Acquire (company) Games

''Acquire'' is a board game published by 3M in 1964 that involves multi-player mergers and acquisitions. It was one of the most popular games in the 3M Bookshelf games series published in the 1960s, and the only one still published in the United States.

Description

''Acquire'' is a board game for 2–6 players in which players attempt to earn the most money by developing and merging hotel chains. When a chain in which a player owns stock is acquired by a larger chain, players earn money based on the size of the acquired chain. At the end of the game, all players liquidate their stock in order to determine which player has the most money. It is played with play money, stock certificates, and tiles representing hotels that are arranged on the board. The components of the game have varied over the years. In particular, the tiles have been made from wood, plastic, and cardboard in various editions of the game.

Set up

Before play begins, the players must decide whether the numbers of players' shares will be public or private information. Keeping this information private can greatly extend the game since players will be less certain of their status, and therefore less willing to end the game.

Each player receives play cash and a small random set of playing tiles and becomes the founder of a nascent hotel chain by drawing and placing a tile representing a hotel on the board. Tiles are ordered, and correspond to spaces on the board. Position of the starting tiles determines order of play.

Gameplay

Play consists of placing a tile on the board and optionally buying stock. The placed tile may found a new hotel chain, grow an existing one or merge two or more chains. Chains are sets of edge-wise adjacent tiles. Founders receive a share of stock in new chains. A chain can become "safe", immune to acquisition, by attaining a specified size. Following placement of a tile, the player may then buy a limited number of shares of stock in existing chains. Shares have a market value determined by the size and stature of the hotel chain. At the end of his or her turn, the player receives a new tile to replace the one played.

When mergers occur, the smaller chain becomes defunct, and its tiles are then part of the acquiring chain. The two largest shareholders in the acquired chain receive cash bonuses; players may sell their shares in the defunct chain, trade them in for shares of the acquiring chain, or keep them. Mergers between 3 or more chains are handled in order from larger to smaller.

Ending the game

A player during their turn may declare the game at an end if the largest chain exceeds a specified size (about 40% of the board), or all chains on the board are too large to be acquired. When the game ends, shareholder bonuses
are paid to the two largest shareholders of each chain, and players cash out their shares at market price (shares in any defunct chains are worthless). The player with the most money wins.

Publication history

When Sid Sackson was a child, he played a Milton Bradley gambling-themed board game titled ''Lotto''. When he became a game designer, Sackson reworked the game into a wargame he called ''Lotto War''. In 1962, Sackson and Alex Randolph were commissioned by 3M to start a new games division. When Sackson submitted ''Lotto War'' to 3M the following year, he retitled the game ''Vacation''. 3M suggested changing the name to ''Acquire'', and Sackson agreed. The game was test marketed in several U.S. cities in 1963, and production began in 1964 as a part of the 3M Bookshelf games series.

In 1976, the 3M game division was sold to Avalon Hill and ''Acquire'' became part of their bookcase game series. Four years later, Avalon Hill published the computer game ''Computer Acquire'' for the PET, Apple II and TRS-80.

In 1998, Avalon Hill became part of Hasbro. The new owners reissued a slightly revised version of ''Acquire'' in 2000, in which the hotel chains were replaced by fictitious corporations, though the actual gameplay was unchanged. Hasbro soon thereafter discontinued it. In the mid-2000s, the game was transferred to a Hasbro subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast (WotC). In 2008, WotC celebrated "''50 years of Avalon Hill Games"'' with the release of a new edition of ''Acquire'', although the game was not yet 50 years old. In 2016, the game was transferred back to the Hasbro games division and republished in 2016 under the Avalon label, with hotels chains reinstated.

Reception

''Games'' magazine included ''Acquire'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1980", praising it as a "classic game of getting in on the ground floor" and "proof that you need money to make money", noting that "a delicate sense of timing is important, but greed and a lust for power also help."

''Games'' magazine included ''Acquire'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1981", noting that it "combines the flavors of Monopoly and the stock market" and cautioned that "Since the object is to acquire cash, careful timing of investments (and raids on competitors' chains!) is critical to winning".

''Games'' magazine included ''Acquire'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1982", noting that "Among family games, this is one of the most strategic."

In the December 1993 edition of ''Dragon'' (Issue 200), Allen Varney advised readers to ignore the hotel theme: "Supposedly a game of hotel acquisitions and mergers, this is actually a superb abstract game of strategy and capital." Varney called the game "An early masterpiece from idSackson, game historian and one of the great designers of our time."

Awards

The game was short-listed for the first Spiel des Jahres board game awards in 1979.Spiel des Jahres page for Acquire in German

''GAMES'' magazine has inducted ''Acquire'' into their buyers' guide Hall of Fame.GAMES Magazine Hall of Fame
. Retrieved 2010-07-26 The magazine's stated criteria for the Hall of Fame encompasses "games that have met or exceeded the highest standards of quality and play value and have been continuously in production for at least 10 years; i.e., classics."

''Acquire'' was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design's Hall of Fame, along with game designer Sid Sackson, in 2011.Origins Awards Hall of Fame for Acquir
Academy Hall of Fame
/ref> It is also one of the Mind Sports Olympiad games.

Reviews

*'' Jeux & Stratégie'' #1 (as "Trust")
*'' Jeux & Stratégie'' #6
*'' Jeux & Stratégie'' #51
*''Games & Puzzles'' #11
*''Games & Puzzles'' #69

References

External links

*

''Acquire''
Wizards of the Coast page


Webnoir page

"The Origin of ACQUIRE"
Acquisition Games page

{{Avalon Hill

3M bookshelf game series
Avalon Hill games
Board games introduced in 1964
Economic simulation board games
Multiplayer games
Sid Sackson games
Stock market in popular culture
Tile-laying board games