the HKUST entries: Monopoly Club, HKUSTSU

Friends, Romans and Countrymen,

What do a bunch of extraordinarily intelligent engineering students do when they casually meet up after dinner? Think of the next coolest tech-toy which Apple would buy off us? Help solve the Euro crisis with a bunch of mindboggling mathematical formulae? Of course, not. What do extraordinarily intelligent engineering students actually do?

They play Monopoly!

To topic. Do you guys know Monopoly? If yes, read on. If not, please jump to the last paragraph.

Last week, with dear sweet Mom transferring a substantial amount of money to my account (nothing worth making a kidnapping bid, so don't get ideas), I felt the mood for some economy boosting and thus began Operation Mong Kok. Ladies Street in Mong Kok is one of the most fanciful places for shopping and if bargaining runs in your blood, you have discovered Shangri-La. After multiple reconnaissance missions and some decent bargaining, I bought a World Monopoly Edition for 100 HKD with a super cool electronic banking system with card-swiping facilities (Yoga's new found sweetheart). 

And, with this charitable purchase, was conceived the Monopoly Club, HKUSTSU. 

Our first World Domination game was played by Colin, Tony, Thas and I with Tony minting money every time he rolled the dice. By the time, we called quits, Thas was bankrupt and Colin owed me some 20 million dollars in response to the splendid hospitality he received in Hong Kong and Jerusalem. Within days, the LG1 Clinic declared a Monopoly pandemic. Some notable victims include Rd Birdie, Aurelia, Parag, Rajindh and Yoga. Yoga loves his electronic toys and thus is our de facto Banker. Parag plays the shrewd Monopoly genius, defending bankruptcy while building and demolishing houses depending on how close others are to his properties. Aurelia, on the other hand, takes orders from Pyongyang while she plays the game. She buys properties, but she strictly maintains the Hermit Player Status, refusing to deal thereby starving you of the much important monopolies. RdB provides the entertainment factor, regularly conning you with his never-ending witticisms and you-are-my-best-friend deals. Rajindh is our most honest player and offers you less absurd deals than RdB. My playoffs are best described by a sinx curve, forever oscillating between awesome, okayish and terrible luck and I love entertaining my friends in my posh hotel in Hong Kong at a cool price of 11.5 million dollars.

The Executive Committee of the Monopoly Club, HKUSTSU meets on boring weekdays and weekends at the Ground Floor Common Room in UG Hall II. As Parag departs to India in a few hours, we are looking for fun players to join the ExCo. If you are equally crazy about Monopoly or simply wish to recuperate after hours of torturous Safety Training, leave a message on this post or on my Facebook page. We shall discuss your application in our next Empowered Extraordinary Annual General Subcommittee session and get back to you soon enough. Until then, long live Monopoly and longer, the Monopoly Club! :)

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About Monopoly:

Monopoly is a fascinating game that can be played by 2-6 players. It consists of a square board divided into numerous smaller rectangles. Every rectangle is colored and 2-3 rectangles share the same color. These rectangles contain the names of different places (dependent on the theme) and its price. Each player starts of with a fixed amount of money. Players roll the dice in turns. When a player lands on a rectangle, he can either buy it if it is unowned or pay the rent on the property if owned by some other player. When all the plots of the same color are owned by a player, it is termed a monopoly and he can build houses/hotels on his properties. The rents on the properties go up depending on the number of houses/hotels built on that property. A player is bankrupt when he has no money left to repay the rents even after selling his property. The last person playing on the board is the winner of the game. The game includes rectangles such as Jail, Income Tax, Chance and Community Chest to further build its suspense intensity.