The Depot: 1829 Variants: Share Price Variant

This rule variant dates from the late seventies, when we used to play 1829 a lot. Our games were in the evening, starting at about 7.30. Having to be at work in the morning meant that we wanted to finish by midnight. This was designed to enable us to do this without leaving us with a game that felt as though it had finished before its natural conclusion. Its effects are:

1. To slow down the initial progress of the early companies, though not their overall progress because they make up later the ground they lose at the start.
2. To speed up the progress up the chart of a well-run later company.
3. To make the question of whether to withhold dividends now so as to pay bigger ones later more of a close call. (In a short game you should pay out every time that you can, because otherwise you lose too much in capital gains.
4. As a consequence of the initial slowing up of the LNWR, GWR and MR, the L&M is less of a millstone than in the standard game.

The rule:

• A company which fails to pay a dividend goes back one on the share price chart.
• The share price of a company which pays a dividend less than 7.5% of its current share price is left unchanged.
• If the dividend is at least 7.5% but less than 15%, the share price moves forward one.
• If the dividend is at least 15% but less than 30%, the share price moves forward two.
• If the dividend is at least 30%, the share price moves forward three.

(For this to be easy to operate you need to give each player a little table that they can consult giving the key figures for each price on the share price chart.)

We then used to play about 22 operating rounds. (The last round being the last one in the block of three that contained OR 22.)

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dmreed@bihs.net last updated 24 January 1995