Airport (1972)

Overview

In Airport, the goal is to create the most profitable airline. The players start with a fixed number of aircraft which they distribute among the routes on the board. They then take turns rolling dice and moving their counters around the board.

When a player lands on certain squares, he is paid for all aircraft he has on a particular route. The more aircraft there are on a single route, the lower the payment received for each aircraft. For example; on the New York to Seattle route, one aircraft will make $40,000. If there are 5 aircraft on the route, then each aircraft will earn $15,000, for a total of $75,000. All players receive payment for their aircraft on the route regardless of who landed on the square. Other squares on the board require the players to make certain payments (such as landing fees or ground service charges).

The players are also required to perform maintenance on their aircraft. Airport cards can be drawn which give individual players bonuses (such as a mail cargo route) or penalties (such as a strike). The players also have the option of buying or leasing new aircraft or of selling old aircraft back to the bank. The first player to reach a net worth of one million dollars is the winner.

This game is another variant on the venerable Monopoly game. The varying amount of payment based on the number of aircraft on a route is actually somewhat realistic, but otherwise it has about as much to do with how airlines are actually run as Monopoly does with actual real estate investment. But the flavor is good, and the game is interesting to play and reasonably fast. It can be seen as a foreshadowing of Avalon Hill's Air Baron.