Tiers-Mondopoly Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents of the Game Box
• Overview
• Goal and Short Description of the Game
• Setup
• Start of the Game
• Moving Around the Board
• End of the Round
  • Example of a Net Yield Calculation
  • Buying and Selling Fields and Livestock
  • Savings and Loans at the Bank
  • Cooperative (Genossenschaft)
• End of the Game
• Explanations of the Picture Spaces

Contents of the Game Box

• 1 game board with 32 spaces
• 64 green "Event Cards"
• 24 red "Event Cards"
• 6 game pieces
• 1 die
• 40 brown "Field Cards"
• 15 "Guinea Pig Cards" (Meerschweinchenkarten)
• 15 "Chicken Cards" (Hühnerkarten)
• 150 10-Inti notes
• 130 50-Inti notes
• 120 100-Inti notes
• 40 500-Inti notes
• 1 pad of 30 Yield Sheets (Ertragsblätter)
• 1 rulebook with explanations of the picture spaces on the board
• 1 table "Yield from Arable Farming and Livestock" (Ertrag aus Ackerbau- und Viehwirtschaft)

Overview

For 2 to 6 players, age 12 and up. If more people want to take part, teams of two can be formed. The more who take part, the more exciting the game is.

Goal and Short Description of the Game

The players are Peruvian farmers. At the start of the game each player receives 5 fields, which they cultivate in the best way possible. The goal is to live from the yield of the fields and, if possible, to make a profit.

Each round on the game board corresponds to one year in the life of the farmers. At the beginning of each year, i.e. before each round of play, the players must decide how they want to use their fields. They can choose between livestock farming and the cultivation of bananas, coffee, cotton and mixed crops, i.e. products for daily own needs and the local market, such as rice, potatoes, beans, maize and soya. Then a player rolls the die to determine the climate of the year. Depending on the number rolled, the climate is dry, normal or humid. The climate affects the yield of the various crops and of livestock.

The players now take turns rolling the die and move their game pieces across the 32 spaces of the board. Along the way they encounter favourable and unfavourable events. These affect their daily life and the yield of their land.

At the end of each year, i.e. at the end of each round, all players settle accounts and compare their yields and their cost of living.

Mondopoly is a game that can be varied. The players may invent new things. For example, during the game two or more players may help each other or work their fields together and share the yields. Or they may found a "health insurance fund" (Krankenkasse). Or... there are many further inventions and variations.

But for now let us begin with the basic rules of Mondopoly:

Setup

The board is laid out on a table. The red and green Event Cards are shuffled and placed text-side down on the places provided on the game board. Each player receives:

• 1 game piece
• 5 brown Field Cards
• 1 Yield Sheet
• 5 10-Inti notes
• 3 50-Inti notes
• 4 100-Inti notes

One player is chosen to be the banker.

Start of the Game

The players place their game pieces on the starting space and decide how they want to use their fields. For each individual field, the choice is between livestock farming and the cultivation of bananas, coffee, cotton and mixed crops. The decisions are recorded on the Yield Sheet.

One player rolls the die to determine the climate for all players for one year, i.e. for one round of play: if the die shows "1" or "2" the climate is dry; if it shows "3" or "4" it is normal; if it shows "5" or "6" it is humid.

From the table "Yield from Arable Farming and Livestock" (on the inside of the box lid), all players take the yields of their respective fields and enter them on their Yield Sheet. The player who determined the climate begins the game: they roll the die and move their game piece forward by the number rolled, 1 to 6 spaces, always in the direction of the space numbering.

The players then roll the die in clockwise order.

Moving Around the Board

The board consists of 32 spaces. Some are red or green, others show a picture.

When a game piece lands on a picture space, the player consults the explanation of that space in this rulebook (see "Explanations of the Picture Spaces" below) and follows the instruction, and then the game continues. When a piece lands on a green or red space, the player takes the top card of the corresponding deck, reads it aloud and follows its instruction. Once the instruction has been followed, the card goes back into the deck as the bottom card, and the game continues.

Events that affect the yields of the fields or the cost of living are recorded immediately on the Yield Sheet. The red cards apply to all players; the green cards apply only to the player who drew them.

A player who has moved through all 32 spaces has finished their year. They wait for the other players to arrive and are no longer affected by events, for example when other players land on a red space. It is not necessary to land exactly on the last space.

The players who finish their round first receive a bonus from the bank:

1. 300 Inti
2. 200 Inti
3. 100 Inti
4. 50 Inti

Players who arrive later receive nothing.

End of the Round

All players calculate their net yield (profits and losses). To do this they must first calculate the gross yields and the minimum subsistence (Existenzminimum) on their Yield Sheets. If necessary, the amounts are rounded up to the next full ten.

Calculating the gross yield (Berechnung des Bruttoertrags): Taking into account the cards drawn during the year that reduce or increase the yields of individual fields, the players calculate the yield of each field. The sum of the yields of the individual fields gives the gross yield.

The players then take into account any events that occurred during the round and that reduce or increase the yields of all fields. The corresponding amount is added to or deducted from the gross yield.

Calculating the minimum subsistence (Berechnung des Existenzminimums): The players must first know their cost of living. These are the expenses that secure the minimum subsistence (Existenzminimum) of the farming family. They calculate these by taking the cost of living printed on the Yield Sheet and the events that influence the cost of living, and offsetting them against one another. For each field on which mixed crops have been grown, and for each livestock holding (guinea pigs or chickens), the players may deduct a certain amount from their cost of living (share of self-sufficiency). The cost of living varies from year to year with inflation, and these deductions also vary. The amount of the deductions is likewise printed on the Yield Sheet.

Tip printed in the booklet: calculating the net yield is much easier if you keep the sample Yield Sheet of Rosmarie Muster in view.

Calculating the net yield (Berechnung des Reinertrags): To determine their net yield, the players must subtract their minimum subsistence from the gross yield. If the net yield is positive, they receive the corresponding amount from the bank (profit). If it is negative, they must pay the corresponding amount to the bank (loss).

Example of a Net Yield Calculation

The example shows a player with 5 fields and one livestock holding. The example player is Rosmarie Muster. The figures are the handwritten entries of the printed example sheet, Year 1. The per-field results are listed in the column order of the scan, because the handwritten rows are not aligned clearly enough to match each result to a field with certainty.

Yield Sheet (front), Year 1, Name: Rosmarie Muster

Field	Crop / livestock	Yield	Event with consequences
Field 1	Ba (bananas)	300	+100%
Field 2	Vi (livestock)	350	-50% +50%
Field 3	Bw (cotton)	150	-50%
Field 4	Ka (coffee)	300	-50% -50%
Field 5	Mi (mixed crops)	250	-50%

Yield per field, in column order: +600, +350, +150, +150, 0. Total yield (Gesamtertrag): 1250.

Events that change the total yield: -50% (−625). Gross yield (Bruttoertrag): 625.

Cost of living (Lebenshaltungskosten): 500 (+) 50 (−) 100 = 450.

Deductions (Abzüge) for mixed crops (Mi) and livestock (Kb): 1 × 50 (Mi = 50) plus 1 × 20 (Kb = 20) = 70, deducted from the cost of living. Minimum subsistence (Existenzminimum): 450 − 70 = 380.

Net yield: gross yield 625 − minimum subsistence 380 = 245.

The bank pays the player 245 (credit, Guthaben).

Events that occur in the first round of play (as printed on the example):

• Floods in the north of the country have destroyed large banana plantations. Insufficient national banana production causes prices to rise rapidly. Your income from banana cultivation rises by 100%.
• The introduction of improved seed and new cultivation techniques for cotton proves successful. You can increase your cotton yield by 50 per cent.
• You stored your soya, rice and maize harvest badly. 50 per cent of your mixed-crop production is destroyed by moisture and insects.
• To clear your field of weeds quickly and without effort, you set it on fire every year before sowing the mixed crops. On bare earth the heavy rains cause great erosion and good soil substance is lost. Your soil becomes poorer year by year. Your yields from mixed crops fall by 50 per cent.
• In your village the women organise to learn sewing. Your family buys clothes more cheaply. Your cost of living falls by 100 Inti.
• The government does nothing to support the national textile industry. The market is flooded with cheap clothing from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Many Peruvian factories close. The cotton price falls. Your income from cotton cultivation falls by 50%.
• The coffee-producing countries cannot agree to limit their production. This year's excellent harvest increases the already high worldwide stocks. The oversupply of coffee on the world market causes prices to collapse. Your income from coffee cultivation falls by 50%.
• Very good potato production this year: prices collapse. You lose 50% of your income from food production.
• Drought catastrophe: Field 16 on the game board.
• To attract foreign investors, the government offers large tax concessions. This measure ultimately leads to the impoverishment of the state, which must reduce its spending on social welfare for lack of money. Your cost of living rises by 50 Inti.

Note: the example sheet connects each event to the field or cost it changes by drawn lines. The lines are not reproduced here; the events above are listed in the order printed on the page.

If a player cannot pay their debt with the cash they hold, they must sell their possessions or parts of them (fields or livestock holdings). If other players are interested in buying the possessions offered for sale, they may bid for them. Otherwise the bank buys them, but at a fixed price that is far below their real value (see below: "Buying and Selling Fields and Livestock").

When everyone has completed their annual accounts, a new round begins. The players again decide how they want to use their fields. The player who finished the previous round first opens the new one by determining the climate first and then beginning to roll the die.

Buying and Selling Fields and Livestock

Purchases and sales of fields and livestock holdings (guinea pigs and chickens) may be made between the players at any time. The bank also buys at any time, but sells only as long as the climate of the following year has not yet been determined.

Purchases and sales between players are negotiated; the price is agreed between them. The bank buys and sells at fixed prices. It sells a field for 1200 Inti and a guinea pig or chicken holding for 250 Inti. When buying, it pays 300 Inti for a field and 50 Inti for a guinea pig or chicken holding.

Savings and Loans at the Bank

When the players already know the rules of Mondopoly well, savings deposits and bank loans may also be introduced.

Deposits and loans are only possible at the beginning of a year. Interest and repayments fall due at the end of a year, i.e. after each round of play.

Loans (Kredite): Under certain conditions it is possible to borrow money from the bank. The borrower must own at least 5 fields, and the annual loan amount may not exceed half of the value of the fields he or she already owns (i.e. 600 Inti per field). The interest, i.e. 10 per cent of the loan amount, and the repayment of the loan fall due at the end of the year. A borrower must repay at least the interest on the debt. If necessary, parts of the possessions must be sold. A borrower who cannot repay the debt may have the loan carried over to the following year, provided that both loan conditions are still met. In the second year the interest rate rises to 20 per cent. A borrower who still cannot settle the debt at the end of the second loan year must sell possessions.

Deposits (Einlagen): Unlimited sums of money may be placed with the bank against an annual interest refund of 5 per cent.

Cooperative (Genossenschaft)

The players (or some of them) are free to join together in a cooperative in order to reduce their dependence on the bank. The cooperative may serve various purposes, such as lending for members' investments, compensation for crop failures, bridging emergency situations, and so on.

The cooperative members decide the amount of the deposits, the conditions of lending and the repayment obligations.

End of the Game

The players agree at the start of the game when the game is to end. For example, it can be ended after 5 or 6 years (rounds of play), or for instance when two of the players have been eliminated.

To determine the winner, all players make an inventory of their possessions: cash and material assets are added together. A field counts as 1200 Inti and a livestock holding counts as 250 Inti. The player who owns the most has won.

Explanations of the Picture Spaces

Spielfeld 2

The Peruvian national football team has won: move forward 3 spaces.

Spielfeld 4

Registering your newborn child at the civil registry office costs you 100 Inti. Because you have no vaccination record, you must also slip the official an extra 100 Inti as a bribe.

Spielfeld 8

Your little son is seriously ill. You take him to hospital. You must pay 150 Inti so that he is admitted and cared for.

Spielfeld 10

You pay a visit to the prison: continue normally.

Spielfeld 12

You took part in a demonstration for a new land law. You were arrested by the National Guard: go back to prison and lose 2 rounds, or pay 250 Inti in fines and bribes.

Spielfeld 14

Your village needs a water reservoir. You have a choice: either you help build it, lose 2 turns and then move on to space 18, or you do not take part and continue playing normally.

Spielfeld 16

A terrible drought hits your region. You lose half of your annual yield. International aid can at least secure your minimum subsistence if you hold the green card "International Aid" (Internationale Hilfe).

Spielfeld 20

You spend Sunday in the pub and drink alcohol. This costs you 100 Inti. This space affects only male players.

Spielfeld 22

Your relatives and friends help you with the harvest, so nothing is lost. You earn 200 Inti more and receive the corresponding amount from the bank.

Spielfeld 24

An agricultural cooperative is founded in your area. You have a choice: either you become a member of the cooperative and take part in its meetings, training courses and communal work. In this case you lose 2 turns and then move on to space 28. Or you do not become a member of the cooperative and continue normally.

Spielfeld 26

You are robbed and must hand over half of your cash and half of your small livestock.

Attention! On the fourth robbery, i.e. when you come to this space for the fourth time, you refuse to hand over your possessions. You are mercilessly murdered and are eliminated from the game.

Note: Each time you land on this space, make a cross on the Yield Sheet at the place provided for it.

Spielfeld 29

As you go into town, you meet a friendly truck driver on the way who gives you a lift: move forward 3 spaces.