Acquire

Time to catch up on some session reports. I had some good gaming activity over the weekend, starting with a Friday lunchtime session at work. Side note: I'm sitting here in a hotel in California (Huntington Beach) and it looks like I'm on the edge of hurricane here. There's some serious wind blowing, driving rains, and the palm trees are leaning to the north about 10 deg. Can't wait to get back to Oregon, land of everlasting sunshine and blue skies.

Back to gaming: Eric, Arron, Paul, Jason, and I sat down for a game of Acquire. I love this game and it was on my short list of games to suggest for five players that could be played in about 90 minutes (the other was Through the Desert, which I'm sure we'll get to soon). Funny enough, only Eric had even heard of Acquire before.

Acquire is a game of corporate acquisition and, in the paraphrased words of Eric Landes, “just might be the best game ever from an American designer.” He's speaking, of course, of Sid Sackson. Alan Moon, though, is certainly giving him a run for his money. The game is easy to learn, just makes sense when you are playing it, is a decent lesson in cash flow and investments, and is a must-have for serious and casual gamers alike.

I had the benefit of sitting to the left of the three newbies, with Eric sitting to my left (I suspect Eric has played the game quite a bit more than I have; this was probably my 6th playing). Somehow I managed to participate as the major or minor leading shareholder in every single acquisition that happened, leading to a fairly lopsided game:

• Eric: Cash (15,200) + Stock (18,600) = $33,800
• Paul: Cash (21,200) + Stock (13,300) = $35,500
• Jason: Cash (17,000) + Stock (14,100) = $31,100
• Arron: Cash (19,900) + Stock (6,400) = $26,300
• Chris: Cash (36,900) + Stock (9,900) = $46,800

I played well for sure, but early on Paul and Arron were a bit confused about acquisition rules and payoffs and set me up for some nice cashouts. I'm sure it will be a tighter race next time we play.