Acquire

[faust]

ACQUIRE is a classic board game about stock speculation, wherein you compete to achieve the most money at the end of the game.  The current components from the Avalon Hill publication is so awesome, I made water in my pantaloons. !mistrust  It is made for two to six players, but there is a special rule for two players(which is, to have an imaginary player to represent a third one).  The components inside are as follows:

A board... it has grids containing letters and numbers, from 1A to 1I(from top to bottom, on the left), up to 12A to 12I(on the right).

Tiles, 108 pieces, one for each part of the grid.  It also contains numbers and letters to match the exact grid you're supposed to place them.

Buildings: 7 pieces, to represent the seven corporations: America, Fusion, Hydra, Zeta, Sackson, Quantum, and Phoenix.

Stock certificates, 175, 25 pieces for each corporation.

Paper money: lots, and of course, without real world value.

Reference cards, six pieces, containing details on costs of corporations' share price as they grow

Rulesheet

There are also a few extra blank stock certificates, for replacements, I guess.

NOW, to the gameplay.

The game can take about an hour or two.  The gameplay itself is simple enough, with analysis paralysis taking most of the time, as well as when money is collected(yeah, and a slow banker will really help.  :p) Each player is given $6000 as their starting MONEY.  Then, they decide who goes first by drawing a TILE, and the closest to 1A goes first.  All drawn tiles for this setup are played to their corresponding areas on the board.  Then each player draws six tiles(their starting "hand" of tiles).  

To begin, a player places a tile from his hand to the board.  Like the starting tiles, it must be placed on the specific gird which is specified on that tile.  After that, the player may buy up to THREE shares from any ACTIVE CORPORATION(a corporation that currently exists, i.e., a building is placed on the board to represent it).  The last action the player takes is to draw a tile to replace the played one.

Okay, further specifics:  A CORPORATION becomes active when a tile is placed beside another tile (for example, A1 and A2 are both in play, or A1 and B1).  The player who placed the second tile (assuming that only one other tile becomes adjacent to the tile played) may choose any of the INACTIVE (not yet on the board) corporations to become active.  That player also gets one free share from that corporation.  From then on, any further tiles played adjacent to the tiles making up that corporation becomes tiles of that corporation.  The number if tiles of a corporation tells you how big that corporation is.  The bigger the size of a corporation, the greater the price of each of its stocks.

What if you play a tile and it MERGES two or more corporations?  Well, the bigger corporation will eat up the smaller one(s).  What happens then is that the smaller corporation will become inactive(remove the building representing it), and all its tiles become part of the larger corporation.  The first and second highest share holders of the smaller corp gets incentives based on the size of the small corp.   Hahaha and the other shareholders get nothing.  

If there are no second placers for the shares of the eaten corp, the sole owner will get both the incentive for the first and second highest. !amazed  

What to do with the shares of inactive corporation?  Depends.  A player can trade two of those shares with the larger corporation that ate that smaller corp.  Or, the player can sell it back for it's current price.  Or , the player can keep it in case the inactive corp becomes active again.


*All those actions and effects in color are supposed to happen immediately after the merger.  

However, only corporations with 10 tiles or less can be eaten by another corp.  Tiles that will make this happen are considered UNPLAYABLE for the rest of the game.

Also, if there are already seven active corporations, you may not play another tile that will create an eight corporation(activation of corporations are mandatory if there are less than seven active corporations).

Ending the game: The game ends through the decision of any player currently taking the turn.  A player can choose to end the game when there is a corporation with 41 or more tiles, OR if all active corporations are all SAFE (11 or more tiles big).  When the game ends, first and second highest shareholders for each corporation gain their incentives, all shares are sold back for their current price, and players count the total money they collected.  The player with the most money win!  

As you can see, prices change a lot as corporations increase.  That is why the six reference cards are so important, since each corp has its own price range.  There are two small corporations(the ones that yield the lowest incentives but cheapest stocks), three moderately priced corps, and two big bullies(the Boardwalk and Parkplace of the block).

Speaking of Boardwalk and Parkplace, Acquire is actually nothing like Monopoly except for the playmoney.  Acquire gives players a lot more control, and money is everything(in Monopoly, you just need to bankrupt your opponents; here you need the money for yourself).  

Acquire is a stock speculation game, but it may not reflect real-life stock market strategies.  After all, some control rules(like three stocks per turn only) do not provide an accurate simulation of real-life stock purchases.  However, Acquire does indeed require some speculation.  You can always tell what tiles haven't been played yet, and you can control the strength or demise of each corporation... of course other players have this power as well, and that makes this game highly interactive.  

There is no real control for the entity of the corporation, but it can be shared between players.  For each corporation, there is a mini-struggle: the struggle to get the majority of its stocks to get the biggest rewards.  Limitations(of shares and tiles) provide a powerful tension for players, as corporations become bigger and more expensive, and closer to those smaller coporations you are either grooming for the future, or simply preparing to become fodder to other corps.

For this game, I would say you must play it, if you haven't, and you must get it if you don't have it.  This is an awesome experience every game, so don't  miss out.  Unlike some classic games, this one retains its original strength in the modern market.  

[faust]

Hahaha I haven't got the pictures for this. *doh*

[Brel]

Wow, cool review faust!    Saw this game at Hobbes & Landes Serendra branch selling for 3K+.  If you haven't been to the Serendra branch, you better visit soon!  They have more stocks of games and a lot of titles are not available in the other branches.

Saw Memoir 44, Cleopatra & the Society of Architects, Ticket To Ride and others.

[faust]

*blush*

Saan yung Serenda?  I've been to the Trinoma branch instead(hinde ba yun yon? :? ) and saw quite a few more games that aren't available on the other branches.  Though I didn't really find Ticket to Ride, which I am now falling in love with...

YOU MUST HAVE ACQUIRE!!!  Left this game at a friend's house and they enjoyed it a lot.  So it's a good game that even the non-gamers would appreciate greatly.  I've had the best of luck using the games in my collection to promote these alternative gaming experiences.  

[Mark Humphries]

Wow, cool review faust!    Saw this game at Hobbes & Landes Serendra branch selling for 3K+.

For that price you could probably get a copy of the 1962 3M  version with wooden tiles on eBay.

[faust]

Ooohh classic version!

[Brel]

Serendra is near Market Market mall sa The Fort area.  Yun yung mga dikit-dikit na bahay dun na parang apartments.  Sa ground and second floor may mga shops and Hobbes & Landes Universe is located sa ground floor (far side from Market Market).

I agree most games sold at Hobbes & Landes is a little pricey... but there seems to be no other local shops who sell these titles or it's difficult to find here.

[faust]

Neutral Grounds USED TO provide some of the good board games and stuff.  The first time I saw Acquire, it was in NG.  However, I think they stopped getting them...but they are at least a hundred pesos cheaper than Landes and Hobbes.  I guess the only alternative to local purchases is buying online.  Hehehe...

[amosias]

We went Acquire-crazy for a while. Some of us have recovered, but those that still look for an Acquire-fix in our group tend to go to http://www.gethostile.com/ which is site that allows online play of acquire with other players online.

[John]

Been meaning to try this game out Though everytime I see a copy of this game my wife dismisses it, saying, "WHAT??! Another Monopoly rip-off???!!!" ^^;;;;;;;;;;;

[Mark Humphries]

Been meaning to try this game out Though everytime I see a copy of this game my wife dismisses it, saying, "WHAT??! Another Monopoly rip-off???!!!" ^^;;;;;;;;;;;

Definitely not a Monopoly rip-off, a much better game imho.

Better get it quick, I believe it's out of print again.

[benjak]

I'm going to echo Mark on this..Acquire is no Monopoly wanna-be. It's really a better game and the one that really deserves the popularity that Monopoly currently enjoys. I wouldn't trade a single copy of Acquire for all the Monopoly variants in the world

[ChineezPnoy]

Wat I like about this game is that it still engages the impatient player.  Eventho wile ur waiting for ur turn u still need to pay attention to wat the other players are doing.

Is this person trying to secure his stock holdings at an existing corp?
That case u might as well spend ur funds on the other available corps currently on the board.
Did any1 miss-out on being the 2nd major stockholder of corp X?
Perhaps it better to save up so u can out-buy others when u form that new corp w/ that tile (I call them building permits =P
that u've been planning to use at ur next turn.

Fund monitoring is a must in this game.
Not only urs but the competitors as well.
I learned this well when I played at an "Acquire tourney" 4d 1st time at a boardgame convention @Southern California back in early 2000.
U can even have a variant were all players hide their $, but I'm not sure how dat'l affect the flow of the game.

Basically if ur getting bored of ur Monopoly sessions & seek a step-up challenge then Acquire is the way to go.

Go get 'em Donald Trump ;o)

[faust]

There was supposed to be an Acquire app in Facebook by Game Table Online, but I can't seem to run it.

Also, I saw a rather inexpensive version from Wizards of the Coast (Magic: the Gathering publisher) sold at Neutral Grounds, Robinson's Galleria (3/f), along with their own publishing of Diplomacy!

[yamizero]

been looking to see if i have enough funds for this:

Does anyone know if the old 1999 version is still available at NG/H&L? anyone selling theirs?
anyone selling the 2008 reprint at bargain prices(2nd hand/3rd hand/etc.)?