Zero Sum Payola

by Michael Schmahl

This is a variant on Payola Diplomacy by Manus Hand and John Woolley.

In Zero Sum Payola there is a fixed amount of money in the world. Contrast this with standard Payola, in which new money is printed each year for taxpayers to contribute to their governments. Zero Sum Payola uses the standard Payola rules with the following modifications:

Each power begins the game with a treasury containing 10 silver pieces for each owned supply center.

Powers do not receive tax income. Instead, money is transferred as follows:

• The amount of money that was paid as bribes to the units of each power during any particular gameyear is deposited into the account of that power at the conclusion of the Fall turn.
• When a neutral supply center is first captured, the power that occupies it is awarded a one-time 10 silver piece bonus.
• When an owned supply center changes hands, the new owner receives an amount of money from the treasury of the former owner. This amount of money is the total treasury of the disenfranchised power divided by the number of supply centers owned by that power at the beginning of the gameyear, rounded down.