Acquire: Better than Monopoly

Game by 3M
Published by (I assume) 3M
Price: $20 - $150 (depending on edition)
Number of players: 2 - 6
Time: 45 - 90 minutes

I hate Monopoly. I still play it, and recognize it as a landmark game, but I can not stand it. My problem with Monopoly boils down to this: It is nothing more than rolling the dice over and over again. There are no choices, there is no strategy. The only true choice is whether or not to buy property, and if you don't buy then you will lose. So I say, no choice. Want to play an interesting economic game? Try Acquire instead. Nothing fancy, at least not in my 1968 3M bookshelf edition, but nothing really changed in later editions (except for a couple of pieces). I know this because this is my THIRD copy of this game. I bought it in a thrift store, where it was missing a few cards, back around 1997. Lost it in a move from NC to TX. Got a new copy (Avalon Hill Reprint) around 2004 in VA. Do not know what happened to it, but I suspect someone pilfered it from my stash. Recently got this copy off of Board Game Geek. All of them are similar.

Want to pick up a copy? Miniature Market has some in stock for $20. Of course, plenty of people are selling on Board Game Geek as well. So let's go ahead and look inside the box:

The board is a grid, rows from 1 - 12 and columns from A - I. There are 108 squares, and there are 108 black tiles that match the squares. Some paper money in denominations from 100 - 5000, and some stock certificates.

Each grid square has a black tile that matches is. These tiles are placed in a pile face down. Players keep a "hand" of five tiles. The tiles represent hotels. When two tiles are adjacent to each other, they form a chain, and one of the seven colored tile is placed on top of the black tile that creates a chain. Each player also has a small white card that shows the stock price for each chain based on the number of hotels in the chain. On their turn, a player places a tile, buys up to 3 stock certificates (in any company, but only 3 stock total for the turn), and then draws a new tile.

Eventually, two chains will merge. When this happens, players see who has the most stock in the smaller of the two chains, and then accept major and minor stockholder bonuses. Players may then choose to sell off their stock in the merged chain. This is the primary mechanism for obtaining spendable cash.

Eventually, all the chains are too big to merge (11 or more tiles), or one chain reaches 41 tiles, at which point anyone may declare the game over. Whoever has the most money (cash and stock) wins the game.

Sure, there is some luck involved in the draw of the tiles, but it's mitigated. There are very real choices: whether to buy stock in a given chain, whether to sell off stock in a merged chain, which chain to create, whether or not to even create a chain... It takes a bit of thought. But the game is not needlessly complex either, a new player can pick it up as quickly as anything else.

FUN: 4. This is a solid game.

THEME: 3. This could as easily be a game about pizza restaurants.

QUALITY: 4. Each copy of this I've owned has had pieces that are sturdy.
                       Cardstock, plastic, all of it is appropriate.

ART: 2. This is not a pretty game. Even the reprints really aren't pretty.

INTERACTIVITY: 4. Highly interactive. You will be working together a lot.

COMPLEXITY: 3. Nothing major here.

LUCK: 2. There is luck in the draw of the tiles, but it is mitigated by having a hand of tiles.