
Bay Area Regional Planner: The Board Game - apsec112
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1700980409/bay-area-regional-planner
======
JoshTriplett
I love that the game ends in 2038
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem)).

Also well-done is the rule that the state of the economy determines the
highest zone that can be built, since a zone does no good if not actually
populated, and ghost towns benefit nobody.

The rules about how commute times change if you build adjacent to C/D zones or
out in the middle of R zones seem quite well thought-out as well. Though that
does raise the question of why they can't be brought down again by building a
D zone (so more people can live closer to work).

This does rather subtly demonstrate the primary problem: players in this game
have to _care_ about goals like "keep small towns small" or "at least 5 R-1
zones in ...", and treat those as having parity with rent and commute times.
(Obviously, without conflicting constraints there'd be no tension and no game;
that this is a game nicely demonstrates the problem.) Not to mention rules
like "Upzoning brings a zone up one level", since within the rules of the
game, C and D zones are strictly preferable to R zones, and having more
housing is strictly better than having less housing. (And, obviously,
repeatedly re-zoning the same area in reality would be more disruptive than
changing it once.)

As another commenter said, "the only winning move is not to play". A game like
this makes a clearer and cleverer political statement than a pile of ads and
protests.

~~~
Rhapso
Maybe I am missing something, but how would the unix epoc overflowing a
problem? As long as they don't handle overflow errors, all the math still
works until it overflows twice...

~~~
JoshTriplett
Relative differences could potentially work; absolute times would map to the
wrong time. Anything that asked the system for the current time and stored it
in a 4-byte value would get the wrong time.

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kelukelugames
LOL, Alfred discovered a niche market: political, topical board games.

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1700980409/california-w...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1700980409/california-
water-crisis/description)

~~~
walshemj
Boardgames have always had that side to them the genesis of monopoly is one
well known example.

~~~
wlesieutre
For reference, the game Monopoly was copied/adapted from:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Landlord's_Game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Landlord's_Game)

> The game was created to be a "practical demonstration of the present system
> of land grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences". She based
> the game on the economic principles of Georgism, a system proposed by Henry
> George, with the object of demonstrating how rents enrich property owners
> and impoverish tenants.

~~~
azundo
There is a fantastic 99% Invisible podcast on The Landlord's Game/Monopoly:
[http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-landlords-
game/](http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-landlords-game/). Highly
recommended.

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capkutay
Speaking of regional planning, here's a huge fuck-up happening in SF planning
today:

[http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2015/12/no-progress-
for-a...](http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2015/12/no-progress-for-a-subway-
extension-to-north-beach-and-a-setback.html)

Basically, they built the SF Central Subway all the way up to the Pagoda site
in North Beach. Due to bureaucratic BS, the city can't buy the site and
therefore they can't turn it into a subway station. As a result, the city's
only subway line (other than BART) will stop at Chinatown.

It's stuff like this that just proves the impotence of the SF government.

~~~
Zach_the_Lizard
>Due to bureaucratic BS, the city can't buy the site and therefore they can't
turn it into a subway station.

The environmental review process really wrecks projects like this. It's also a
favorite tool of NIMBYs, especially in California. City getting too dense for
your taste? Let's argue it's bad for the environment, even though urban living
is better for the environment than sprawl and the housing will be built there
instead.

~~~
capkutay
Not to mention, if the city approves the environmental review, 3rd party
groups can SUE to challenge the validity of the environmental review. Turning
a 5-7 year process into a 10-12 year process.

------
asift
It's too bad the game doesn't include an option to adopt Houston-style
regulation and create a better institutional framework for regulating housing
in the first place.

~~~
davidw
I read Yglesias' "The Rent is Too Damn High" book and liked it (
[http://amzn.to/1Zo1TEj](http://amzn.to/1Zo1TEj) ) but it seemed a bit "high-
level". I wonder if there are other examples of places that have significantly
looser zoning, besides Houston, that actually look like attractive places to
live? Houston is not my cup of tea.

Also, how does that really work out in practice - can I buy a house in a
residential neighborhood and open a noisy biker bar in it?

~~~
khuey
Japan.

~~~
davidw
Fair enough. I meant in the US, but what are Japan's zoning
laws/culture/whatever like?

~~~
kqr2
For a good overview of Japanese zoning check out:

[http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-
zoning.html](http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html)

versus US style "euclidian" zoining:

[http://urbankchoze.blogspot.ca/2014/04/euclidian-
zoning.html](http://urbankchoze.blogspot.ca/2014/04/euclidian-zoning.html)

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awalton
Doesn't seem like a fair game. The NIMBYs pretty much always win.

~~~
darkstar999
It seems like the large influx of affluent tech employees are the real
winners. The NIMBYs have been there before the boom. You would probably act
the same.

~~~
woah
How are the people moving in the winners? They are the ones getting ripped off
the most. The city that used to be home to a constant influx of weirdos and
innovators has been taken over by an aging landholder class, who will do
anything to preserve their grip on power and drive up their multimillion
dollar property values, while draping themselves in progressive bs.

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
Because they (with their high 5/low 6 figure salaries) are driving up the
costs of apartments, meaning that to even rent in the Bay Area is becoming a
losing proposition if you make less than 100K. I suppose landlords are also
making out like bandits, but the real losers are people who'd be solidly
middle class anywhere else, but now have to listen to the laments of someone
making 6 figures how _they_ are the real working class now in the Bay.

I mean, I suppose that even someone making a 100K salary can't buy a house
easily by themselves, but at least they can live here in a decent apartment.
The _real_ losers are people who can't even afford an apartment to rent in the
Bay Area. By and large those people aren't software engineers.

~~~
davidw
> they (with their high 5/low 6 figure salaries) are driving up the costs of
> apartments, meaning that to even rent in the Bay Area is becoming a losing
> proposition

That's right: the people moving in are not the winners. Their salaries are
high, but they're spending a large percentage of it in rent. Granted, overall,
they're pretty well off, but they're not really "the winners" compared to
people who actually own the land.

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
At this rate, being able to live in the Bay Area pretty much means you're a
winner, 2015 edition.

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eastbayjake
I'm confused about some of the "goals" and their impact on strategy. The first
goal prohibits downtown upzoning in Alameda County to "protect view
corridors", and I'm not sure whether that's a randomly drawn card or whether
that's the first goal the group of players must accomplish. If so, that
immediately eliminates my hobby-horse about SF rents: downtown Oakland has the
infrastructure to handle many more residents and businesses without blocking
views more than they already are, and it's only comparative rents with SF that
are keeping it from being built out.

~~~
falsedan
You can read the rules[0], they state that each player gets some goal cards
(each with two policy goals) & the winner is the player who achieves all but
one of their goals (or all of them).

0 : [https://ksr-
ugc.imgix.net/assets/005/082/476/9ce6e22f89f241f...](https://ksr-
ugc.imgix.net/assets/005/082/476/9ce6e22f89f241fe56e50f73d20721a2_original.png?v=1450238963&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&lossless=true&s=9c249304e85e23e8001c91df327b9e8f)

------
aaronbrethorst

        Developed as an educational tool for the
        San Francisco Bay Area Renters' Federation
    

The SF BARF? Seriously?

~~~
kabdib
Seattle has the South Lake Union Streetcar. Which should have been the _tram_
, with the advertising logo "Ride the SLUT!"

A bunch of party-poopers didn't like that idea. :-)

~~~
khgvljhkb
You'd enjoy travelling in Scandinavia. End station in Swedish is "Slut-
station"
[http://hugelolcdn.com/i700/103510.jpg](http://hugelolcdn.com/i700/103510.jpg)

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rhc2104
"You can't upzone any squares in Marin." heh

~~~
marincounty
Marin is a weird county. Yes--there are Nimby's, but it's the infrastructure.
These towns are small. The roads are narrow. The sewer systems are pathetic.
It was just not designed to scale out.

Anyone who has been in 101 traffic knows what I mean. There were times I slept
in my truck while in San Francisco, instead of dealing with that traffic. I
was in construction at the time, so my appearance the next day didn't matter.

I would like to see the county/towns approve a few variances. I honestly don't
think they ever pass them, but they happily take in the fees. Years ago I had
a chance to buy a cabin in Laginitas, but the zoning was agricultural and the
lady at the planning department, said she would take my money, but my chances
were zilch. She was just being honest. I still wish I bought that cabin
though.

I don't have an answer to the housing crisis. I would like to see more harbors
built. Harbors where you can live on your boat.

I want to clear up a few misconceptions. In San Francisco, most Union
Plumbers, and Electricians are making $100/hr. Housing has been a problem in
Marin and San Francisco forever. I don't like it. Most Marinites wanted Bart,
but at the time the state didn't have the money. I know because my father
worked on that project for over a year.

Part of the problem is the head honcho wants to live/work in a very desirable
city/location. If they want employees to show up for work--pay them more, or
set up shop in a less desirable place to live. Or, let them telecommute?

Again--I've though about this for years, and I don't see a solution. My
solution has been living on a boat, but it's not for everyone. I truly think
if their were more harbors that allowed live-aboards it might help? And
approve a few trailer parks?

~~~
davidw
> These towns are small. The roads are narrow.

This describes a large portion of Europe, where people manage to live and work
just fine.

Here's street view of what looks like a fairly central place in Mill Valley:
[https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9066516,-122.5461843,3a,75y,...](https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9066516,-122.5461843,3a,75y,141.92h,94.63t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1saSHrInYm7gKcBiI8tfwhsA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

And here's one of downtown Monselice, a smallish town in Italy:
[https://www.google.com/maps/@45.2419025,11.7514149,3a,75y,30...](https://www.google.com/maps/@45.2419025,11.7514149,3a,75y,307.27h,91.5t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sY5AGd00n-eH3xyCSwz2r6A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

They're both fairly pleasant places in my experience.

~~~
eru
Mill Valley has huge roads compared even to Monselice---they have enough space
for roadside parking, even.

By European standards, Monselice doesn't have small roads.

------
Cyberdog
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

How about a nice game of chess?

~~~
baakss
There's a chess term for that too. :)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugzwang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugzwang)

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pbreit
Let me guess: there's no downside to building homes?

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fleitz
In the game of zones, you win or you rent.

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urlgrey
The counties included on the board appears heavily editorialized; the
Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) includes Sonoma, Napa, and Solano
counties which are not shown
([http://abag.ca.gov/overview/members.html](http://abag.ca.gov/overview/members.html)).

