Games - A

Acquire - Manufacturer: Avalon Hill / Hasbro - Designer: Sid Sackson - Year: 2000 - $34.95 AT FUNAGAIN GAMES*
Review by: Nathaniel Dragon

I have the updated Avalon Hill/Hasbro version of Acquire, which I recently bought due to the popularity of this game among other gamers. The game is for 2-5 players, ages 12+, and game play is approx 90 mins (according to the box).

After quickly reading over the rules, my wife and I were ready to play. The plastic board has squares to place the tiles, which represent buildings of corporations. Each player starts with $6000, to by stock during the game, and 6 building tiles. Each of the tiles are numbered matching spaces on the board. The object of the game is to build the corporations, invest wisely in stock and finish the game with the most money.

The game starts with each player drawing a tile from the pool and placing it on the appropriate space. The first player will be the one with the tile closest to the space marked '1A'. The player plays a tile and if the tile touches a solid side (not diagonally) of another tile, a corporation is created. The "founder" then gets 1 free stock card from the bank and has the option to by up to 3 more stock in this turn. Then the player draws another tile (to replace the one played) and gameplay moves clockwise.

As the game continues, players will eventually place a tile that combines two or more corporations. At this time, the smaller corporation goes "defunct" and is absorbed into the larger and stock holders of the smaller company collect stock bonuses and have options to hold, sell, or trade the stock (2 to 1 for stock in the corporation which absorbed it). When corporations grow to 11 or more tiles, they can no longer be absorbed into a larger corporation. These are called "Safe corporations." They can still grow larger, but they will never be removed from the board as the smaller corporations do with mergers.

The game ends when a player declares that all "Active" corporations are "safe" or when one corporations grows to be 41 or more tiles. Players have an option to declare the end, which may be to the advantage to wait on, such as if your stock has more potential to grow.

In the words of my wife, "The game board doesn't look like much to start with, but there ends up being alot of strategy to it." The only thing that I've noticed about the game that I thought may be and interesting variation, is to allow trades and sales among the players before a corporation goes "defunct". The game is still great and I am sure I will have many more enjoyable experiences with.

Axis & Allies - Manufacturer: Milton Bradley / Hasbro - Designer: Larry Harris - Year: 1987 - $38.95 AT FUNAGAIN GAMES*
Review by: Nathaniel Dragon

From the Milton Bradley Gamemaster Series, this game is a 2 to 5 player game set in World War 2. The 5 forces, United States, Russia, France, Germany, and Japan, are all used no matter how many players. The Axis, Germany and Japan are attempting to win the war by "Military Victory" or "Economic Victory". The Allies, United States, Russia, and France, must win by "Military Victory". For a "Military Victory", one side must capture two of the opposing capitals. For an "Economic Victory", the Axis must capture enough territory to dominate nearly 60% of the world. Although is seems that the Axis have options for an easy win, the Allies are a large power, which makes for a well balanced game. The downfall to this game, in my opinion, is the amount of time required for setup, which has taken over half an hour for me on average - I'd much rather put Conquest of the Empire on the table with a quick setup which takes less than 5 minutes. I also don't like how the the setup is always the same - which is why I prefer Samurai Swords, and even Risk to A&A, although I have some friends that disagree.