(This Challenge has been completed.)
Game Design Showdown
December 2008 Challenge - "Spirit of Giving"
Theme: Gifts and/or Gift-Giving. (This does not need to be the primary theme ... but it should have a significant role in the game.)
Genre: Designer's Choice
Additional Design Requirement:
- Common Components - The game should be entirely made of standard gaming components, or easy-to-find or easy-to-make gaming components. Using boards & bits from popular existing games works as well.
- Start Date: Thursday, 4-December-2008
- End Date: Thursday, 11-December-2008, Noon US Eastern time (approximately)
- Voting: 11-December-2008 through Saturday 20-December-2008 (I have extended the voting by 2 days)
This Challenge has been completed.
Voting Results: See how the voting turned out in the Voting Poll.
Critique: Post your constructive critiques of the entries on the Critique Thread.
For more details on how these Game Design Showdown Challenges work -- including an entry formatting template -- visit the GDS Content Page.
Comments or Questions on this Challenge: Comments, questions and requests for clarification were handled on the Comments Thread.
Enjoy! -Bryk
Entry #1 - Bailout!
by Comfect
Give It Away Now
Components
1 monopoly board; 1 D20 per property on the monopoly board; the monopoly propery card; monopoly money; red and blue poker chips
Objective
You are a member of Congress, desperately trying to give money to the right corporations in order to keep your district happy.
Start
Roll 1D20 for each property (hereafter known as companies) on the board (and leave the D20 on the space) - that company links to the companies that many spaces away to the left and right. Note if any companies link to the Chance, Community Chest, Luxury Tax, Income Tax, Go!, Free Parking, Jail or Go to Jail spaces.
Shuffle and deal out 24 of the companies evenly to the players. These are their key contributors.
Distribute half of the $1 bills and all of the remaining bills evenly between the players. $1 bills are worth $1000. This is each player's earmark stash.
Turns
In turn, each player takes one of the following actions:
Bail out one company by giving it federal money from their earmark stash. The first bailout of a company costs the cost of the first house on the property; the second the second, and so on until the fifth (and all further bailouts) costs as much as the hotel. If a company is bailed out, it's stock price increases. Place two blue chips on the company, and one blue chip on each company it links to (non-property spaces are not affected). Remove red chips (if any) before adding blue chips. The bailout also negatively affects the stock prices of the company’s competitors; remove one blue chip from each other property of the same color (but do not place a red chip if there are no blue chips). Notes: only one company of each color may be bailed out per round. The Railroads are one "color;" so are the Utilities. If a company links to another company of its own color, do nothing to that company.
Increase taxes. Each player gains $1000. This lowers the stock value of those companies that link to Income Tax, Luxury Tax, Chance, or Free Parking. Place a red poker chip on those companies, unless they have blue poker chips available, in which case remove one. Note: this may only be done once per round, and may not be done in a round in which taxes have decreased.
Decrease taxes. Each player loses $1000. This raises the stock value of those companies that link to Income Tax, Luxury Tax, Chance, or Free Parking. Place a blue poker chip on those companies, unless they have red poker chips available, in which case remove one. Note: this may be used to affect the value of companies that may not be bailed out this round. Note: this may only be done once around, and may not be done in a round in which taxes have increased.
Institute Welfare. Each player loses $500. This raises the stock value of those companies that link to Community Chest or Go!, and lowers those that link to Jail or Go to Jail. Note: this may only be done once a round, and may not be done in a round in which welfare has been cut.
Cut Welfare. Each player gains $500. This raises the stock value of those companies that link to Jail or Go to Jail, and lowers those that link to Community Chest or Go! Note: this may only be done once a round, and may not be done in a round in which welfare has been instituted.
Turn order
Each round through the players is played in reverse spending order: the player who spent the least on a bailout last turn goes first (on the first turn, play in reverse property order, with the player with the most expensive contributor going first). Instituting Welfare counts as spending $500 on a bailout; Decreasing Taxes counts as spending $1000. Cutting welfare counts as spending -$500; Increasing Taxes counts as spending -$1000.
Game End and Scoring
The game ends when a player has run out of money to give out. Score is then totaled as follows: Calculate the stock values of your contributors (ie the properties you hold). Each company's value is equal to its property value, +10% for each blue chip, -10% for each red chip.