Kevin O'Hare

As many others have noted, Acquire is a game designed by Sid Sackson, who also authored another classic game, Can’t Stop.

Many have lauded the large box format from Avalon Hill, but you have to go back to the early 1960’s to see the game in it’s orginal format, that of a Bookshelf Game from 3M. The entire line of games from the 3M Booksehelf series were designed to stand on end like a book on the shelf, complete with booklike spine art. Early editions used wood parts, while most of the versions that followed were of plastic, before the cardboard versions were produced.

I won’t go into the game mechanics since that seems to be well covered.

My personal opinion is that while Acquire says it plays up to 6, the truth of the matter is this is really plays best as a 3 or 4 player game. My preference is for 3 players, but 4 works almost as well. Do not try to play with 6, it can be painful for those who are not able to get in on any of the early mergers, as they will not be able to do anything after a while. I understand there were some add on rules to address this issue, but I have not seen nor played with those rules.

This issue does not detract from my high praise for a great game, just be sure to play it with 3 or 4 players.