Dr. Drago's Madcap Chase

Dr. Drago's Madcap Chase (a.k.a. Die total verrückte Rallye) is a strategy game for up to eight players with similarities to board games like Monopoly.

The players join a rally through Europe and North Africa which consists of several stages. At the beginning of each stage a TV moderator names the capital of a country. The one who gets there first will win a lot of money. At first there are only Western European countries available but eventually the Berlin Wall falls and you can enter the former Eastern bloc.

You play on a map of Europe consisting of many fields merged with each other through lines. Before every turn a player dices and then he can move his figure over the fields. You can freely decide the route to your target but you have to notice on which field you would end your turn. There are:* Red fields: When you end your turn on a red field, you'll lose money.

• Blue fields: Money will be credited to your account.

• Yellow fields: You get a playing card. You can use these cards before every turn to your own advantage (i.e. use five dices instead of one) or to your opponent's disadvantage (i.e. having him transferred to a corner of the map).

• Purple fields: On a purple field you can buy or sell cards.

• Gray fields: Gray fields are cities. In a city you can buy buildings and earn rent every turn. When you own every building in a city, you have a monopoly and earn more rent. Contrary to Monopoly you don't have to pay anything when you come to a city where one of the other players have buildings.

• Black and white fields: These fields represent the capital of a country. Buying buildings there is much more expensive but you will earn more rent.

Another aspect of the game is Dr. Drago. Drago is played by the computer and appears after stage one and will follow the player who had the highest distance to the target of the previous stage. After every turn Drago will waste parts of your money, sell or buy buildings to terrible prices or destroy your cards. To get rid of him you can use a Drago playing card (if you own one and Drago has not ripped it to pieces yet) or overtake one of the players. When you pass them, Drago will leave you and chase your opponent.

The winner of the game is the one who has the most money on his account after all stages. You could even win without winning a single stage but it's more difficult because you won't make that much profit with trying to end your turns on blue fields. And of course, Drago will haunt you the whole time when you are cruising in Northern Africa while all the stages end somewhere else.