PDA

View Full Version : AT Monopoly - Properties?



hikerjohnd
08-28-2006, 00:15
I got the idea from MedicineMan at this thread (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8584). I think AT Monopoly would be a great idea! What would the properties be? I could see the Community Chest as "Hiker Box". The AMC could be the luxury tax space - they take enough $$$ along the way.

Boardwalk and Park Place? Free Parking? Railroads?

What do you all think?

fiddlehead
08-28-2006, 00:41
Well, the obvious answer for properties is shelters i think (even though i'm one of the "rip em all down" crowd)
But possibly (and this ain't right for any wilderness experience ideas) it would be towns along the way with the grouping (colors) being states???
Railroads could be bars along the way.
Free parking could be any free hostels (i don't even know if there are any of these left besides eckville and 501, when i first hiked the trail, the hostels were all free in '77)
Boardwalk and Park place could be Fontana Hilton or perhaps the Hiawassee Holiday Inn and others like them???
But to revolve it all around money like the original may not be too cool. perhaps mileage could somehow be the reward for going past go or something?
So, how would one win? or lose? (just my thoughts of course)
Let's face it, most all AT hikers are winners.

SGT Rock
08-28-2006, 03:40
The Rail Roads could be shuttle services. Passing go could be a post office, so you pass the post office and pick up $200 in your mail drop.

And I agree about shelters being the properties. You could start with Georgia on one end and go to Maine at the top end. Each "section" of properties could be a different state.

And instead of going to jail, you get off the trail.

"Get off the trail, do not hit the post office, do not pick up any mail drops"

And the get out of jail free cards can be a free shuttle back to the trail.

MedicineMan
08-28-2006, 05:19
PA!
and a square if caught blue or yellow blazing sends you back to Springer
and a square that has serious trail magic like instant ownership of a profitable hostel
and a square that allows instant resupply for a week and easy water source

speaking of railroads,,,dont you buy those in real monopoly? well maybe signicant features could be bought in AT Monopoly, like Iron Masters Mansion an others???

could be a cool game :)

Smile
08-28-2006, 10:54
Great idea!

Alligator
08-28-2006, 11:36
PA!
and a square if caught blue or yellow blazing sends you back to Springer
and a square that has serious trail magic like instant ownership of a profitable hostel
and a square that allows instant resupply for a week and easy water source

...
Or instead of squares, make these the chance and community chest cards.

Time To Fly 97
08-28-2006, 11:58
Maybe the most valuable places should be the most beautiful on the AT...and not the town stops. Katahdin is Boardwalk and the 100 mile Wilderness is Park Place, for Maine, etc.

Each color could be a section or state: SMokies, WHites, Green Mountains, Mahoosics, NJ etc.

Houses could add to a shelter area: water source, privey, picnic table, firepit...replaced with killer looking shelter by loghouse designs, etc.)

Luxury tax could be a purchase from an outfitter

Taxes could be a town stop

RRs could be AMC shelters in the whites

Community chest could be town stop related

Chance cards could be kharma related

Get out of Jail is delay caused by pink blazing

Free parking is Trail days

Happy hiking!

TTF

hikerjohnd
08-28-2006, 12:15
Each color could be a section or state: SMokies, WHites, Green Mountains, Mahoosics, NJ etc.

Excellent idea - what would be considered the low rent area of the AT? Where is the least trail/hiker friendly?

Gray Blazer
08-28-2006, 12:43
What about the playing pieces you move around the board? (I always wanted to be the race car). Could they be animals or even (?) trail legend images? If so, who would they be?

Time To Fly 97
08-28-2006, 12:43
Excellent idea - what would be considered the low rent area of the AT? Where is the least trail/hiker friendly?

I think in a traditional South to North hike, the hike gets better and better the further you go...

It has less to do with how expensive or friendly the area is, but more the REAL stuff.

I would just go in order of a South to North hike.

Happy hiking!

TTF

Time To Fly 97
08-28-2006, 12:59
What about the playing pieces you move around the board? (I always wanted to be the race car). Could they be animals or even (?) trail legend images? If so, who would they be?

I always liked the top hat : ) Some ideas for AT game:

Northern terminus sign, rock with a Springer plaque, tree with a blaze on it, pair of boots, TP roll with a little trowel, backpack, pair of lekis, a bear, a mouse, a white blaze

I think there should be a blue blaze trail in the game somewhere too...just for fun.

Happy hiking!

TTF

emerald
08-28-2006, 13:03
If the legal aspects of offerring such a game for sale are not insurmountable, it might be a great fund raiser for ATC. I'll bet it would sell and wouldn't it be fun to play it with your A.T. friends when you get together?

SGT Rock
08-28-2006, 13:09
OK blue blazes can replace the railroads.

"Take a hike on the BMT, proceed to davenport gap. If you pass the post office collect a $200 mail drop."

Just Jeff
08-28-2006, 13:21
I think the properties should be ranked on natural beauty and scenic landmarks or experiences along the trail. And these shouldn't be "bought" so...

Use "hiker points" instead of money. That way, Katahdin is worth 500 hiker points instead of however many dollars. Drop some trash on the trail (chance card) and you lose some hiker points to the "free parking" space. Then when you land on free parking (call it Trail Magic) you get all the hiker points in the pot.

At the end, the person with the most hiker points wins...b/c hiking is about getting out there and seeing things rather than the money...about the experience more than "buying" things. And rewarding points for experiences can reinforce a conservation and sharing approach rather than an "I bought it so it's mine" approach.

I like Community Chest being Hiker Box, and the railroads being shuttles, too. Chance cards could have a twisted ankle send you off trail (jail), donation to ATC, maildrop didn't show up / pay extra points, help a friend in need, etc. The AMC hut / Luxury Tax is pretty funny.

Gotta put something in there about cell phones, dogs, hiking poles, hammocks, JetBoils, Gucci hikers, pot smokers, snoring...ok, maybe not.

Kerosene
08-28-2006, 13:34
If the legal aspects of offerring such a game for sale are not insurmountable, it might be a great fund raiser for ATC. I'll bet it would sell and wouldn't it be fun to play it with your A.T. friends when you get together?You could certainly create a not-for-sale prototype for limited play, but it's not clear what you'd have to do to productize for retail sale.

Here (http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/copyright/newgames.html) is a web site that infers that there may not be a valid copyright on the design of the game itself, only the name Monopoly.

Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_licensed_Monopoly_game_boards) is a Wikipedia listing of licensed Monopoly gameboards, and then you've got a bunch of special title games from USAopoly (http://www.usaopoly.com/ttc/American-Classics/cPath/11_23.html?osCsid=191312c10a8dc812096e9816775b2d7b )! I'm sure there are a bunch of others out there. As a graduate of Syracuse University, my wife still owns a copy of Syracusopoly.

hikerjohnd
08-28-2006, 13:34
How about the RR's being significant hostels along the way - Miss Janet's, Kincora, Birdcage, Shaw's. Maybe have the ATC be one of the utilities.

As to pieces, how about a leki pole, stove, pack, boot (my fav piece from original game), tent, etc.

And the trail does not necessarily get better as you move north - Some of my favorite places are in the South, but logical progression around the board from south to north makes sense.

How do we contact the ATC/Hasbro about this?

ShakeyLeggs
08-28-2006, 13:37
How about for money we could use mountain money. TP
Pass go collect 200 squares of TP

For the railroads how about they be Hostels

And the regular propertys shelters.

My 2 cents

Time To Fly 97
08-28-2006, 13:42
And the trail does not necessarily get better as you move north - Some of my favorite places are in the South, but logical progression around the board from south to north makes sense.

You missed my point... I think the trail EXPERIENCE gets better the further you progress because you've been out longer (Northbound or Southbound).

This is a fun thread.

There is a company that makes monopoly variations (I forget who - google it). You have to design your Monopoly variation within their rules, buy "x" amount of games ahead of time and then it is up to you to sell them and make a profit. Seems like that would be easy to do via the WhiteBlaze community, especially if you donate a portion to a worthy AT related caude.

Happy hiking!

TTF

the goat
08-28-2006, 14:00
the doyle should be free parking, and we could use the palmerton jailhouse as the jail.

map man
08-28-2006, 19:22
I'm not sure Monopoly is the game to model an AT game on -- in Monopoly you go around and around the board, seeing the same places again and again, kind of like NASCAR (only you make right turns in Monopoly instead of left). Candyland seems more like the right model. You have a single start and end point. Wish I still had my Candyland game from when I was a kid so I could see if there were any more parallels.

Brrrb Oregon
08-28-2006, 23:25
I'm not sure Monopoly is the game to model an AT game on -- in Monopoly you go around and around the board, seeing the same places again and again, kind of like NASCAR (only you make right turns in Monopoly instead of left). Candyland seems more like the right model. You have a single start and end point. Wish I still had my Candyland game from when I was a kid so I could see if there were any more parallels.

Absolutely. The point of Monopoly, after all, is to own the whole board and drive everybody else off the board. That isn't very analogous to hiking the AT. The point of Candyland is to get to the candy castle first.

Candyland has a trail with cut-offs you get to take if you land on the cut-off "trailhead". Each square has a color, with six or so colors alternating. There are also 5-6 "picture" cards that propel you ahead or behind on the board to particular "scenic sights". The problem with Candyland is that there is no skill involved. That isn't a game that's going to keep people around the table at the shelters.

I think it would be better to invent a whole new game. Then you could sell it. You'd probably want a trail game, like Candyland, maybe with a rough map of the AT on it. You might draw a card at each turn to see how many miles you make in a day. You could have cards or spaces with trail wash-outs, forest fires, neurotics wanting to hike with you, and so on, that stop you, send you back, or slow you down. The white blaze trail might be shorter, but with more danger squares. You could decide before the game if players would be allowed to "blue blaze." You could have "snow on the trail" squares that send you back if you roll a certain number and don't have your crampons along. If you hit a bug bog and you forgot your bug spray, you might lose so many miles for the next three turns. If you didn't bring the bear cannister and hit the "bear" square, you're out of food....good luck.

If you set it up so that you choose what you want to bring when you start, you might have a certain amount of money for sending equipment from one cache to the next. You'd have to save enough money back to buy more stuff if you lost it or if the hike took longer. You could wait out the first three turns, make your own stuff, and start out with lots more money. Players who lose their food might have to barter with players within so many miles, to buy enough to get them to the next town, or trail friends could be allowed to share food if they wanted....maybe you have to agree on who's your friend or who's not, before each set of turns...also its own gamble.

Maybe you have to sit out a turn to stop at a town to re-supply. If you don't bring enough food to get to the next cache, you're airlifted out of the game, if you run out of water, you're out of the game, and so on. Each card could have a "weight", and you could have weight limits that, if you meet them, allow you to have a certain mileage: in other words, the mileage cards could have different mileages on them, depending on if you're travelling "ultralight", "light", and so on.

Actually, the "neurotic" player could be a dummy player (or players) that start with a certain packweight and gear, but with an infinite amount of money and water...maybe somebody who "pinkblazes" both sexes. The goal of the game could be to thruhike before the most annoying guy on the trail does it.

You guys know all the choices and trade-offs better than I do. I'm sure you'd have hundreds of ideas. You could even have a winter-season competition for the best game ideas.

What would also be unique about the AT game is that you could allow players to start from either end of the trail!

If you use the idea and copyright the game, though, just promise me you'll let the other not-for-profit trail associations market their own similar games without AT asking for royalties, ok? ;)

Just Jeff
08-28-2006, 23:39
Like the game of Life. You could start out deciding if you're hiking light or heavy (college or not), if you want to buy bear spray and bug spray (insurance), draw a card for how much money you've saved up (salary card), and decide if you did maildrops or not (stock market).

The Life Cards could be Trail Magic cards where you get a great experience or money or something.

The point of Life is to get to the end with more money than everyone else. The point of hiking the AT is to get to the end with a "better hiking experience" than everyone else. It's not competitive, but we have to find a way to make the game competitive or it won't be as interesting. That's why I like the "hiking points" or "experience points" idea better than just having money.

But Life is the most similar game I can think of.

fiddlehead
08-29-2006, 00:03
bringing it back to Monopoly: (i don't know this "game of life", except for the one i'm in already)


Excellent idea - what would be considered the low rent area of the AT? Where is the least trail/hiker friendly?
How about shelters that have no water source. (there are a few but not too many) or, if states are colors, use WV or MD as your low rent states as they are the shortest and least scenic.

map man
08-29-2006, 00:06
Yeah, I like the game of Life idea. And I like the most "experience" points winning instead of having it be just the first to get to the end. With that in mind you could have some kind of limit to the total number of turns you get over the course of the game (just like you can't take too long getting to Katahdin or the bad weather will shut you down) so the strategy would be to accumulate lots of experiences but not so many that you can't finish.

Also, there's got to be a way to work people who snore loudly in shelters into the game. You know, if you lose sleep at a stopping point (shelter) because of a loud snorer you'd suffer some kind of penalty for a turn or two.

Just Jeff
08-29-2006, 00:11
Yeah - you get a huge experience bonus just for reaching Katahdin on time...Oct 15th, maybe. I know you can hike in winter but some artificial boundaries have to be set so the game will be simple enough to play.

That way if you don't finish, you're really at a disadvantage b/c everyone else has the points for finishing...but it should be possible to win that way, just really hard.

MedicineMan
08-29-2006, 00:14
how about it Attroll?

Alligator
08-29-2006, 09:43
If you want an alternative to Monopoly, start an additional thread.

Mr. Clean
09-02-2006, 05:35
I don't know "Life", but a Candyland style game would seem the best way to go. Roll a di (is that correct?) or draw cards and follow the instructions on the square or card. "Whiteblaze", the game. Make it lightweight and it could be carried in your pack for some exciting after hike evenings.:banana
Lets do it!

SGT Rock
09-02-2006, 05:42
To make it lightweight it should be printed on a bandanna and you could provide your own pieces from gear you already have or something you pick up along the way. All you then need is some random number generator (dice) and some special cards or something to go with it.

Kerosene
09-02-2006, 09:06
I recently purchased a 10-pack of ultra-lightweight dice (http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/micro_dice.html) from www.BackpackingLight.com (http://www.BackpackingLight.com). Now, I usually get peeved when someone states that their favorite piece of gear "weighs practically nothing", but these things are so light that the website doesn't even list the weight, saying only that "To register a single die, you'll need a laboratory scale sensitive to the nearest 0.01 grams."!

Mr. Clean
09-02-2006, 09:11
Bandanas, liteweight die, things are moving now. The main path to win should be blazed in white, with blue paths to waylay you.

hikerjohnd
09-02-2006, 14:16
Bandanas, liteweight die, things are moving now. The main path to win should be blazed in white, with blue paths to waylay you.
And yellow blazed trails for long detours to nowhere.

I like the CandyLand idea -


Why can't WB develop this game???

Sgt Rock - you seem up on copyrite info - can someone here develop the game and market it? I am thinking about the $ going to WB since we are all batting around ideas here. I am thinking seriously about this now...

SGT Rock
09-02-2006, 14:36
Printing on the bandanna and buying dice in bulk, no problem really. Those two things could be done easy. Copyright, well as soon as you affix the idea to any media (including electronic media) the idea already has copyright protection as of current US law. The thing we do not have and is expensive is Patent. and even with that, the person feeling they are being wronged still has to hire a lawyer and go to court.

So to do Monopoly version of the AT would require getting permission and probably paying to the owners of the Monopoly game. If we did our own thing that did not bear resemblance to another game, it would be ours entirely.

So maybe a bandanna board game that only needed ultralight dice and players provided their own pieces would be the first part of any concept. the game could be laid out diagonally along the bandanna as a version of the AT map, and spaces on the map could represent different places along the map. Along the sides of the map could be the rules or whatever else.

The next hard part would be setting up rules and other parts of the game.

hikerjohnd
09-02-2006, 14:47
I am liking the Candy Land idea - start at point A finish at point B (kinda like the AT). Since map man put forth the idea, does that mean he more or less owns that idea? I have started looking at custom bandanna printing - not really expensive - $4K or so for 4000 units.

I'm going to put my lawyer on this - lucky for me I'm sleeping with her... I think we could make some nice $ for WB.

map man
09-02-2006, 18:06
I hereby wave all intellectual property rights for the idea of basing an AT game on "Candyland." As a matter of fact, in order to avoid future legal entanglements I suggest a certain admin, who is currently overseas, but will otherwise remain nameless, delete all references to the game of Candyland on this thread:D .

But seriously, here's something to think about, and I think Just Jeff might have already mentioned this -- how complicated would we want to make the game? He, along with Brrrb Oregon, suggested some ideas for making the game more skill dependent, and not just relying mostly on chance the way Candyland does. A game that might reflect a lot of the realities of hiking the AT. Their brains (and perhaps a select few others here at WB who still have most of their original cards still in their decks;) ) are worth tapping if we decided to go that route.

But of course the more skill dependent and realistic we make the game the more we would complicate it with lots of game pieces, special cards, a long list of rules, etc. If we went a simpler route it would make the game fairly simple to carry around on the trail, and it might have the added bonus that those of us more simple-minded members of WhiteBlaze:eek: (and there's no shortage of us) could easily play it and even take part in the design of it.

A simpler Candyland type game would probably be dependent on making the board squares as entertaining and funny as possible to distract us players from the fact that it was mostly just a game of chance. For instance, if you land in the Damascus space you lose a turn because you are sucked into the trail town vortex! You get the idea, and there's got to be lots of WhiteBlaze members warped enough to come up with endless examples much better than that one. Not to mention coming up with a cool name for the game.

Kerosene
09-02-2006, 18:09
FYI, while the Monopoly name is trademarked, the game concept itself is not copyrighted or patented as the patent office found that the game was based on an earlier game. At least this is what I found on the Web.

Trillium
09-02-2006, 18:10
we didn't play candyland much as kids, basically because we didn't own that board game, but we did play chutes and ladders which I think could somehow work. that is if you hit a 'chute' you would have you go backwards on the trail.

hikerjohnd
09-02-2006, 18:32
I have been playing around with a progressive game that can be printed on a bandanna. Start @ Springer, end at Big K. Along the path you will encounter Blue blazes (you must roll a "1" to leave the blue blaze), Yellow blazes (hitchiking will get you there faster, but you must roll a "6" to get off the yellow blaze), trail magic (extra turn, move ahead, move back - depending on space) and various places that will either speed you along or hold you back (Neels Gap - you decide to leave the trail - return to start, The Whites - you get lost in the fog - lose a turn, etc.). I think it can be designed and printed easily - packaged and sold for $5-7.50 (plus shipping) and still turn a nice profit for WB. The whole game consists of the bandanna and a die (still toying with printing the instructions on the bandanna or including a piece of paper.) Thoughts? Other ideas?

FLHiker
09-02-2006, 21:26
profitable hostel


Ladies and Gentlemen: you have your first oxymoron for the evening!

(j/k) no need to kill me.:D

SGT Rock
09-03-2006, 01:41
Anyone play Blisters? HOI introduced me and the boys to it last month up on Slickrock Creek, there was an element of chance and also skill in that you had to make decisions about when to stop when you are on a roll. The game could be a combination of the rules for blisters and a board game.

Some thoughts...

Game could start at either end, the players make the decision ahead of time. In fact players could start at opposite ends of the "board" and still be in the same game. The idea is to start at one end and make it to the other. If players agree ahead of time they want a long game they can even Yo-Yo.

The board is broken up into 217 blocks - or something like that. Each block gets a number for mileage up and down - and a letter code A to whatever plus a few special spaces for things like hostels or special places. This saves you needing a card deck. On the sides of the board would be printed the key to what each letter meant. Gotta think more on what each of these will say...

So to start the game the players all pick a piece and put it on their start point. Then they roll to see who starts first and establish the order using one dice.

The dice need to be three pairs, each pair a different color.

Then you use the rules of Blisters. I think it is in another post somewhere so I won't go into the rules. Instead of keeping the score on paper, you move your piece up the board every time you get a permanent score. Your piece would end up on whatever square corresponds with your score in miles and then you would also have whatever went with that square. Some examples from the group here....

A (in a yellow block) - You get a hitch and end up yellow blazing. Advance to the next yellow blaze square.

B (blue Blaze) - cool side trail takes you out of your way. Advance to the next blue square and take a zero.

C (Sucked into town) You hit town and take two zeros.

D (Shelter) Shelter - have some Raman and wait for your next turn.

E (Hostel) - have a great time here and do some slack packing. Double next score.

Etc...

You get the idea. A zero means you loose your turn. Also, if a player wants to sit out a turn or wants to go to the outhouse and doesn't want to hold people up, they can take a zero or a few while they are gone - the game doesn't have to wait for them.

AND you can ether play until the first player wins, or you can keep playing until everyone makes it off the board.

Requirements - a bandanna, three pair dice. Since folks normally already have a bandanna, all you add in weight is 0.06 ounces to the pack. Players provide their own game pieces.

K0OPG
09-03-2006, 11:06
I looked through the posts, not super intensively, but I didn't see any mention of the following link from ALDHA:

www.aldha.org/newsletr/monopoly.pdf (http://www.aldha.org/newsletr/monopoly.pdf)

Board is done, just need someone to market it.

saimyoji
09-03-2006, 11:50
I am shocked and appalled that you all would turn something as beautiful and individual as hiking into a competitive, greedy meaningless game. Shame on all of you. :eek:

Seriously though, if one were to make a stronger connection between a journey on the trail and a game, would it not make sense to make the game more of a journey, than a circuitous money-grabbing, property-hoarding one? The Game of Life sounded like a good idea to me.

Gecko
09-03-2006, 11:51
Nobody has mentioned this, but maybe you have seen it before-

http://atctrailstore.org/catalog/iteminfo.cfm?itemid=317&compid=1

K0OPG
09-03-2006, 12:21
yers I have it and its fun! best played with people familiar with the trail though. Playing with the those out of the know is just a slaughter.

Mr. Clean
09-03-2006, 16:19
The name of this game is easy..."Whiteblaze".:sun

Uncle Silly
09-04-2006, 15:28
The name of this game is easy..."Whiteblaze".:sun

There's already a "White Blaze Game" on the trail... it involves carting mucho alcohol or other mind-altering substances up the trail, and stopping at every white blaze (or every third, or fifth, or seventeenth white blaze) to consume one unit of whatever. 1 shot of whiskey, or 1 beer, or 1 toke, or 1 shroom. The idea, of course, is to make little forward progress while ensuring that you'll be incredibly fu'd-up by the time you get where you're going.

:sun