Acquire is an abstract board game of investing in hotel chains. It was designed by the renowned game inventor Sid Sackson in the 1960s, and is currently owned by Avalon Hill. It is well-suited to family play because the rules are simple, no one gets eliminated, and each game takes only about 75 minutes. On the other hand, it also attracts hard core gamers because there are many opportunities for skilled players to gain an advantage over less-skilled players. The random drawing of tiles keeps the game fresh for everyone and gives weaker players an opportunity to triumph, but does not prevent stronger players from winning most of the time.
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2 Rules 3 Strategy |
From three to six may play comfortably. It is possible to play with two, but not very interesting. Standard tournament games are played with four.
The game starts with six tiles picked randomly and placed in their locations. This doubles as a convenient way to determine which player goes first: each player draws one of the tiles for the initial setup, and the player with the lowest-numbered tile goes first.
Each player begins the game with $6000 in cash and six tiles picked at random for their starting racks. On each turn of the game, the player whose turn it is
Each player may, after playing a tile on his turn, purchase up to three shares of stock in existing hotel chains. Only the player whose turn it is may buy stock.
When a new tile is placed adjacent to an existing hotel chain, the chain becomes larger and its stock increases in value and price. When a new tile is placed adjacent to tiles from two or more different chains, those chains merge into a single hotel chain, with the largest chain taking over. If there is a tie for the largest chain, the player placing the merging tile chooses which of those will take over.
When a hotel chain is merged out of existence, the players with the most and second-most shares receive cash bonuses. Then each player decides what to do with their shares in the now-defuct chain. They may:
Cash flow is the critical element of strategy. On one hand there is pressure to buy stock in order to become the largest shareholder and receive a bonus, but on the other hand holding only stock and no cash prevents one from buying into lucrative new chains as they are founded. The winner is often not the majority stockholder in the hotel chain which acquires all the others, but the player who contrives to have several of his small chains acquired while holding a majority.
The mergers of hotel chains are the critical junctures of the game because those are the only times cash comes to the players. Stock can't be traded or sold except during a merger. On the other hand, some games (and some players) will be more cash rich than others, which decreases the importance of holding cash and increases the importance of holding stock. At such times it may be wiser to hold onto stock or to trade it in two for one.
The cash flow of a game is greatly affected by the number of players involved. All players can sell during a merger, but only the player whose turn it is can buy stock, so five- or six-player games have relatively many opportunities to sell, whereas three- player games have relatively many opportunities to buy. Experts consider the four-player game the best for creating critical cash flow decisions.
Whenever cash is plentiful, which tends to happen towards the middle of the game, but will happen at different times for different players, and sooner or later depending on the relative number of mergers, it becomes more important to think about the shareholder bonuses when the game ends. One must consider that all twenty-five shares in each company will probably be bought before the players run out of cash.
At the crux between the game-end bonuses and the short-term need for cash is the decision whether to increase the size of a chain by playing next to it, or to withhold adjacent tiles. If your chain doesn't grow, your shares don't increase in value, and you could conceivably be forced to cash out at exactly the price you bought in at. On the other hand, if you play all the adjacent tiles you have, you will not be able to create mergers when you need them; the timing will be in someone else's hands.Equipment
Rules
Whenever a player places a tile horizontally or vertically adjacent to a tile which is not already part of a hotel chain, that player has the option of founding a new hotel chain, unless all seven hotel chains are already in play. The player may choose to found any chain not already in play, and receives one share of stock in the new chain at no charge.
Hotel chains with eleven or more tiles are deemed too big to be merged out. A tile which would connect two chains of eleven or more is unplayable, and may be placed face-down in its location at any time in exchange for a fresh tile. The game ends when one hotel chain reaches forty-one tiles, or when all chains are too large to merge. At the end of the game, all hotel chains pay bonuses to the largest shareholders as if they were being merged out, and all shares of stock are cashed in for face value. The richest player wins.Strategy
