Acquire<\/a>” –
\nplayers compete for shares of companies which are constantly growing and competing with
\neach other. Each player starts with zero capital and tries to gain as much money as
\npossible by selling stock at the right time, and keeping other stock when it’s worth
\nkeeping it.<\/p>\n There are 4 companies that can be “acquired”, at the beginning of the game no
\ncompany is present on the board.<\/p>\n
On his turn the moving player rolls two dice. The first die indicates which company is
\nplaced for the first time (or enlarged) on the board, the second die indicates in which
\nzone the company pawn is placed. There are four zones and a “shark” zone in the
\nmiddle. The shark zone has a higher probability so the companies tend to grow towards the
\nmiddle, where they will most certainly meet (more about that later, the game is not
\ncalled “Shark” for no reason, folks!). There is 2\/6 chance that you can
\ndetermine which company you can place, so the actual probability for the company you want
\nis 50%.<\/p>\n
![\"Shark](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/shark_t2.jpg\")
The first pawn placed sets the starting point of this
\ncompany – it is now worth 1000 $. The player who founded the company now gets 1000$ in
\ncash and can use it to buy shares (you can only buy shares of companies that have been
\nfounded already). Later in the game the company can be enlarged by placing a pawn next to
\nit orthogonally, like in “Acquire”. The player placing the new pawn gets the
\nvalue of the new size of the company in cash AND every player who owns stock of this
\ncompany gets an amount of money that reflects the growth of the company (for example if
\nit grew 1 pawn from 6000$ to 7000$ each stock pays dividends of 1000$. How can it grow
\ntwo or more in one turn, you may ask? It is possible to found a sister company of the
\nsame colour instead of enlarging the original company. This new company will be worth nil
\nat first, but if a second pawn is placed these two are added to the original
\ncompany’s worth, which will now give 2000$ per share. If you connect two originally
\nsolitary pawns with a third one you might even raise the company’s net worth by
\nthree!<\/p>\n
Enlarging companies works towards the end of the game – if any company reaches the total
\nsize of 15 the game ends!<\/p>\n
What happens if companies meet? Of course the larger one destroys the smaller company
\nalthough there is no other benefit. The owners of the destroyed companies stock have to
\npay a kind of fine though, an amount of money per share that is equal to the devaluation
\nof the destroyed company. A company might even fall back to zero worth, which usually
\nmeans that it won’t have a future (although of course you can found it again, like in
\n“Acquire”). A special rule allows the “destroyer” of the company (the
\nplayer who played the adjacent pawn) to survive this disaster unscathed, even if he owns
\nstock of the destroyed company.<\/p>\n
![\"Shark](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/shark_b.jpg\")
Each turn a player can sell as much stock as he likes, either before
\nor after rolling the dice. Usually it is better to wait, as you might be able to enlarge
\nthe company you want to sell before selling it!<\/p>\n
He can also buy a maximum of 5 shares of any existing company, also before\/after
\nrolling, in any combo.<\/p>\n
We played with the highly recommended rule of limiting the companies to the value of
\n7000$ (regardless of how large they are). This means that you have to found sister
\ncompanies to reach the maximum of 15000$ net value, which makes the abstract boardgame
\npart of the game much more interesting (otherwise it would just be a dice rolling
\ncompetition between 4 gigantic and growing mega corporations – it would rarely make sense
\nto found sister companies!).<\/p>\n
How does it play? Like “Acquire” this is an easy and quick playing game with a
\nlot of tension. The luck element is considerably higher, though. Any strategy you might
\nfollow is dependent on the roll of the dice, so it is always wise to watch the stock
\nmarket meta-game closely. Especially with many players it can happen that the board
\nmake-up changes so rapidly that you cannot react to the destruction of your favoured
\ncompany and suddenly find yourself paying heavy fines! The steep money acquisition curve
\nis also a factor: You begin the game with nothing and usually need around 300.000$ to
\nwin. Falling back and not being able to invest only one round already ruins your chance
\nof winning, as the winner is usually the person who makes a profit every round and
\ninvests to the max in the right stock. This is a problem I find apparent in the highly
\nsought “Outpost” as well – a few mistakes and even a bit of bad luck in the
\nfirst 2 rounds can already make the game impossible for you to win and you just watch the
\ndistance between yourself and the others grow and grow.<\/p>\n
Whereas in “Acquire” you can actually be on the winning side if the company
\nthat you own stock in is “eaten” at the right time, having stock in a company
\nthat is being destroyed in “Shark” is always<\/b> bad news. Therefore the
\nsuspense factor is higher, which is one of the plusses of the game.<\/p>\n
But still, “Acquire” is the more perfect game, and “Shark” might
\nonly be recommended if you want to play a lighter, slightly quicker and more aggressive
\n“Acquire” variant. Still, it is very cheap at the moment – Aaron bought his
\ncopy for 5,-EURO! So if you come to Essen this year you might want to check out the local
\nmall for a give away copy. It is by no means a bad game but left an average impression.<\/p>\n
![\"Shark\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/shark_t.jpg\")
\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/ARRW_167.gif\")