There’s No Monopoly on a Good Time

The manner in which Chris Altare won Sunday’s Monopoly tournament in Sherman Oaks was somehow appropriate. He’s in the hotel business in real life.

Altare adroitly placed three hotels on his three properties--a maneuver that eventually tumbled his opponents into bankruptcy.

Altare, 33, who is part-owner of the Woodland Hills Motor Lodge, won the final round of the tournament at Sherman Oaks Fashion Square with more than $8,160 in assets, cash, hotels, houses and undeveloped properties. He now is eligible for the state championship.

“I almost didn’t make it through the first round” on Saturday, a smiling Altare said after his triumph. But he said he made a dramatic comeback and finished with more than $13,000, the highest score among the first round’s 125 players.

6 Players in Finals

Altare, who lives in Woodland Hills, then won his second-round match Saturday to place him in Sunday’s finals with five others.

The tournament is among dozens held around the state and nation that are sanctioned by Parker Bros., maker of the board game that was introduced 50 years ago, said the director of Sunday’s tournament, Michael R. Reilly.

Winners of local tournaments are rated by the amount of assests they amass. The person with the largest fortune becomes state champion and wins an expense-paid trip to Atlantic City, N.J., where the national tournament celebrating the game’s golden anniversary will be held in September, Reilly said.

Monopoly is only a game, but “some people really live for this,” said Reilly, who has also staged tournaments in New Jersey.

For example, Altare said he plays Monopoly at least once every two weeks and tuned up for the weekend tournament by playing nearly 30 hours straight on Friday and early Saturday morning.

But the most impassioned finalist was runner-up Jonathan Rick, 29, of Encino. Rick shouted “Yeah!” when opponents landed on Boardwalk and Park Place and were forced to pay the sky-high rents. “I get real intense,” Rick said. “Any game, you get into it.”

Rick explained that there usually are two strategies a player can follow: Go for the quick win by buying expensive properties such as Boardwalk and Park Place and placing houses and hotels on them quickly to drive up rents, or settle in for an extended game, passing “Go” lots of times and collecting as many properties as possible.

But there is another factor that can beat even the most tested strategy. “There’s a lot of skill in Monopoly, but by the same token, you can’t beat luck,” said one finalist, Tim Towery, 38, of Sylmar.

For two youngsters whose luck fell short, Monopoly was still an enjoyable game.

“I feel fine,” said a bubbly Trisha Albrecht, 12, of San Diego after she was forced into early bankruptcy. “I was lucky to get this far.”

Evan Cohen, 13, showed little remorse after he went bankrupt, even though it was only the roll of the dice that lost the game for him. Evan had four of the game’s little green houses on Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana avenues, while Altare had the same on Marvin Gardens and Atlantic and Vermont avenues.

Evan, in two successive trips around the board, landed on Altare’s properties each time, while Altare rolled the right numbers on the dice to avoid Evan’s properties.

“It’s just fun,” Evan said. “There’s no loss.”