Business board game decisions: keep the cash, or buy one more city?

Every business board game teaches the same hard lesson sooner or later: profit and cash are not the same thing. You can own a great deal and still be unable to pay what is due this week. Property Rush puts that lesson on a board. At some point you will stand on a city you could buy and ask whether to spend the money or keep it. Here is a way to answer that question with numbers instead of nerves.

What is the real size of the bill?

Think of a rival's cities as a running cost. If a rival builds hotels across the whole of one country, every turn you take costs you a share of that rent. In my simulation, the average cost per turn, once hotels stand, is:

• Netherlands, 102.76
• Germany, 91.42
• Japan, 90.50
• Canada, 86.74
• France, 70.64
• Italy, 55.78
• Egypt, 38.73
• the UAE, 14.72

These add. If two rivals have built the Netherlands and Japan, you pay about 193 a turn on average. On the default purse of 1,500, that is a little over one eighth of your starting cash each time you move.

Does a bare city help your cash flow?

Barely. Abu Dhabi takes 1,434 rival stops to repay itself from bare rent, so for a long while a bare city is an asset that pays almost nothing. Houses are what turn cash into income. This is why I tell people that buying one more bare city and keeping cash for houses are not rivals. The house is the better engine, once you own the country that allows it.

How do you test a purchase?

Use a cushion test. Before you buy, find the worst single visit a rival can make you pay, and ask whether you would still cover it after the purchase.

Here is an invented case, to show the sums. A rival has three houses on every city of Italy. The rents on those cities are 450, 450 and 500, so the worst visit costs 500. You have 620 in hand, and Nice is for sale at 180. Buy it and you hold 440, which is under 500.

How likely is the bad landing? Italy takes 7.0% of stops. The chance of hitting it at least once in your next three turns is about one in five. Boardit leaves that choice to you at the table, and I would call this one a judgement. If Nice finishes a country for you, buy it. If it is a stray bare city, keep the cash.

What happens if you get it wrong?

You do not leave the game. The rent takes your cash below zero, you cannot roll, and you raise money by mortgaging, selling houses or trading. A house sells back at half what you paid. That is the cost of a thin cushion: you turn good assets into cash at a loss, at exactly the moment the rival's rent has already hurt you.

When is owning more the right call?

Three cases pass the test.

1. The city completes a country for you. A complete country doubles bare rent and lets you build.
2. The city stops a rival completing theirs. Denial is worth real money.
3. You are far ahead on cash. A cushion bigger than any visit you face is idle money.

Everything else is a judgement about timing. A small purse, 500, makes cash scarce so every purchase matters. A large one, up to 5,000, lets you own more and still sleep.

What would a good habit look like?

At each purchase, name the worst visit, name your cash after buying, and compare. If cash is higher, buy. If not, ask whether the city earns its place.

Property Rush is an independent Monopoly alternative, and the same habit works in any property trading game you play online with friends. It is a small piece of treasury work, done with a die in your hand, and it carries over to real budgets better than most board game lessons do.

Boardit is not affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro.

Ahmed Moaz builds Boardit, a free browser game site.