The bank has 32 houses and 12 hotels: how a finite supply changes the late game in Property Rush
Most trading games let you build as much as you like. Property Rush does not. By default the bank holds 32 houses and 12 hotels, and you have to build evenly across a country. Those two rules change the middle of a game more than any card does.
I did the arithmetic, because it is easy to feel the squeeze without seeing how tight it is.
What 32 houses can do
Take the figure I used elsewhere, three houses on every city of a country. A country with three cities needs nine houses. A country with two needs six. So 32 houses is enough for three houses on about ten cities, and the board has 22.
That is less than half. If two players each build up two countries, the bank can run out before anyone has finished. Whoever builds first gets the houses, and the late builder has to wait for a sale.
What 12 hotels can do
There are eight countries and 22 cities. A city holds one hotel, and there are 12 in the bank. So at most 12 cities can ever carry a hotel at once, a bit more than half the board.
Even building
The even-building rule says you must put houses on every city of a country evenly, so you cannot stack four on one city and none on its neighbour. That keeps rent from jumping up on a single tile, and it means a country takes many turns and a lot of cash to complete.
How to play around it
Build early, because the supply is shared. Do not sit on a full set with no houses. If you cannot build, the next best thing is to stop others building, by trading for a city that completes their set only on your terms.
Raising cash when the houses run out
A shortage of houses is not the only squeeze on cash. Every ownable tile can be mortgaged for half its price, and lifting the mortgage costs that amount plus 10%, rounded up. Toronto, the dearest city at 400, raises 200 and costs 221 to lift. When you cannot build because the bank is empty, a mortgage on a tile you do not need is a way to keep a building plan going.
Switching it off
The host chooses these rules before the game begins, so a table that finds the limit frustrating can change it. I would leave it on for a first game and decide afterwards.
Ahmed Moaz builds Boardit, a free browser game site.