Re: New Game Uploaded: Hotel Magnate

["Benedict" <boycat_oh@...>]

Hi, Mike

I finally had a chance to read through the rules to HM.

I really liked your cornering idea, although I wasn't sure that there 
is the same benefit when you also do the middle tiles of a row 
like this - might it be better to include the ace tiles as part of their 
respective chains? Or use the middle tiles for some other 
purpose?

The only other thing about the corners that may need a 
clarification is this situation: when 2 or 3 other pawns share a 
corner tile, and one of them is on the inside corner, and your roll 
takes you beyond the tile, do you still get to choose which 
squares of the corner are skipped when counting?

One other thing about layout - I lik the fact that each player starts 
ona  different corner, but I am concerned that with the random 
board some players start with an advantage if, say, the row of 
tiles in front of the player conatains all 4s and 5s.  this may not 
actually be a huge deal, but I was wondering if it was something 
you had thought about?

I liked the idea of using the coins as fixed $ amounts which 
limits your ability to make change, adding to the decision making 
for the players.

I also loved the idea that payday is for everyone, but I was 
wondering why the person who rolled doubles gets to choose an 
extra coin?  Would it be fairer if they got to choose their second 
coin after everyone else has chosen their first one?

The idea of using the coins as money or improvements (and for 
scoring) is great - I can imagine a player having a tough choice 
to make there.

Not everyone likes the kind of open dealing HM will allow for, but 
I know a lot of folks really get into this kind of thing - so I think it is 
a good idea and certainly reflects the nature of many business 
deals (you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours).

Looks like a fun monopoly-related game.

Phillip


> Hotel Magnate utilizes a unique (as far as I know) mechanic for 
> interjecting some control into the dice roll for pawn movement. 
The 
> board is seven tiles on a side with the corner tiles and the 
center 
> tiles of each board side being gridded, but with the remaining 
> sixteen tiles being suited. The gridded tiles are each two lanes 
> wide, and in the case of the corner tiles, each has a 1-space 
long 
> inner lane, and a 3-space long outer lane. This allows players 
to 
> affect which tiles they land on after passing through a corner, 
> depending on which lane they take.
> 
> I had planned to include even more control by allowing players 
to 
> forgo the die roll at the beginning of a turn for a fixed move of 
> one space at a set cost to the player, or alternatively, allow 
> players to pay for a second roll to the replace their first if they 
> didn't like the first. For now, I have decided that this would 
> probably give players TOO much control, and allow them to 
avoid 
> landing on other players hotels too often. However, I would be 
very 
> interested to hear other peoples opinions if thye feel inclined to 
> read through the rules.
> 
> Hotel Magnate supports more auctions and more frequent 
trading and 
> deal-making than Monopoly does, and this is really the heart of 
the 
> game. The other major difference is that money is much tighter 
in 
> Hotel Magnate than in Monopoly. The piecepack coins are 
used for the 
> money and there aren't that many of them for this purpose, 
> especially with four players! I had to come up with a system 
that 
> kept the money circulating and not setting in the bank, and this 
has 
> been the biggest challenge so far, but I think I have something 
that 
> will work, either as is, or with a bit more tweaking. This money 
> shortage issue was one of those things that caused me to 
think of 
> ideas that would otherwise probably would not have occured to 
me. 
> 
> Play-testing has been very minimal thus far, with all the players 
> being played by me, just to test out the basic balance, etc. 
> 
> Just a day ago, I went through the rules again and improved 
the 
> organization compared to an earlier draft, so I think it's 
organized 
> well enough now that it should be pretty easy reading as rules 
sets 
> go.
> 
> All comments and constructive criticisms are welcome (OK, 
even UN-
> constructive criticism might be useful).
> 
> -Mike Schoessow