Acquire

Acquire was designed by Sid Sackson in the 1960s and is a slightly abstract game of investing in hotel chains. It sounds dry but is an enjoyable easy to play- hard to win game that lasts about an hour for 2-6 players. It is suitable for kids from about 8+, but its not a childrens game.

The game board is rectangular with one tile/location and starts with 6 tiles picked randomly and placed in its location. Every tile has its location such as 7M or 1E printed on one side.

Each player starts with 6 tiles randomly picked and each turn players do two actions. (1) play one tile from their hand in its position. If played next to another tile it starts a hotel chain (if that other tile is not in a chain). Shares start trading in whichever hotel chain is founded. (2) The player buys up to 3 shares in traded hotels and picks up a replacement (blind side) tile.

With only 25 shares for each of the seven available hotel chains, getting a majority stakehold is very important. If the tile played links two hotel chains, the smaller is sold and the top two highest shareholders paid a bonus that depends on the number of tiles in the chain. Shareholders can then echange their shares 2 for 1 (in the bigger chain), sell them or hold onto them and hope that chain will be restarted. When the biggest chain has 41 or more tiles the game ends, all hotels pay bonuses to shareholders and the shares are cashed in. The richest player wins.

The game has numerous subleties and is not an easy game to win.