Introduction
A classic game of capitalism and empire building. Buy up historic Second Life regions, but don’t get sent to the Cornfield in the process! Bankrupt the competition to win!
Also Known As
Prior to September 2011, this game was known as “SLopoly.” The name was changed in order to satisfy Linden Lab’s trademark guidelines.
House Rules
Most K.R. Engineering games have a variety of options or “house rules” that can be turned on and off by the game owner to change how the game plays. These options can include changing the winning criteria for a game, adding new rules or disabling other rules, or just placing time limits on how long you can be away before the game skips you. It is often helpful to know what house rules you are playing with when you sit down at a game. You can touch the game logo on any K.R. Engineering game to see a list of which options are enabled and which are not.
For owners/administrators wishing to change these options, please see the Administration section of this article.
Getting Started
If you are new to owning a K.R. Engineering game or have upgraded from an older game version, then you may have questions about your new table. Please see this FAQ for answers to some of our most common beginner questions.
Bug Fixes and Upgrades
Most owners of K.R. Engineering games are entitled to free upgrades to newer versions of the game. If a new update is available, then following the updating instructions for your game will result in a new copy of the most recent version being sent to you by the update server. This process is not automatic. You must request an update manually.
If you are having problems with your game, please search this knowledge base or contact us for product support. If the problem you are having has not previously been encountered, a new game version will be released with a fix as soon as possible, and you may qualify for a bug bounty.
DISCLAIMER: The appearance and feature set of games are subject to revision between versions as the capabilities of Second Life change over time. Please see the detailed ChangeLog for your particular game before upgrading. By upgrading. you are agreeing to accept any and all changes that have been imposed on the updated version of the game.
Joining the Game
Most K.R. Engineering games can be played simply by right-clicking on a chair and choosing “Play.”
K.R. Engineering games can be played on a variety of themed furniture objects, and the “chairs” may not always look like chairs. For example, on the Chess theme, the “chairs” are the giant chess pieces. If you are unsure what is a chair and what isn’t on a particular theme, that’s okay! You can right-click and select “Play” on any part of a theme and it will automatically place you in an available chair, even if you didn’t click on a chair specifically.
Important: K.R. Engineering games use a rezzing system. This means that the game (buttons, dice, cards, game boards, etc) is a separate object from the furniture/rezzer/theme. You must right-click on the theme to play, not the game itself, as you cannot sit on the game pieces (such as dice, game boards, cards, etc). You must sit on the furniture around the game to play, not the game pieces.
While most game themes include furniture that you can sit on, there may be some exceptions. The Pocket theme, for example, cannot be sat on, as it has no chairs. Instead, you can join a game on a Pocket theme by clicking the MENU button on the game.
Game Play
Object
The object of the game is to become the wealthiest player through buying, renting and selling property. Starting with player 1, the players touch the dice to roll each turn. Their tokens will automatically advance the number of spaces indicated by the dice. According to the space which the token lands on, a player may be entitled to buy real estate, or be obliged to pay rent, pay taxes, draw a Chance or Community Chest card, go to the Cornfield (jail), etc.
Asset Server ‘utility’ title deed card.
Doubles
If a player throws doubles, they automatically get another turn immediately following their current turn. If they throw doubles 3 times in a row, they must go straight to the Cornfield. See the section marked CORNFIELD.
Orientation Island
Each time a player lands on or passes Orientation Island, they immediately collect $200.
Buying Property
Whenever a player lands on an unowned property, they may buy that property from the bank at its printed price. They will receive the Title Deed card showing ownership.
Paying Rent
When a player lands on property owned by another player the owner collects from them in accordance with the list printed on the Title Deed card applying to it. If the properting is mortgaged, no rent can be collected. When a property is mortgaged its Title Deed card will be face down on the table.
It is an advantage to hold all the Title Deeds in a color-group because the owner may then charge double rent for unimproved properties in that color-group. This rule applies to unmortgaged properties even if another property in that color-group is mortgaged. It is even more of an advantage to have houses or hotels on properties because rents are much higher than for unimproved properties.
Karma and Encounter
When a player lands on either of these spaces they take the top card from the deck indicated, follows the instructions and returns the card face-down to the bottom of the deck. The ‘Escape the Cornfield, FREE’ cards are held until used and then returned to the bottom of the deck. If the player who draws it does not wish to use it they may sell it, at any time, to another player at a price agreeable to both.
Trading
You can trade property or cash with another player, in exchange for different property or cash. When trading you will first be asked to select which player you wish to trade with, before being presented with the OFFERING stage.
The OFFERING stage is where you decide what your side of the trade will be. Are you going to give the other person property? Or cash? Or nothing? It is possible to give nothing in exchange for something, or to give something in exchange for nothing. Once you have finished selecting what it is you wish to offer in trade, press the DONE button.
Next you will be taken to the REQUESTING stage. The REQUESTING window will look nearly identical to the OFFERING window except that it will say “REQUESTING STAGE” at the top instead of “OFFERING STAGE.” On the REQUESTING window you can choose from among your trade partner’s properties and cash, to indicate what it is you expect them to give you (what you are requesting that they trade to you in exchange for your offering). Like the OFFERING stage, this can be left empty ($0 and no property) if you simply wish to give them something for nothing in return. Once you have chosen what it is you would like to receive from your trade partner, click DONE again.
After completing the OFFERING and REQUESTING windows, the trade will be presented to your trade partner for approval with an Accept/Decline window. If they decline, the trade is abandoned. If they accept, property and cash change hands as you specified and the trading is complete.
Land Tier
When a player lands on Land Tier they have two options: They may estimate their tier fees at $200 and pay the Bank, or they may pay 10% of their total worth to the Bank. Your total worth is all cash on hand, printed prices of mortgaged and unmortgaged properties and cost of all buildings owned. The player must decide which option to take BEFORE calculating up their value. (in other words, the game will not tell you if 10% is less or greater than $200. That’s up to you.)
The Cornfield
A player lands themselves in the Cornfield when (1.) their token lands on the space marked ‘Go to the Cornfield’; (2.) they draw a card marked ‘Go to the Cornfield’; (3.) they throw doubles three times in a row on the same turn. When a player is sent to the Cornfield they cannot collect $200 stipend in that move since, regardless of their token is on the board, they must move directly to the Cornfield, not around the board. A player’s turn ends when they are sent to jail.
If a player is not ‘sent to the Cornfield’ but in the ordinary course of play lands on that space, they are ‘just visiting’ and incur no penalty, and move ahead as usual on the next turn.
If you are actually in the Cornfield are your turn, you can escape by way of clicking the dice to begin your turn as usual. You will be presented with a menu of options for escaping. You can either PAY $50 to immediately escape, attempt to ROLL doubles and escape for free, or use a Chance or Community Chest card if you have them. If you fail to roll doubles for three turns, you MUST pay to get out on the next turn.
Players in the Cornfield can still buy and sell property from other players (but can not initiate the transaction) and still collect rent on all their property as per the normal rules.
Public Sandbox
A player landing on this space does not receive any money, property or reward of any kind. This is a completely free spot. No rent is owed.
Houses
When a player owns all of the properties in a color-group they may buy houses for those properties. The price paid for each house is indicated on the accompanying Title Deed card. All the deeds within a particular color-group have the same cost for houses, but may collect varying amounts of rent based on how many they have. The owner can still collect double rent on properties in the color-group that do not have houses. Color-groups must be developed evenly (and the game will take care of this for you). You can not have 4 houses on one property and none on the others, for example. They must also be sold off evenly.
Hotels
Hotels are the equivalent of 5 houses. Properties with 4 houses are automatically upgraded to hotels when a fifth house is purchased.
Selling Property
Unimproved properties, telehubs and utilities may be sold to any player as a private transaction for any amount that is agreed upon. Property can NOT be sold if there are houses or hotels on any property in that color group, the houses and hotels must first be sold back to the bank. Houses and hotels can be sold back to the bank at any time for HALF of the orginal purchase price. Hotels are automatically downgraded to 4 houses when 1 ‘house’ is sold off.
Mortgages
Unimproved properties can be mortgaged through the bank at any time. Before an improved property can be mortgaged all the buildings on it must be sold back to the bank. The mortgage value is printed on the Title Deed card associated with that property. No rent can be collected on mortgaged properties or utilities, but rent can be collected on unmortgaged properties in the same color-group.
In order to lift the mortgage, the owner must pay the bank the amount of the mortgage PLUS 10% interest. When all the properties of a color-group are no longer mortgaged the owner may begin to buy back houses at full price.
The player who mortgages property retains possession of it and no other player may secure it by lifting the mortgage from the Bank. However, the owner may sell this mortgaged property to another player at any agreed price.
Bankruptcy
A player is bankrupt when they owe more than they can pay either to another player or t the bank. If the debt is to another player, he must turn over to that player all that he has of value and retire from the game. All houses or hotels on developed properties will be sold back to the bank at half-price before the properties are transfered. The proceeds of these sales will be included with the transfer. The last player on the board wins the game!
Title Deeds
Anyone may touch any title deed card on the table to magnify it for easier reading. After a couple minutes it will automatically unmagnify if you ignore it. You may also touch a magnified card when you are done reading it to force it to shrink back down.
Abandoning the Game
If you stand up during the game, you will be skipped the next time your turn comes around. If it is your turn when you stand up, the turn will immediately advance to the next player. You can not stand up during your turn to avoid paying debts. Your debt will be paid automatically for you, and if you do not have enough cash to pay the debt you will immediately go bankrupt.
Player Substitutions
New players may not join during the middle of a game, but if a player vacates their seat they may be replaced by another person, or return at a later time.
Please Wait
If the game responds to an action with ‘Please wait.’ it is currently busy trying to calculate parameters for the last play, and you should wait a second and try again. This shouldn’t ever persist for more than a couple seconds at most.
Customization
For information on switching out tables and themes, please see this FAQ entry. For an overview of the theme/table administrative menu, please check out our Game Rezzer Administration article. For detailed information on customizing animations and camera views, please see our Player Experience Customization article.
Gaming.SL Live Integration
Gaming.SL Live (also known as Gaming.SL or G.SL) is gaming platform and services system developed by K.R. Engineering, which brings a variety of enhanced features to games in Second Life that are not possible with Second Life alone. In addition to the features described in this article, G.SL can integrate with your table in the following ways.
Leaderboards
Gaming.SL connected games have a grid-wide top score database that allows players to compete and have a pervasive record of their high scores. These high scores can be viewed by using a Top Scores display board in Second Life or by accessing the Top Scores page on the Gaming.SL website. Scores can be filtered down by region, specific game tables, dates, and other criteria.
In addition to recording high scores, games keep a running tally of the total number of times players have won on a game. This information can be viewed on a Top Winners display board in Second Life or by accessing the Top Winners page on the Gaming.SL website. Winners can likewise be filtered by region and other criteria to see a more specific list of winners.
On supported games, players will also be assigned a rank that compares their performance to other players who have played the same game. Players can improve this rank by playing well against other players. Rank information can be viewed on a Top Ranked display board in Second Life or by accessing the Top Ranked page on the Gaming.SL website.
Achievements
Gaming.SL includes support for Achievements in participating games, where-in you can unlock trophies by performing miraculous or mundane feats of gameplay. Achievements are awarded automatically and announced in Second Life when they are unlocked. Players can check their own achievements by visiting the Achievements page on the Gaming.SL website.
Jackpots
Gaming.SL supports the option to have ongoing recurring Jackpots where players can win cash prizes just for playing, no purchase necessary! Visit the Jackpots page on the Gaming.SL website to see the current jackpot standings, and who you need to defeat to win a prize. Prizes are based on ranking on a leaderboard that is erased during each jackpot period. Players must play during each period to be eligible to win during that period.
Licensing
Gaming.SL connected games utilize a licensing system that allows scores, ranks, winners, and other attributes to persist between rezzes of the same game, regardless of location in Second Life. This licensing system also allows games to have COPY permissions while still offering instancing control.
Public Games
Games that use Gaming.SL Live can also optionally be specified as a PUBLIC game by the game’s owner. This will display the game on the Gaming.SL Live Games page, including game status, options, and location, and a button to let a user teleport straight to the game to play. All games default to PRIVATE unless explicitly changed by the owner of the game.
Privacy
See the Gaming.SL Live page for more details on the Gaming.SL Live system, as well as our comprehensive Privacy Policy detailing the information we collect and how we use it.
Administration
To access the game’s administrative menu, simply click and hold your mouse button down on any part of it for two seconds. A menu will pop up on your screen displaying current settings and providing options to change them. (In slow simulators, this may take slighter longer than two seconds, just hold the mouse button down until you see a menu.)
On certain rezzer versions, depending on where you click, you may open the REZZER’S administrative menu instead of the GAME’S administrative menu. This is okay! If you are in the rezzer admin menu, you can switch directly over to the game admin menu by pressing the “Game ↗” button. Likewise if you open the game menu by mistake, and wish to switch over to the rezzer menu, you can simply press the “↙ Rezzer” button.
Some elements of the administration menu are accessible only by the owner, while others can be accessed by anyone who is considered an administrative user, either explicitly added or implicitly through the Group Admin feature.
There are too many options to fit in a standard dialog window, so the window has been divided into pages. You can use the <<< and >>> buttons at the bottom of the admin menu to change which page of options you are currently viewing. If you don’t see the option you want, it’s on another page!
Rezzer Options
Many options that were formerly in the game admin menu have been moved to the table/theme/rezzer admin menu. These are options that are game-independent, such as admin users, branding, sound volume, and updating. These options are now set on the table/theme/rezzer and apply automatically to whatever game is being played on that table or theme. For details on accessing the rezzer admin menu and what options are in it, please see the Game Rezzer Administration article.
Owner-Only Options
- Indicators: A menu for changing the color of the turn indicator lights on the game board.
- Color: An alternate way to access the color/theme menu for the table. This is the same as pressing the Color button on the table top.
Administrative User Options
- ↙ Rezzer: This button will directly open the rezzer’s administrative menu instead of the game’s menu.
- Players: Access the player management menu to skip or evict players from the game.
- Abandoned: Select this button to change the number of seconds the table waits to reset an abandoned game after all players have left.
- Timeout: Select this button to change the number of seconds the table waits before resetting the game after it has been abandoned (use 0 to disable).
- Game Time: Select this button to change the duration of games. After this time period, the game will automatically end, with the wealthiest player winning (Use 0 for unlimited duration).
- Start Funds: Select this button to change the amount of (fake) money each player starts with.
- Kitty On: Turn on the ‘kitty’ house rule. All fines paid will go into the kitty. Anyone landing on public sandbox collects the money from the kitty.
- Kitty Off: Disable the ‘kitty’ house rule.
- Deeds On: Enable the ‘initial deeds’ house rule. Players will be dealt two random deeds each at the start of the game.
- Deeds Off: Disable the ‘initial deeds’ house rule.
- Dash On: Enable Dash for Cash house rule. Players will receive twice as much for landing on Orientation Island as for passing over it.
- Dash Off: Disable Dash for Cash house rule.
- Sights On: Enable Sightseeing house rule. Players must complete a full trip around the board before buying property.
- Sights Off: Disable Sightseeing house rule.
- Frozen On: Enable Frozen Assets house rule. Players will be unable to collect rent from Jail.
- Frozen Off: Disable Frozen Assets house rule.
Additional Questions
If you have more questions, please use the search tool on our main page to browse our many helpful articles and FAQ entries. If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, you can contact us for assistance.
ChangeLog
You can find the ChangeLog for Simopolis by visiting this article.