Negotiation

Theme
Players take the part of land owners, attempting to buy and then develop their land. Income is gained by other players visiting their properties and money is spent when they visit properties belonging to other players. When times get tough, players may have to mortgage their properties to raise cash for fines, taxes and other misfortunes.

Gameplay
On his turn, a player rolls two dice and moves that number of spaces around the board. If the player lands on an as-yet-unowned property, he has the opportunity to buy it and add it to his portfolio or allow the bank to auction it to the highest bidder. If a player owns all the spaces within a color group, he may then build houses and hotels on these spaces, generating even more income from opponents who land there. If he lands on a property owned by another player, he must pay that player rent according to the value of the land and any buildings on it. There are other places on the board which can not be bought, but instead require the player to draw a card and perform the action on the card, pay taxes, collect income, or even go to jail.

Goal
The goal of the game is to be the last player remaining with any money.

Cultural impact on rules
Monopoly is unusual in that the game has official, printed rules, but most players learn how to play from others, never actually learning the correct way to play. This has led to the canonization of a number of house rules that make the game more palatable to children (and sore losers) but harm the gameplay by preventing players from going bankrupt or slowing down the rate of property acquisition. One common house rule has players put any money paid to the bank in the center of the board, which jackpot a player may earn by landing on Free Parking. This prevents the game from removing money from play, and since players collect $200 each time they pass Go, this results in ever-increasing bankrolls and players surviving rents that should have bankrupted them. Another house rule allows players to take "loans" from the bank instead of going bankrupt, which means the game will never end. Some house rules arise out of ignorance rather than attempts to improve the game. For instance, many players don't know that properties landed on but left unbought go up for auction, and even some that know to auction don't know that the bidding starts at $1, meaning a player may pay well below the listed price for an auctioned property.

Background
In the USA in 1933, Charles Darrow devised Monopoly based on an earlier game by Elizabeth J. Magie. The patent was filed 31st August 1935 while the game was on sale in America. Based on an earlier game, The Landlord's Game, it was at first rejected by Parker Bros., as being too complicated to be a success. How wrong could they be! It came to the UK in 1936, made under licence by Waddingtons. Darrow died in 1967 having realised he had developed one of the most successful board games of all times. It was awarded as Game of the Century by the TRA (Toy Retailers Association).

Monopoly was patented in 1935 by Charles Darrow and released by Parker Brothers. The game was actually one of a number of variants in existence at the time, all of which date back to an earlier, 1904 game by Elizabeth J. Magie called The Landlord's Game. Magie was a proponent of the Single Tax put forth by famous author Henry George. The game was designed to show the evils of earning money from renting land (as it leads to the destitution of all but one player) and the virtues of the proposed Single Tax - players could choose to play under regular rules or alternate "Single Tax" rules.

The game didn't really go anywhere and Magie lost interest in it. Variations of the game evolved, however, and homemade versions traveled up and down the Atlantic coast and even as far west as Michigan and Texas, being developed all along the way. Eventually the game was noticed by Charles Darrow, who introduced it to the world in its current form.

Re-implements:

The Landlord's Game

Expanded by:
Official

Monopoly Stock Exchange Add-on
Monopoly Free Parking Mini Game
Monopoly Get Out of Jail Mini Game

Unofficial

Super Add-ons: Monopoly
Entrepreneur's Accessory to Monopoly
Game Spice: Monopoly Expansion
Mafiopoly
Monopoly: Mob Rule Expansion Deck
Final Fantasy Monopoly

A game of building monuments and historical sources, reporting on these monuments.

In order to win the game, you not only have to build the monuments, you have to make sure that history will know them - and your fellow gamers will co-decide about it! And there are copyists, who will dispute the glory you've earned for your monuments...

The game shows monument cards with 12 types of ancient monuments like the Pyramids or the Colosseum (9 per type). The game is played in turns and usually you take a "monument turn," consisting of 3 actions allowing you to collect cards, to build monuments, and to expand your existing monuments. For example, it takes you one action per card to draw it either from the draw pile or the 3 faceup cards near it.

If you have some cards showing the same monument, you can use another action to erect this monument in your display. In case you are the first one to build this type of monument, you only need two cards - the second player building this same type of monument must have at least 3 cards. And no third player is allowed to build the same monument! Thus, playing your cards early makes it easier for you to erect the monument. But it saves you actions to collect some cards before displaying it, because regardless of the number of cards used, erecting one monument only counts as one single action.

Your monuments will receive their eternal fame only, if they are part of history. Each player has 2 (in a 3 player game: 3) historian tokens. In a historian turn, you have no monument action, but only write a history about all of your OPPONENTS' monuments (not your own ones!). Monuments get famous, and the owners receive victory points at the end of the game - the more often your monuments are in such histories, the more points you get. However, only interesting monuments of at least two cards are considered for a history, and by writing a history, the historian takes one card away (removes it from the game)! Thus the monument could be cut down to only one card during the game and will be not interesting to later historians any more. Why should I write a history and make the monuments of my opponents more worthy? If you do not use all of your historian tokens, you will be punished with 12 negative points at the end of the game! And you get additional victory points in the case that you write histories with a lot of monuments mentioned in it.

You should make your monuments interesting to historians again. During a monument turn, you may use one action (regardless of the number of cards played at the same time) to add cards to a monument that you have already erected.

In MONUMENTS, timing is important, and you have to decide what the best move to do now is: Should I wait for another Petra card, or shall I display the Petra Monument this turn? Is it advisable to make a historian turn now or is it better to choose a monument turn and draw the faceup cards, which I really need - taking the risk that I cannot write a history next turn and wind up getting negative points!

Finally, you have to consider that you are not sure about the victory points for your monuments. The points are related to the monument during the game, and if the Akropolis monument is worth 12 Points for example, you will only get 4 points if another player manages to erect an Akropolis monument that is greater than yours. This damn copyist will not only receive all your bad wishes, but 8 of the 12 Akropolis Victory Points - even in the case that his monument was not part of any history. Somehow you will feel that all the glory should be given to you alone!

From the Z-Man Games website:

"MegaCorps is a game of economic domination. You control a MegaCorp — one of the six enormous conglomerates that dominate economic and political life in the mid-21st Century. You control industries, manipulate governments like puppets, and even wage war to open new markets. You win by making more money than the other MegaCorps.

A player chooses industries in countries, hoping for big payouts by having less competition in the industry. But if you own an industry and want to build the same industry in another country you will need to get permission. Of course, you can try to take over the country first then build in there, using the force of countries you own and mercenaries you have or with those you can persuade allies to contribute.

The type of government a country is can also have an effect on what you buy (or what you keep!). Kleptocracies can steal ownership of your industry. Dictatorships can nationalize an industry to shut you out. Democracies can buy you out."

Catan is off the island and in America. Fans of Catan are eagerly anticipating the next release in the Catan Histories line.

The 19th Century has arrived, and Americans are heading west. Wagon trains are forming up and heading out to settle new lands and build new cities. These new cities will need railroad lines to bring in new people and necessary goods. Some head west for the adventure, some to start a new life, still others to find work.

Look west to make your fortune. As the population grows, resources will dwindle, and the smart money seeks new sources and new markets. Finance your settlers as they head west to build the cities of tomorrow. Link these cities with rails of steel and operate your railroad to supply the townsfolk with goods. To the west lie lands to settle and fortunes to be made!
Settlers of America: Trails to Rails uses the familiar Catan hex-tile grid to present a map of the United States. Players collect and trade resources in order to purchase, migrate and build settlements, forge railroads, and acquire locomotives. Railroads are used to distribute goods to the interconnected cities. As westward locations are settled, old sources of resources deplete. The addition of gold adds to the depth of play and increases options for the players.

In the Settlers of Catan Gallery Edition, the award-winning game is simplified and reduced in price to allow for quick play and introduction to casual players. The Settlers of Catan are once again traveling through the lands of Catan, racing to develop their settlements.

Players are now able to gain the flavour of the popular board game within 60–90 minutes with simplified rules that allow quick game setup and learning. The Catan board game continues to have the popular modular board and the variety of strategic options available that made the original Settlers of Catan game so popular.