PSSSST!! WANNA BUY THE KREMLIN?

ROUP by ROSS PORTER from Planet 3 Games

19" x 19" mounted board; 45 Property Cards; 20 Black Market Cards; 300 Million Rubles; Plastic Playing pieces; 3 dice; Boxed. From Planet-3 Games, POB 773, Smethport PA 16749. $28.50 (+ 10% shipping).

A Quickie from RICHARD BERG

This is not actually a historical game, but it does cover some of the events that are happening today in the old Soviet Union: they're selling it, piece by piece … and that's what you do here.

Roup is a multi-player (4-5 is best) quasi-Monopoly, auction game in which the players are buying anything that is not nailed down in today's Moscow, from the Kremlin, to GUM, to the Bolshoi, to some unworkable convention buildings. If it's there, you can buy it.

This is a beautiful game, with handsome components and exceptional graphics, with one exception: there are too many rubles. They're too small and too difficult to count out.

Essentially, what we have here is Monopoly, with some auction features added in. Players get to bid on and buy properties somewhat randomly, with no specific prices set … only guidelines. You buy it, you can collect rent when another player rolls its number. However, while one player is doing all this, another acts as the KGB, running around, stealing rents and auction fees, in much the same manner as the rats work in Plague. It's all very easy to learn, very picturesque, but a tad simplistic … which may have been the result of my having too few players when I went through it. While there are "random event" cards, they are rather peripheral, rarely affecting the course of the game. There is an interesting timing mechanism to the game: it ends when "The Old Commie Bank" runs out of money!

The game does have a rather droll sense of humor, and designer Porter actually took all the pictures - one for each piece of property - that appear on the cards. I had fun playing it, but I have a feeling this will appeal more to fans of auction-style games, as well as those who simply appreciate good-looking work … which it most certainly is.