I got Acquire when I was a kid in the early 70s. We played it a lot with the family and then also when I was in college. I haven't played it much since but it is a really good game. I still have my original copy (and yes, Worldwide is brown).
New players definitely should be taught that Acquire isn’t primarily a “stock” game about manipulating a stock market. The main focus is controlling a majority or even a secondary majority of shares in hotel chains.
We've burned through this in under an hour at a con where two people were new. It plays 6 and has about the same play time regardless of player count. Love this game. My friend had a board and pieces custom made and "Tycoon Mode" helps with those big tables
The 1993 Schmidt Spiele edition is still the best version of the game, as it's the only one which does not look bad and boring. It even features optional player action cards for interesting one-time effects, like being able to place more than one tile on your turn or changing the rules for buying stocks. I still like and respect Aquire and it has indeed aged surprisingly well, but I very much prefer playing Lords of Vegas for being way more interactive and dynamic in terms of the power struggle between the players and different options to take on a turn. The trading options between players are also very opened-up, as players can trade almost anything -- like funding a takeover action on another player's turn for a different favour. Aquire feels in comparison very static and slow, while Lords of Vegas constantly delivers emotional ups and downs at the table.
This has remained my top game of all time even with so many new games constantly coming out. I will be the first to admit that this is mostly due to nostalgia of playing this in college all the time. I have two copies of the old 3M edition with one copy in original unplayed condition. I have been extremely interested in the new version that you have here because it has other play modes that I have not experienced. Great review! Just discovered you because of the Last Light review and instantly subscribed.
Acquire is my favorite game of all-time, but only because of the thick nostalgia associated with it for me. I played with my late Grandmother and my cousins when I was a kid, and it was her favorite game. I couldn't figure out how to rank other games against that nostalgia (putting it at #25 or something didn't feel right), so I just put it at #1 and go from there. My Grandmother had the old old version, and her go-to hotel was Worldwide, which was of course brown 😁
Acquire was a game I loved until I played another game explicitly based on it. It reminded me of Ashton's criticisms with the game, such as wanting asymmetry and maybe even combat. The game is Dawn of Ulos, and you're instead betting on how warring factions will fare on the board. Acquire is still a great game, just definitely left me wanting more.
Great review. Some of the design choices -- especially paper money -- make it seem like a cash grab for sure. That is a cardinal sin. I bought this back in the 90s and haven't played it in years. Will bust it back out. I know it's on a completely different price tier, but now that Foundations of Rome exists, I have little need for Acquire. Will definitely check out Dawn of Ulos per other comments.
I love you and your content, Ashton. I really do. This channel is great and I Shelfside’s rating system is probably my favorite amongst all reviewers on YT. However, (and this is my personal opinion) suggesting rules changes and modifications is the the least useful part of your reviews for me as a consumer. It’s valuable to note when it feels like something is missing or if a specific system didn’t work for you, but you often make suggestions that, rather than clarifying the problems of the game, kind of come off as coaching from the bleachers if that makes sense? I’d rather you engage with the game it is rather than the game it could be. And without any playtesting (which the designers/developers have done tons of) you cannot have any idea if your suggestions are realistic or interesting or fun at all. A small pet peeve of mine. I really do love this channel and value your opinions though! This was a great review, keep up the good work! 😃
Thanks for the feedback! If you’re referring to the comments about asymmetry in my personal score, it’s deliberately in that personal area to not interfere with more critical comments on the game. These suggestions are here to show how much my tastes (and possibly others like Daniel) have evolved from a game that was made in the 1960s! Hence why the game is still excellent 9/10 recommender
@@ashtonwu7760 that makes sense to me as the place in the review that it would be, if anywhere, and it’s less prominent in this video than in some other Shelfside reviews. I just think the line between “this isn’t quite complex enough for my tastes” and “this game should have asymmetric powers” is significant. I may be the only one bothered by it though 😅 And I do want to stress that I really love your content. I just don’t think balance/redesign suggestions hit the way you think they do sometimes 🤷🏼♂️
Brilliant review. I 100% agree that an 'Acquire 2' would be an awesome sequel. With a publisher such as Renegade Game Studios, a more modern and meaningful new product would be very welcome. Hopefully you both will review some other older classic games, for example, Totopoly (1938); this game introduced the concept of a double-sided board.
You should definitely check out Dawn of Ulos. It feels like what if Acquire was designed today. It looks better, it adds powers for every "company", it adds a fantasy theme (every "company" is a race, the theme does not totally work to be honest), it adds a "combat" phase that basically gives you a chance to boost the strength of "companies" when two merge but at the cost of your own shares of said company. It's tile placement is also much more flexible so you are not stuck waiting for the right tile nearly as much and have more options on your turn. It adds a dash of unpredictability with some small one time power you can gain, and finally it adds more variety as there are more companies than you can play in one game so you can mix and match to change up the powers. Dan Thurot from Spacebiff described it as Acquire meets tigris and euphrates, although I would say it is 80% Acquire 20% Tigris. It is a game that came out last year and really seems to have fallen by the wayside, but it is a really subtle complex game that rewards playing it more and more while having simple rules.
Surprised you liked it so much. I played it twice, and both times it was determined by the incredibly lucky and random draw of the tiles. Seemed VERY dated in terms of design.
