For Sale - Tips & Strategies

I find a lot of people I play with on this game will bid more for higher number cards but what you really want to look at when it is your turn is the difference between the current highest card and the lowest card.

For example if the cards where say 30, 26, 22, 21 well that is a 9 difference that we see on the field. Let us say you are the 3rd player to go and there is already 4K out on the field. Now the question you want to ask yourself is 5K or almost a 3rd of your starting money worth a 9 point shift? Probably not. But if you have the numbers 18, 8, 6, 5 and where facing the same situation well now we are talking a 13 point shift which may be a different story even thou you would only be getting 18.

The same logic can be applied to what card you want to use when in the selling phase.

Obviously there is a lot more to this game as far as trying to read the other players but this is a tip you may want to keep in mind when it is your turn to bid.

For Sale is a great filler that can be played by almost anyone. As such, you’ll often find yourself in games with people who don’t play games all that often.

One trap I often see players fall into with the bidding (and this isn’t unique to For Sale) is to automatically bid 1 when going first, and to raise the bid by 1 when it comes around to them (when not passing). In general, you should avoid doing this!

Your goal should be to get the best card you can for the lowest cost. One way to do this is to get the bid high enough that you feel comfortable paying, but it’s too high for every other player to jump in. While it takes some experience to have a good feel of what you want to pay, you’ll find quickly that just starting off at 1, or raising by that much, gives you little to no control over what you get.

An Example

Consider a 6-player game, with the properties up for bid roughly evenly spaced (no major outliers). You’re going first, and you think there is a good chance that if you start with 1, everyone will raise by 1, meaning you’ll be stuck bidding 7, or dropping out with the lowest card. This is fine if you’re happy with the low card, but could you have gotten something better for roughly the same amount?

If you instead bid higher, perhaps 4, on your opening bid, for everyone to stay in, people will have bid 5-6-7-8-9 (or higher), requiring them to pay more for whatever they get, including yourself. From my experience, starting at a higher number will weed out a few people, giving you a better card. People are more willing to drop out and take a card for free (never bidding), which will increase your return on investment. My goal when doing this is to aim for a bid that I think at least 1 or 2 people will bid over, allowing me to drop out for half of my bid, while still grabbing a higher card than 2 or 3 people.

Additional Thoughts

You can also jump the bid when you’re not the starter. This is often even easier to accept, as you already have people committing money in their bid, so when they drop before you, they’re still paying.

The other benefit of jumping in such a way is it will often throw off opponents. If everyone is in a +1 mindset, suddenly hearing someone jump the bid from 2 to 6 can rattle someone, causing them to make bids they normally wouldn’t make.

Your overall goal in the bidding rounds of For Sale is to get the best return on investment. If you just go along with a +1 bid mentality, you’re not controlling your return, you’re just getting what the board randomly gives you. By taking control of the bidding, you can make sure others are either paying more than they would like, or accepting lower returns for their cash, setting you up for a strong property selling round.

I recommend playing this House Rule with people who have already got a few games of For Sale under their belt.

Blind Bid
Everyone chooses a property to sell before the checks come out. There tends to be even more bluffing, although less strategy, but it’s a nice way to add a bit more variety into the game when there are requests for a fifth or sixth game in a row.

Only one player during the bidding round of For Sale will pay their full bid, the rest will pay only half (round up or down, depending on your rule set). Unless you feel certain that any bid increase is going to give you the highest valued card (causing you to pay your full bid after all other players drop out), you should be raising in increments of 2.

This increment is due to the paying of half your bid when you drop out without being the last player.

If the rules say to round up your bid, you should be bidding even numbers.

If the rules say to round down your bid, you should be bidding odd numbers.

Why?

If you’re going to have to round up your bid, bidding 3 allows a player after you to bid 4, and pay the same amount after halving for a better card if you both drop out the next time around. In essence, bidding opposite of the suggestions above gives one of your opponents the chance to better your bid at no cost.

The downside of doing this is if you win the bid, which means you’ll pay one extra coin than you would have if you just upped the bid by 1 instead of 2. From my experience, I will save multiple coins using this strategy during the game, which more than makes up for the few times I pay extra for the best card.