Acquire Board Game Review - Still Worth It?

Join us as we take a look at the ancient tile laying game Acquire designed by Sid Sackson.

[@BlackDiluvian]

I like to bring out the old Avalon Hill edition and see peoples faces, at the sight of the somewhat boring presentation. Everyone, a part from a single person, loved the game and wanted to play again. One of my favorite games.

[@rurugby]

I grew up with the 3M bookshelf version of this game since it was my dad's favorite. I don't play it much though because it doesn't play great at 2. Huge nostalgia for it though. I got a 3M version via eBay along with Twixt.

[@sevencoloredmage8726]

I like that the only way to get fresh money is to have invested in a company that got merged. The game really forces you to invest wisely, otherwise your playing money will just dry up and make you a spectator.

[@dougadamsau]

Shark and Stephensons Rocket fired Acquire for us about 25 years ago, thankfully.

[@raymyers700]

A game as awesome as it's designer....the father of modern board games: Sid Sackson

[@RandomPerson-nd2ey]

Love it. I recommend prop money, poker chips, or whatever else instead of the cash that comes with it. Edit: We ran into the headache of counting tiles as well and think a great solution is to put dice on the tiles. Once it hits 6, just put another down so that each of the dice only goes up to 5. Them being on the board helps keep people from forgetting. Just have whoever adds the tile adjust the dice since they're already reaching over to it to anyways.

[@sahryx]

There is supposed to be an Anniversary Edition this fall with nicer components. I still love my 3M version and found a complete 1962 edition I gave to some friends. AH version looks nice, but changing the names was unforgivable.

[@SolidStateSoul]

Big Boss (1994) is a spiritual successor, worth checking out for Acquire fans.

[@todddonaldson7974]

I didn't even know about Big Boss 1994, I hope to find it one day

[@sccoverton]

I have the 60s 3M version and it's not especially different! Instead of skyscrapers you have coloured tiles.

[@XCM666]

Just had a five player game of this yesterday (also Avalon Hill version). Always great fun and quick to play. I prefer it at higher player counts, the board being more busy somewhat remedies the random tile draw I believe. We used Iron Clays instead of the paper money for the first time and it makes the game even better. Although poker chips are harder to conceal than paper money, so some may consider player screens necessary.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

We play with open cash but closed shares

[@XCM666]

@@BoardGameBollocks That little game of memory around the secret shares is great. Open money due to the poker chips didn't bother anyone, so we'll also play like this in the future.

[@theshogunstein6475]

The new version of Big Boss is a pretty good game.

[@partymeeple5633]

The way you say bovva, works for me.

[@gomezthechimp1116]

The first, OG eurogame.

[@Wolcik3000]

sounds fun, but also very hard to Acquire

[@robwilkinson1331]

How do tile draws limit what shares you can buy and when?

[@BoardGameBollocks]

You can only lay tiles, buy shares and draw tiles on you turn. The tile you lay comes from a random draw so if you draw crap tiles you won’t be able second guess which shares are worth buying.

[@ghtddkc]

Which game would be the modern equivalent of Acquire besides Stockpile?

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I’ve been told Big Boss

[@th3cha1rmak3r]

Dawn of Ulos

[@gomezthechimp1116]

@@th3cha1rmak3r It's so close, it's almost plagiarism

[@th3cha1rmak3r]

@@gomezthechimp1116 The author openly pays hommage to Acquire and T&E. It's not like he's hiding that stuff.

[@db5823]

A solid game, a real classic. There's a moment into the game where people get a little lost/stuck, but you have to explain to them how/why it's feeling that way. The "winners" feel stuck, the "losers" have money and freedom, and it seems backwards. You just have to explain that the value of held stock has gone up, they have points, they just don't have liquidity at the moment. Once that initial little hump is gotten past, people really get into it and have a lot of fun. Such a great game.

[@BrianMarcus-nz7cs]

Wuzz this the Old Avalon Hill game , m8 , 🐦

[@rurugby]

Yup