Though the classic
Monopoly board game
has been localized for the many communities in which it is played,
Parker Brothers are yet to produce a version localized for
the Perl community, to the best of my knowledge.
This meditation remedies that.
Given the limited number of squares available, the vast
number of Perl modules, and the many and various Perl
sub-cultures, many different Perl
board configurations are possible.
Here is my feeble attempt at composing a Perl Monopoly board.
How would you do it?
Dark Blue Set
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Mayfair | Boardwalk | Pugs |
Park Lane | Park Place | Parrot |
Green Set
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Bond Street | Pennsylvania Avenue | DBI |
Oxford Street | North Carolina Avenue | mod_perl |
Regent Street | Pacific Avenue | Catalyst |
Yellow Set
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Piccadilly | Marvin Gardens | Template Toolkit |
Conventry Street | Ventnor Avenue | Mason |
Leicester Square | Atlantic Avenue | AxKit |
Red Set
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Trafalgar Square | Illinois Avenue | Module::Build |
Fleet Street | Indiana Avenue | CPANPLUS |
Strand | Kentucky Avenue | PAR |
Orange Set
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Vine Street | New York Avenue | POE |
Marlborough Street | Tennessee Avenue | Inline |
Bow Street | St James Place | YAML |
Light Purple Set
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Northumberland Avenue | Virginia Avenue | Parse::RecDescent |
Whitehall | States Avenue | XML::Parser |
Pall Mall | St Charles Place | HTML::Parser |
Light Blue Set
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Pentonville Road | Connecticut Avenue | LWP |
Euston Road | Vermont Avenue | WWW::Mechanize |
The Angel Islington | Oriental Avenue | CGI |
Dark Purple Set
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Whitechapel | Baltic Avenue | Acme::Bleach |
Old Kent Road | Mediterranean Avenue | Acme::EyeDrops |
Stations
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Kings Cross Station | Reading Railroad | Perl Monks |
Marylebone Station | Pennsylvania Railroad | use.perl |
Fenchurch Street Station | B&O Railroad | YAPC |
Liverpool Street Station | Short Line | Perl Whirl |
Utilities
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Electric Company | Electric Company | Test::Harness |
Water Works | Water Works | Test::More |
Other Squares
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
GO | GO | BEGIN |
Income Tax | Income Tax | Non Perl Work |
Jail | Jail | Python |
Free Parking | Free Parking | Free Software |
Go to Jail | Go to Jail | goto Python |
Super Tax | Luxury Tax | Bug Report |
Community Chest | Community Chest | Perl Community |
Chance | Chance | Risk |
Update 15-Dec: As noted in
Yanick's use.perl journal
there are some (expensive)
Customizable Monopoly Products
commercially available.
Re: Perl Monopoly Board
by graff (Chancellor) on Apr 28, 2006 at 04:53 UTC
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I think you're being a bit too flippant with the dark purple set. Many a time I've seen (enjoyed or hated, depending on the situation) cases where a hotel on those two lowly properties has played a decisive role in a game.
Those slots cry out for modules that are seemingly mundane and uninteresting (despite fairly large man pages), but when studied and wielded with full force can provide a rewarding sense of power:
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
Whitechapel | Baltic Avenue | Getopt::Long |
Old Kent Road | Mediterranean Avenue | Pod |
Really, these two things deserve to make it onto the board somehow, and this is as good a place as any. | [reply] [Watch: Dir/Any] |
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ok, this comment is more monopoly related than perl related, but you brought up the power of Baltic/Mediterranean Ave.
It turns out that these two are some of the most valuable properties in the game, if you know about an obscure rule of monopoly (often only followed in official tournaments, or when playing with rules lawyers such as myself). Basically, you can buy both of these properties very cheaply, and then build 4 houses on them very cheaply. Then, ideally, you have a couple of more expensive properties, and at least one of the other available monopolies on the same side of the board as baltic/mediterranean (as those can also build houses for $50 a pop). You do NOT want to build hotels (at first) if you are following this strategy. You DO want to be the only player with any properties having 4 houses.
The rule is usually referred to as 'housing shortage' - once the board runs out of houses (there are 32 supplied with the game), no one can build any more houses. And unless they already have 4 houses in place when you run out, they cannot build hotels. You control ALL building improvements. You can retain control of the game by only building hotels when you have space and money to buy back the four houses on the same turn, making it impossible for anyone else to use them (unless they buy them from you, for insanely high prices.)
Then you just sit back and wait to win while your opponents beg and curse at you for mercy (once they've looked it up and are forced to go along with it.)
I have won actual monopoly tournaments using this strategy (well, one.. and several less official games). The problem: it only works once against a given opponent. If are aware of the danger, and you know someone else is trying to cause a housing shortage, you can prevent it by getting four houses of your own somewhere.
So, I heartily agree with the parent poster.
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Re: Perl Monopoly Board
by tbone1 (Monsignor) on Apr 28, 2006 at 11:57 UTC
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Re: Perl Monopoly Board
by apotheon (Deacon) on Apr 28, 2006 at 03:49 UTC
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Or Fortran 77. When I have to program in that language, it does feel like a jail...
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Re: Perl Monopoly Board
by gawatkins (Monsignor) on Apr 28, 2006 at 22:05 UTC
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Monopoly is very suited to be done in Perl, it is the only game that I have played in that everyone has a distinctly different set of "house rules" that they play. For example, putting tax money in a pot and giving it to the next person to land on Free Parking. With that being said, please consider changing Chance to "TIMTOWTDI"
Thanks,
Greg W.
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Re: Perl Monopoly Board
by Herkum (Parson) on Apr 30, 2006 at 13:24 UTC
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For Chance, don't you think rand() would be more appropriate? | [reply] [Watch: Dir/Any] |
Re: Perl Monopoly Board
by radiantmatrix (Parson) on May 03, 2006 at 18:13 UTC
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My thoughts for Other Squares (assumes relevant changes elswhere for consistency):
London | Atlantic City | Perl |
GO | GO | continue {} |
Income Tax | Income Tax | Donate to YAPS (or) Buy Perl Books |
Jail | Jail | Matt's Script Archive |
Free Parking | Free Parking | CPAN (Free Modules!) |
Go to Jail | Go to Jail | be forced to use Matt's Scripts |
Super Tax | Luxury Tax | Debugging Session |
Community Chest | Community Chest | Perl Community |
Chance | Chance | Untested Code |
I tease a bit about Matt's Script Archive, but it's the first thing I assocaited with that "oh no!" or "ick" feeling of Go To Jail.
As for GO being continue {}, I imagine a card that instead of "proceed to Go" would simply say next;
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Re: Perl Monopoly Board
by Anonymous Monk on Dec 11, 2006 at 09:08 UTC
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Since noone likes to do it, and you need to do more of it when you have more code, I'd name one of the taxes "Write Documentation" | [reply] [Watch: Dir/Any] |
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