As it turns out, I only had around 30 unread messages. Not bad, but still enough to give me a headache. I just got back from Fan Wei’s house, where I was able to go on the internet for the first time in over a week and also enjoy some home cooking. Afterwards, we chatted and played Monopoly on Xbox 360. Apparently there’s an alternate version of Monopoly called “Richest” which goes a lot faster but also involves significantly more luck. There is a set number of rounds, and at the beginning of each round, a number of dice are rolled (equal to the number of players). Then, a mini game is played to determine turn order. Each player chooses which dice to choose, and the value of the dice determines how many tiles on the board you draw. If you draw a property that hasn’t been owned yet, you get the property, but if you draw someone else’s property, you have to “pay” them by giving them one of your existing properties. Thus, it’s advantages to choose bigger numbers at the beginning of the game to increase your chances of hoarding property, but probably safer to go for lower numbers towards the end to prevent the possibility of landing on other people’s property. Like normal Monopoly, you can upgrade to houses and hotels once you have established a monopoly, which results in other players paying you more (in property) every time they land on the monopoly. If you’re out of properties, then you don’t have to pay. The exciting thing about Richest is that it is fast-paced and dynamic. Chance, Community Chest, and Tax tiles have been modified so that instead of paying or receiving money, you have to pay in property (or have the chance to steal others’ properties). At the end of the game, the winner is the person whose total real estate is worth the most.