Illumonopoly

Introduction

One of the Space Gamer Cartoons was “Games that should not be played.” Some of the memorable ones included Ogre/D&D (where an Ogre is a cybertank; the cartoon being a wizard wearing a “Level 125” pin and behind him the tread, slightly singed, of an Ogre; the bubble over the wizard's head reads, “Well, so much for that fireball...” Another was Illumonopoly, which combined the classic Monopoly game with Steve Jackson's Illuminati. Here's my version. This assumes that you have a Monopoly board and some familiarity with its rules.

Changes to the Standard Rules

There are some changes to the standard rules, as follows:

• 1. A player's money must be placed in separate treasuries for separate properties.

  2. Other players may interfere with property purchases.

  3. Free Parking and Go now have Court Date cards associated with them.

  4. You may build on properties, even if you do not own all properties of the color group.

  5. You may do nothing and earn an extra $200 for the turn.

Money

A property group is a group of similar properties: either properties of the same color, or the utilities, or the railroads. If you only have one property of a type, you have a property group of one property. For example, if a player owned one utility, two railroads, and two green properties, they would have three property groups: the greens, the utility, and the railroads.

Every player has a central treasury, and a treasury for each property group. These treasuries should be thought of as separate treasuries. Thus the above player would have four separate treasuries: a treasury for the green properties; the utility; the railroads; and the central treasury.

A player's starting money begins in their central treasury; when a property is acquired, money may be transferred from the central treasury onto the property group treasury. All money collected as rent must first be placed in the property group treasury, but may be transferred later (see Transfer Money, below); likewise, any money obtained by mortgaging a property must begin on the property group treasury. All other money collected is paid to the player's central treasury. All money that must be spent must be paid from the central treasury or from the treasury of the affected property group or groups, if any (e.g., if you are assessed for hotels, etc., you can pay from each property group treasury, or from the central treasury; if you a purchasing a green property, you can spend money from the treasury of the green properties you already have).

If you land on a property owned by another player and do not have enough money in your central treasury, you may (must!) do a funds transfer between treasuries (see Money Transfers, below).

Interfering with Purchases

When a player (hereafter referred to as the purchaser) attempts to acquire a property (either an unowned property they have landed on, or a property owned by another player they wish to make an offer for), other players may attempt to thwart the sale. You may not interfere with property acquisitions through bankruptcy, but if a player offers to trade one property rather than pay rent (and thus avoid bankruptcy), you may interfere.

In order to interfere, the interfering player (hereafter referred to as the complainant) must pay $50 to the bank immediately (representing filing fees). For purposes of this action, the purchaser has a Legal Power of 10 and the complainant has a Legal Power of 0 (so if no one spends money, the player who is attempting to acquire must roll a 10 or less on two dice). Every $50 spent for the complainant decreases this roll by 1; every $50 spent for the purchaser increases this roll by 1. If the complainant wins, the property cannot be acquired this round. If the complainant loses, the property may be purchased or traded normally.

Court Date Cards

Free Parking and Go now have Court Date cards associated with them. Draw the card and hold it in your hand; you do not need to show the other players what it is. Unless otherwise indicated, the Court Date cards are played at the end of your turn. After they are played, they are discarded from your hand. The Court Date cards (four of each; you can make up your own or use a standard 52-card deck) are:

• 1. (Ace) Secret Deal: Play this card when you announce you are attempting to acquire a property; other players may not interfere unless they play an Interference card.

  2. Interference: Play this card when someone plays the Secret Deal card. You may interfere normally. You might (or might not) allow other players to spend on your behalf (your choice).

  3. Historic Blunder: Returns a property declared a historic landmark back into the game.

  4. Holding Action: Play this card during a court case. Court proceedings are immediately halted until the plaintiff's next turn, at which point they can choose to continue them (this counts as a legal action for that turn) or abandon them.

  5. Idle Hands: Play this card at the beginning of your turn. You may initiate one additional court case that turn.

  6. IRS Audit: The designated player may not transfer or spend money except to pay debts (rent, other taxes). They may still collect rent normally. This lasts until the player rolls doubles.

  7. Rent Control: Play this card at the beginning of your turn. Rents on unimproved properties are unaffected. On improved properties, the owner cannot collect more than the amount designated for having 1 house on the property. This card stays in effect until after your next turn.

  8. Brain Drain: Take one of another player's Court Date cards (chosen at random).

  9. Condemned Property: Designate one improved property. The owner must remove one house from the property, or reduce a hotel to four houses; they are not compensated for it. If they must remove other houses to keep the properties evenly developed, they are compensated at the standard rate.

  10. Corporate Spy: Determine either the amount on any treasury or the identity of a player's Court Date cards.

  11. (Jack) Bribed Assessor: Play at any time. One property is valuated at half its normal value (including any improvements on the property).

  12. (Queen) Legal Holiday: When played, no court cases may be initiated until the beginning of the player's next turn.

  13. (King) Cancellation: Play after another court date card has been played; cancels out the effects of the first card.

In addition, you may play any Court Date card as a Secret Deal card.

Building on Properties

You may now build on any properties you own; you do not need to own a monopoly. However, all improvements must be done evenly. So you cannot put a third house on a property until all the properties of the color group have at least two houses on them. This means if another player owns one of the properties of a color group and refuses to build on it, you can build no more than one house on the properties you own.

You may also build on any unowned properties. However, regardless of the number of improvements on a property or who paid for them, the purchase price of an unowned property is never greater than that listed on the board. So even if you spent $400 putting houses on an unowned property, if someone lands on it and wishes to purchase it, they do not have to pay you for your improvements, but can buy the property at the listed price.

Building on unowned properties is most useful if someone just played the Historic Blunder card, which returns a property to play. For example, suppose you own two of the green properties and the third was declared a historic landmark. You then put three houses on each of the green properties. If someone then returned the third property to play (with zero houses), then the properties have not been developed evenly, and you would either have to reduce the number of houses on each property to one or less, or build at least two houses on the unowned property.

Doing Nothing

A player may choose to do nothing but move on their turn. If they do nothing but move (and pay rent), they earn $200. They cannot build; they cannot buy; they cannot sell; they cannot transfer money; they cannot do anything other than move and pay rent. Note that a player who has had an IRS audit is eligible for this $200 (as long as they do nothing but move and pay rent).

Turn Sequence (Overview)

The basic turn sequence is as follows:

• 1. Initiate Legal Action

  2. Roll dice, move piece, pay rent, buy properties

  3. Transfer money

  4. Play Court Card

  5. Apply Special Abilities

Legal Action

A player may initiate a legal action. The player bringing suit is hereafter referred to as the plaintiff; the player named in the suit is hereafter known as the defendant. To initiate the suit the plaintiff must announce who is being sued, the nature of the suit, and must pay the bank (court) $50.

In the basic game, a player's Legal Power is equal 3 or the number of properties they own, whichever is greater. (In the advanced versions, the Legal Power varies from player to player)

The Effective Legal Power (ELP) is equal to the plaintiff's legal power, minus the defendant's legal power. To succeed in a court case you must roll the ELP or less on two dice; if your ELP is below 2, don't bother rolling since you will lose automatically. A roll of an 11 or 12 is always a failure, regardless of the ELP.

Every $10 spent in support of the plaintiff increases the ELP by 1; every $10 spent in support of the defendant decreases the ELP by 1. The plaintiff and defendant can always spend money from their central treasuries or from the treasury of the property group affected by the lawsuit; other players can usually spend money from their central treasury, unless otherwise indicated. Any money spent from the treasury of the affected property group counts double. Example: You have 8 properties and are bringing suit against someone with 5 properties, the ELP is 8 - 5 = 3. You spend $80, and they spend $20. The ELP is 3 + 8 - 2 = 9. If they spent $20 from the group treasury of the property named in the suit, this would count as $40 and the ELP would be 3 + 8 - 4 = 7.

There are three types of legal actions: You may attempt to declare a property a historic landmark; you may attempt to declare a property to have a defective title; or you may launch an antitrust suit. If a player's loses the last property of a color group or type due to a legal action, any money on the property treasury is transferred immediately to their central treasury.

• 1. Declare Historic Landmark: This is used to eliminate a property from the game. Designate the property (not a railroad or utility) you wish to declare a historic landmark. If you succeed, the property is removed from play: it cannot be bought or sold, and no rent can be collected if someone lands on the property space. The owner receives (from the bank) the listed cost of the property, but is not compensated for any improvements on the property, which are removed as the property is returned to its historic state. This does not limit building on other properties of the same group; the gaming effect is that the property is completely eliminated from play.

  2. Title Defect: This is used to seize the property of another player . Designate the target property, utility or railroad. If you succeed, you own the property. The former owner receive no compensation, and must (if they had them) return any improvements at the standard rate.

  3. Antitrust Suit: This is used to break up a monopoly held by another player. The defendant must have a monopoly: either the ownership of all properties of a color group; both utilities; or three of the four railroads. If successful, the defendant loses one of the properties (their choice); they are paid list price for the property and all improvements that they made (since this breaks a monopoly, they will have to remove any improvements). The property becomes available for sale to the next person who lands on the square. The plaintiff's effective legal power is increased by 6 for purposes of this sort of lawsuit.

Money Transfers

A money transfer is defined as moving money from a property group to your central treasury, or from the central treasury to a property group. The term specifically excludes transfers of cash between two players (see below). Note that to transfer money from one property group to another you must make two transfers: first from the property group to the central treasury, then from the central treasury to the property group.

You may transfer money between treasuries you own at any time. However, the cost of a funds transfer is 10% of the amount transferred (a minimum of $5). Thus if you need to transfer $500 from the green treasuries to the central treasury to pay rent, you must pay an additional $50 (which can come from either the green treasury or the central treasury).

After you have moved, purchased a property, paid rent, etc., you may make two money transfers at no cost.

Two players may transfer money between their central treasuries at no cost at any time.

Play Court Date Card

You can play any one of the Court Date cards you possess at this time.

Special Abilities

If you are playing with the advanced rules, you can use some of your special abilities at this time as well.

Advanced Rules

If you want to play with the actual Illuminati...instead of using the Legal Power defined above, each Illuminati has different powers and abilities. To keep the game from getting too silly, there are no special victory conditions for the different groups.

• 1. Bavarian Illuminati: Legal Power 10. Special Ability: By paying $100, you can make any attempt to purchase a property a Secret Deal.

  2. Gnomes of Zurich: Legal Power 7. Special Ability: You may move money freely between treasuries at the end of your turn.

  3. Servants of Cthulhu: Legal Power 9. Special Ability: +2 on any attempt to declare a property a historic landmark.

  4. Bermuda Triangle: Legal Power 8. Special Ability: You may declare any one property to be...missing (this lasts until the end of your next turn). The property does not exist for game purposes (no rent may be collected, no improvements may be made, etc.). Any player whose move would ordinarily pass through or onto the property stops on the property and ends their turn immediately.

  5. Discordian Society: Legal Power 8. Special Ability: You may begin two legal actions per turn.

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