A->B Online Edition. Rules and Tech Notes.

Randomly picked cards, but user is allowed to choose when/how to use. The computer will run a double SRand(X), where X is the number of choices available to that particular region/area. This way, the seed number keeps changing and allows for a greater variety of random picks.

Card # _
1 Car |
2 Train |
3 Plane > Drawn from a regional database depending on location and type
4 Boat | of game. i.e. Tram, Bike, Taxi, Walk, depending on what forms of
5 ORV _| transportation are available from that area. Basic Moves.
--------- _
6 Local 1 > Drawn from a different regional database depending on local
7 Local 2 _| transportation peculiar to that area. i.e. Dogsled, Rickshaw, etc. Some of
these may replace the basic moves, i.e. Shinkansen (Japan)->
train. Local/Regional Moves. Blank out or add more slots as needed.
8 Card Specials > Drawn from the database of special cards. i.e. Draw 3 cards, discard 2.
9 Movement Specials > Drawn from a database of special cards, i.e. Your Choice Card.

Once SRand picks 8 or 9, then another random number is generated 1-X, to pick which special card the player receives. Or conceivably, another way is to nest all the different effects and use the same system. i.e.:

Card #
1-(All Movements) ->Roll 1-5 (X)
2-(All Local Movements) -> Roll 1-2 (X)
3-(Card Specials) -> Roll 1-X
9-(Movement Specials) -> Roll 1-X

Game Lengths
These are more based on the physical distance between areas, instead of borders, because that is what is really going to determine the length of the game. For instance, Driving from Amsterdam to Florence, would take less time than from Washington D.C. to Miami.

Local-In Town, i.e sizes ranging from Podunk to San Jose. to Tokyo, etc.
Within States (U.S.)/Regional-Provinces in China, single countries in Europe because of the size of the countries. i.e. L.A. to San Diego, Den Hague to Rotterdam, etc.
Country (Depending on the size of the country)-i.e. USA, China, Russia, but also Western Europe because of the size of the countries, anything from L.A. to Orlando, Beijing to Hong Kong, Brussels to Antwerp. However, we can also include E.U. countries in this category to decrease confusion and just create a separate bracket for them.
Continent-Europe, Austrailia, North/South America, etc.
World-Duh.
Universe?!?!?!-Waiting on you, Buck Rogers.

Dynamic Database Parsing
The Dynamic information that will be used by A-B will be drawn from a variety of online databases that our system will parse out the data we need. Depending on the size the game grows to, deals could be made with each service to provide us with custom sets of data, instead of our systems spidering their websites. Database include:
Google Maps: For the base game engine, map generation, etc.
Travel.com: For travel information (Cards 1-7-X) and interrupts (i.e. train out of order).
Wikipedia.org : Local information and cultural facts, ala Carmen Sandiego.
Weather.com: Typhooooonnnnn~!!! And other things that Mother Nature would care to throw in the path of our intrepid travelers.

Other Databases that would be contained on our server would be:
Card Lists-Lists of all the cards and their affects towards the game. Cards would be randomly drawn from this database.
Frames-To change the look of the visual interface depending on the region.
Music/SFX-Different local music, depending on the region. Elvis in Tennessee, Soul in Detroit, Chopin in Poland, Enka in Kyoto, Bailaika in Russia, etc. This keeps the aural part of the interface fresh and interesting for the player. And music does not need to be chosen from traditional styles, but also popular artists depending on the availability and licensing we are able to get.

For example, to keep the randomness of information on a site such as Wikipedia, the entry will be very specific. So if the player is in Kobe, then our system will query Wikipedia (which shouldn’t be too difficult through a widget/konfabulator style interface) and select one random section, i.e. history, culture, geography to display to the user. So that nearly every time they land on the same city/area, they will get some new information. If by chance, that the area is too small or obscure i.e. Huilong, Taiwan. Then the system will query the next thing in the chain, i.e. area, until a hit is generated.

Chain System (For towns/areas not found) Using Taiwan and the US as an example.
Specific Area (i.e. Hsimen or Wall Street)
General Area (Central Taipei, Manhattan)
City (Taipei, New York)
State/District (North Taiwan 1st Governmental Region, New York)
Country (Taiwan, USA)
Region (East Asia, North America)