominance in it.

At least, that’s how I interpret it. It’s possible that the hotel units actually represent improvements to your hotel, and the one with the glitzier and glamorous hotel wins. As I said, it’s loosely themed.

COMPONENTS:
The game has relatively basic components, nothing too fancy. Each possible colour has 20 hotel units, and a scoring marker. The scoring markers are a nice touch, and likely a faint allusion to Monopoly. There is a baby buggy, a roller skate, a sailboat, and a moped. Unfortunately, none of them have any special powers – they’re just a nice touch to the game, and add a difference between the colours.

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What you'll see when you open the box.

There are three dice, two normal D6s and a “colour die”, also a D6, with 6 faces – red, yellow, blue, green, wild, and fortune. There are 28 fortune cards – nothing special to say about them, they serve their purpose and nothing more. The board is fairly pretty – there’s a nice illustration of a beach, reminiscent of 60s box art. Finally, there are 20 “property cards”. These are not particularly notable, they are simply small markers used for designating which player owns which properties. Their only real use is for the occasional recount to make sure everyone is located at the right place on the board. However, overall, they serve little real purpose.

SET-UP:
At the start of the game, each player chooses a colour from the selections of puke yellow, dark maroon, unappealing grey, or unusual orange. As people are obliged to mention every time this game comes up in a GeekList (I’m serious, just look at GeekLists it’s featured in), the pieces can also be used as an expansion for Can't Stop, allowing more players. Why anyone would want to play 9-player Can’t Stop, I’m not sure. Urgh, all the downtime...

Once players have selected their colours, they place them on the Start location on the board, and each player takes an amount of hotel units, which vary based on player number. If 4 people are playing, then each person takes 14 hotel units. If 3 people are playing, then they take 16. If only 2 are playing, then they take 20.

The property cards are then placed, next to the corresponding properties on the board. The deck of fortune cards is shuffled, and each player is dealt 2. Finally, the players roll the two D6s to decide who goes first – as expected, highest goes first.

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This game has been set up.

GAMEPLAY:
Gameplay is relatively simple, although a bit confusing at first. The game is divided up into 6 phases:

1. Roll all 3 dice
2. Build units
3. Take (a) property card(s) if you should
4. Move token(s)
5. Fortune card playing
6. End of turn

On a player’s turn, they roll the three dice – the two D6s and the colour die. The amount the player rolls on the number dice determines how many millions of dollars they may spend on this turn. The result of the colour die determines where they get to spend it. If the player rolls a colour – red, blue, green, or yellow – then they may spend up to that much money in that colour group on the board. If the player rolls W (for Wild), they may spend up to that much money in any colour group on the board, however, all the money spent must be in the same colour group. If the player rolls F (for Fortune), they simply draw a fortune card, and the number they rolled has no effect. They then proceed to skip to stage 5.

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This player has rolled $7 million in yellow.

The four colour groups have no difference except in price. Green is the most expensive – properties range from $4 - $8 million. Yellow is second most expensive – $3 - $7. Then blue: $2 - $6. Last, and least for sure, there is pitiful red - $1 - $5. There are no special powers or boosts for controlling every property in a colour group.

1. Roll all 3 dice
Let us imagine that the player, say, Aldie, rolled a combined total of 9 on the two number dice, and a W. Aldie may now spend up to $9 million in any colour group he wishes, although all the money spent must be in the same location. Aldie looks at his fortune cards, and sees that he has a Windfall card. This card will add $3 million to his roll. Aldie chooses to play the card, shows it to the other players, places it in the discard pile, and he now has $12 million to spend.

2. Build units
Aldie may now spend his money, and hopefully he will spend it wisely. He now has the ability to place however many hotel units he can afford (up to $12 million) in any colour group, on whichever properties he likes within his budget. However, he must abide by the following rules of hotel unit placement:

1. He may not place more than one unit on a vacant lot. A lot is considered vacant when no hotel units are placed in it. Whether hotel units are placed in other properties in the same colour group does not matter. He is not restricted on how many units he builds in a lot that is not vacant, even if that lot contains hotel units that are not his.
2. He must build at least one unit, if he can. He may not choose to pass his turn until he builds at least one hotel unit, unless he may not. Once he has placed one hotel unit, even if he can still afford more, he is free to pass or continue to spend his money.

Aldie chooses to place his units in the yellow section. He places one unit in the $6 million lot, and another in the $4 million lot. Although he could have spent all his money and gained more of an early lead, he chooses not to. Why he did will be seen later. Also, despite that he did not spend all that he could have, the unused money does not carry over to a future round.

3. Take (a) property card(s) if you should
The owner of a property card and the value associated with it is determined by this method:

1. If someone is the only player with hotel units in a lot, then they control the property card. If there are other players in the lot, proceed to 2.
2. If any player has more hotel units than any other player with hotel units in the lot, then they control the property card. If two or more players are tied in number of units, proceed to 3.
3. The player involved in the tie who placed the first hotel unit in that lot controls the property card. For example, if grey placed a hotel unit in the green $8 million lot, then orange placed one in the same lot, then grey would still control it, since it was there first. If yellow placed two in that lot, then it would then control it, since it has more units in the lot than anyone else. However, if orange placed another unit in the lot, then it would take control of the property card. Although grey was there first, grey only has one unit in the lot to orange and yellow’s 2, and, of those in the tie, orange was there first. If grey placed another unit in the lot, it would regain control of the card. There is no limit on the number of units that may be in a lot – although you may be restricted by wind blowing the pieces over.

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Yup - no limit on number of units in a lot!

Being the only player with units in the lots, Aldie has gained control in the yellow $6 million lot and $4 million lots, so he takes the respective property cards for each of them.

4. Move token(s)
It is now time for Aldie to adjust the positions on the scoreboard based on what property cards changed hands, if any. If no property cards were gained and lost, no alterations are made. However, since Aldie gained two property cards, he has to move his token up.

The board, aside from having all the lots on it, is also a scoreboard, starting at the Start space, and ending at the $61 million space. Since this is the start of the game, everyone is currently at Start.

Aldie gained $10 million in property values, so he moves his pawn up to the $10 million space on the board. This space is a Fortune space, and this is why Aldie did not spend all the money he could have.

On the board, there are a handful of Fortune spaces, which are marked with an (F) in white next to the value. If a player lands on this space after they finish moving their token forward for all of the property they gained during that turn, they draw the top Fortune card from the deck. It must have been the result of movement made on your turn – not movement that happened on another player’s turn. You do not get the card if you move backwards onto the space as the result of losing property.

Aldie draws the top fortune card from the deck.

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The yellow player is behind with only $15 million.

5. Fortune card playing
Aldie now has the option to play one Fortune card, and only one. He currently has two – he started with 2, played one earlier in his turn, and has just drawn one. In his hand he has the following cards:

Hurricane
Hurricane removes the top (the most recent) hotel unit from any lot and returns it to its respective player. Since Aldie is the only person with any hotel units on the board right now, this isn’t a good card for him to play.

$8 Million Contract
$8 Million Contract allows you to build one unit onto the top of any lot (vacant or occupied) that is worth $8 million or less – in other words, any lot in the game – for free. This card will work for Aldie, and he chooses to play it.

Like the Windfall card, he describes it to his opponents, and then places it in the Discard pile. He picks up one of his hotel units, and chooses to place it on the green $8 million lot. He is the only person with a hotel unit there, and he gains the property card. He adjusts his token up to $18 million.

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Some samples of fortune cards.

6. End of turn
Aldie passes the dice to the next player.

GAME END:
The game has two possible ending conditions:

1. Hotel exhaustion:
If one player has no hotel units left at the start of their turn, then the game ends. They do not get another turn.

This is a good end-game condition, and is one of the best things about the game. It makes it reminiscent of Samurai, where you do not want to be the one to place the last piece around a figure. Here, you don’t really want to be the one who ends the game. I find this to be a very euro-esque mechanic.

2. Financial superiority
If a player gets to the last space on the scoring board ($61 million), they instantly win. I have never seen this happen, and it’s not very plausible.

When the game ends, the player with the largest net worth (the player who owns more value in property cards than anyone else/is on a higher space in the scoreboard than anyone else) wins.

THOUGHTS:
It has been suggested in a Variants post here that the insurance cards be taken out of the game.

Insurance
This card protects against a Hurricane card. Play this immediately after a Hurricane card is played on you, and it takes no effect.

This makes a decent amount of sense. In the two-player game, there aren’t too many cards drawn – being fewer players – and therefore it’s unlikely that the player with the Insurance card will be Hurricaned, therefore making it the worst card to have. And in a three or four-player game, the Hurricaner has more options on who to play the card on, and therefore the chances are that, if a player has the Insurance card, they will never get the chance to play it, even if there is a Hurricane played by someone else.

The rules make no explanation of what should happen if a player rolls $2 million in yellow or green, or $3 million in green. Since the cheapest properties are $3 and $4 million in yellow and green respectively, these rolls would leave someone unable to buy anything. I would suggest simply house-ruling that anyone who rolls one of those combinations simply starts their turn again, and rerolls.

Don’t be put off of this game by its Monopoly theme – as I said, it’s really loosely themed, and these are basically the only similarities:

-Properties have values
-There are dice, and you roll them
-You buy properties
-There are neat little tokens that people kill each other over (I want the moped!)
-There’s a board
-There are things called hotels
-There are Monopoly graphics (only on the Fortune cards and on the insert and the box front, really)
-There are cards
-The properties have names
-The properties are discriminated against based on their colour group

RATING:
I’m not going to claim that this is an immensely strategic game. There’s strategy, but, being a Parker Brothers release, there’s also a decent dosing of luck. However, hotel placement and fortune card timing adds strategy too. I would guess that there would be more strategy with more players, but I’ve only played this with more than 2 players once.

Primarily, this is a filler. It can also be a gateway game to gateway games for people who’ve only played Monopoly. They may be enthralled by the theme, and won’t need much coercing to play. They will probably like the shorter playing time, and this is a great way to introduce them to games with a bit more strategy, inch by inch.

This is a good addition to your collection, as a filler and as a gateway game. Also, the playing time listed (60 minutes) is a complete lie. My copy says 45 minutes, and that’s a stretch. With slow players, it should peak at around 30 minutes. The game should probably only take around 15-20 with players who have played a few times before.

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fractaloon — 2007-09-26T22:03:49+00:00

The back of the box.

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fractaloon — 2007-09-26T22:03:33+00:00

Inside the box.

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OldestManOnMySpace — 2007-09-26T01:39:14+00:00

Dice determine how much you get to spend. Here, the player may spend $7 million in yellow.

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OldestManOnMySpace — 2007-09-26T01:39:02+00:00

This is still not an actual game situation. ;-)

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OldestManOnMySpace — 2007-09-26T01:38:37+00:00

Mr. Sailboat is behind, but he could easily make a comeback.

Thread: Re: roll too low

Bad News [bnw] — 2007-08-17T07:19:40+00:00

nerman8r wrote:
skrebs wrote:
I've played this game several times but recently ran into the following and I just can't find the answer in the rules. What happens if I roll green and 2? I can't buy anything so do I just pass the dice?

I think technically you wouldn't be able to buy anything and would have to pass, unless you had a card to play, of course.

Re-rolling sounds like a better option, so you might consider house ruling that in.'

But the rules also tells you that you need to buy a hotel every turn. It doesn't go together...

Thread: Take the insurance cards out of the deck

nerman8r — 2007-06-19T06:18:04+00:00

I like this game somewhat, but the insurance cards have always bugged me with their suckitude. It recently occurred to me to just remove them from the deck. I have considered making my own deck of cards, perhaps with more balanced cards.

If people are interested in the idea, or have ideas for cards, please reply.

Thread: Re: roll too low

nerman8r — 2007-06-19T06:14:42+00:00

skrebs wrote:
I've played this game several times but recently ran into the following and I just can't find the answer in the rules. What happens if I roll green and 2? I can't buy anything so do I just pass the dice?

I think technically you wouldn't be able to buy anything and would have to pass, unless you had a card to play, of course.

Re-rolling sounds like a better option, so you might consider house ruling that in.

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samoan_jo — 2007-03-17T10:20:56+00:00

Advance to Boardwalk - box front

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matthan — 2006-09-29T13:30:13+00:00

Thread: Re: roll too low

AllenDoum — 2006-03-05T05:14:56+00:00

skrebs wrote:
I've played this game several times but recently ran into the following and I just can't find the answer in the rules. What happens if I roll green and 2? I can't buy anything so do I just pass the dice?

Either that or reroll. Either way, it is a house rule. I would prefer the reroll rather that completely stiffing a player.

Thread: roll too low

skrebs — 2006-03-05T01:01:41+00:00

I've played this game several times but recently ran into the following and I just can't find the answer in the rules. What happens if I roll green and 2? I can't buy anything so do I just pass the dice?

Thread: Re:Quick Comments

ekted — 2004-07-22T08:05:24+00:00

Agreed better than Monopoly. When I first got this game, we played all day and all night for 3 days straight. If I only had this game and Monopoly for the rest of my life, I would still throw Monopoly in the trash.

Thread: Quick Comments

quozl — 2004-07-21T19:23:32+00:00

Advance to Boardwalk is a very simple game. Each player has a stack of hotels and each turn, a player rolls the dice and purchases lots to place his/her hotels. The lots are divided up into four colors and a special die determines which color you can purchase from. The other two dice are added together and that is the total you can spend that turn. Besides empty lots, you can purchase space on an owned lot. Whoever has the most hotels on the lot (with the bottom-most hotel color winning ties), owns the lot. The board contains both the lots and a scoreboard showing the total value of all lots owned for each player.

In addition to the purchasing of lots, there are also fate cards which are quite powerful (some will let take an empty $7 million lot). There are also special spaces on the score track where, if you land on them by exact count, will give you a free card. This provides a crucial decision. Will you buy all you can or just enough to get the free fate card?

While this is a simple game, a few deicions do need to be made here and it is a good game to introduce people to the world of games beyond Monopoly.

Thread: Quick Comments

Ytterbium — 2003-08-05T16:13:10+00:00

Advance to Boardwalk is a spin-off of Monopoly. Though it never really caught on, it is extremely fun.
Unlike Monopoly, Boardwalk does not use roll and move mechanics. You roll the three dice, two conventional and one color die. The two number dice indicate how many million dollars you have to spend on your turn to build hotels. The color die tells you what color section of the boardwalk you can spend it in. However, you can take over opponent's hotels by buying the same property and have more shares than your opponent.
There are also fortune cards. These are cards you keep in a hand and can play when they designate. They can give you an advantage or disadvantage another player.
Your token only moves as properties change hands. Your token moves forward if you gain more, and moves backwards if you lose. Your token's position always equals the value of your property.
The winner of the game either has property totaling $61 million or the most property value when someone runs out of all their hotel tokens. However, there are many twists and turns that can occur. When someone runs out of hotels, the game only ends when their turn comes around again. Therefore, fortune cards are frantically played to give the opponent more hotels. It is a very fun and lively experience.
The only complaint I have about Advance to Boardwalk is that it is limited to four players. A six or eight player game of Boardwalk would be immensely fun.

Bottom Line: Better than Monopoly. If only it sold as well.
Rating: 9.5/10

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Parker produced a UK version of this game in 1985 called Advance to Marble Arch.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

While the other group delved into the Mayan jungles in Tikal, Jon Comeaux, John Moore and I had some time on our hands before the arrival of Willerd and the return of Eric Alleman. Thus, I pulled out this old Parker Brothers title which is actually quite an entertaining game.

Don't let the name fool you. The game has nothing to do with Monopoly. The name was obviously chosen in an attempt to capitalize on that mega-selling monster. Unfortunately, the game went unnoticed by the game buying public, which is a shame as there's actually a nifty game inside the box.

There are four tracts of land illustrated on the board, which depicts an ocean front boardwalk. Each tract of land contains five properties valued from $1 - $8. Each turn, a player rolls two regular dice and one special die. The special die has four sides depicting a color matching one of the land tracts, with the other two sides depicting a 'W' and 'F' respectively. The number rolled on the regular two dice is the amount of money the player can spend on development, while the color depicted on the special die is the tract of land he may build on. Thus, if a player rolled an 8 and a red, he has $8 million to spend on developing buildings in the red tract. He can split this $8 million as he sees fit. For example, he may build a building on the $5 million plot and one on the $3 million plot; or he may opt to build one building on the $8 million plot. Quite a few building options here.

If a 'W' was rolled instead of a color, the player may select which tract he wishes to build on. The 'F' means that a player draws a Fortune card and does not build that turn. Fortune cards allow a player to perform a variety of actions, including constructing extra buildings, moving one of his already placed buildings, removing an opponent's building, etc. A player may play one of these Fortune cards per turn.

When a player constructs a building and obtains the most buildings on a particular plot, he takes the deed to that property and moves his token along the boardwalk an amount equal to the value of the deed. If a player wrested control of the deed from an opponent, the opponent is then moved back that number of spaces. Buildings are placed on the board in a fashion identical to that used in Manhattan ... they are stacked on top of existing buildings. If there is a tie for the most buildings, the player who built first on that plot possesses the deed.

Some have described this game as 'Manhattan lite', and they're not far off. One certainly has similar thought processes and must constantly keep an eye out for optimum plays which will wrest control of deeds (control of buildings in Manhattan) from opponents. There's another planning element thrown in, too. Certain spaces along the boardwalk are marked with an 'F'. If a player advances his token to one of these locations, he draws a Fortune card. These cards can be extremely powerful and cause a severe swing in deed controls. Thus, it is not always wise to go for the largest deed acquisition if a lesser gain would allow you to move your token onto an 'F' location. Clever.

The game continues until one player has placed all of his buildings (sounds a bit like Rheinlander, doesn't it?) or until one player has reached the end of the boardwalk. The player controlling the most deeds is the victor.

In spite of the luck in rolling for amount available to be spent each turn, I find the game to be quite fun with a decent amount of thought and decision making involved. This is certainly a game which has a distinctive 'German' feel to it. It's been out of print for quite some time, but copies regularly surface at area thrift stores and garage sales. If you see one, scoop it up.

I seemed never to compete in this one. John and Jon both were neck and neck throughout, and I was often their whipping boy as they regularly seized control of deeds which I possessed. Ultimately, John was able to play a Fortune card on his final turn which enabled him to move one of his buildings, capturing an additional deed and vaulting him to the victory.

John 37, Jon 30, Greg 23