From: shippert@cco.caltech.edu (Tim Shippert)
Subject: Re: Monopoly Rules
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:11:01 GMT

gbradley@uks197.Berkeley.EDU (Gary Bradley) writes:

>Somebody writes:

>|>	It's been a while since I've played Monoply, but I'm pretty certain
>|>that the official rule is that if all houses are in play, one cannot go
>|>immediately to hotel development. Makes the game have an edge of strategy,
>|>eh?
>
>   Sorry, I am right! I have just bought an new Monopoly set and there
>is no doubt...you can erect 3 hotels immediately when you have a set;
>there is no need to build to 4 houses first. 
...
>   The strategy of keeping 4 houses on 3 properties to reduce building
>comes into play when there are no houses left and the other players
>cannot afford to upgrade to hotels on any of their properties )given the
>"building evenly" rule, this can happen quite easily with 6 players.
>   Of course they may be international rules differences! My Monopoly
>set is a British one??                   

	Well, possibly.  My version of the (American) rules (copyright
1973, but I doubt they've changed much) says, right under the heading
_Hotels_: "When a player has four houses on each property of a complete
color-group, he may buy a hotel from the Bank and erect it on any property
of that color-group".  This seems to me a pretty solid confirmation that
you _have_ to have four houses physically on each property before you can
build to hotels.  

	Now, this does not mean that you cannot ever build to hotels in one
turn.  In the preceeding section, under _Houses_ it says "...a player may
buy and eract at any time as many houses as his judgment and financial
standing will allow."  So, IF THERE ARE ENOUGH HOUSES IN THE BANK, you can
in one turn buy up to four houses on each property and then immediately buy
a hotel on one or more properties in that group.  But if you cannot finagle
your way to having four houses on each property, no hotels.

	This interpretation is supported in all four of the Monopoly books
I own, including the apparantly official _Monopoly Companion_ , by Phillip
Orbanes ((c) 1988), p.63: "...And unless you physically have four houses on
each property of a monopoly...you cannot buy and build hotels."

	I would be interested in reading the passages of the British rules
that support your interpretation.

	BTW, the _Monopoly Companion_ is pretty much a worthless book; it
seems to have been written for 10 year olds.  The best book on Monopoly
that I have is called, in true 70's fashion, _1000 Ways to Win Monopoly
Games_, by Jay Walker and Jeff Lehman (1975).  I don't think it actually
has 1000 ways, but it does handle strategy and analysis extremely well, and
it comes up with tactics (like selling options to buy properties if you
land on them) that I never would have thought of, and gives a thourough
justification for each by using the existing Monopoly rules.
Unfortunately, it is probably out of print, but I have found it in the
"Games" section of a couple of used bookstores.  The best book I have found
that is still in print is Kaz Darzinskis' _Winning Monopoly_, which covers
analysis and strategy pretty well, but doesn't have the creative tactics
the other book has.

-- 
Tim Shippert                                 shippert@tybalt.caltech.edu
Q: What is the difference between "The Twilight Zone" and "Silver Spoons"?
A: "The Twilight Zone" only _occasionally_ featured the adventures of
hideous mutants.			-D. Letterman
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