This rare 1980's Schmidt France French edition of ACQUIRE comes with large English Information Cards and Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE. This copy was a factory defect so some of the stock certificates have been reproduced to create a complete game. This Schmidt France French game of ACQUIRE includes:
- Game Board
- 108 Plastic Game Tiles
- 7 Plastic Hotel Markers
- 25 Stock Certificates for each hotel
- 3 Blank Stock Certificates
- Play Money
- 6 Tile Holders
- 6 Information Cards (French)
- 4 Information Cards (English)
- Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE
This copy of ACQUIRE has not been played. The tiles are still on the tile trees and the company markers are still sealed in a bag. This copy was a factory defect and some of the stock certificates had to be reproduced. All 25 of the Hotel Airport and the Hotel Luxor along with 11 of the Hotel Continental have been reproduced. The backs of the factory stock certificates are printed with a picture of the "ACQUIRE Man." The backs of the reproduced stocks are blank. (Please see picture) The original French Rules are also missing but are replaced with Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE. The box has shelf wear throughout and there is a sticker on the back of the box on the top right corner.
This edition of ACQUIRE is played on a large, light blue, plastic board. The board illuminates the square designations quite well. The tiles are dark blue with white lettering that makes seeing the designations very easy. Tile holders are included and add a very nice touch to the game.
In this French edition, Airport and Festival are the lower priced hotels, Oriental, Imperial, and Luxor are medium priced hotels, and Prestige and Continental are high priced hotels. The stock certificates have printed backs with a picture of the "ACQUIRE Man" that was displayed on the 3M and Avalon Hill game boxes. These games will generally include five blank stock certificates.
This edition of ACQUIRE is a mirror image of Hotel Haie (Grand Hotel) that was produced by Schmidt Spiel in Germany during the 1980's, except this edition actually uses the name of ACQUIRE. There is also a Dutch edition of ACQUIRE by a company called Selecta that has the same format of game components. This is a fantastic and extremely rare edition for the true ACQUIRE enthusiast. This is absolutely a cool edition of the game of ACQUIRE and it is more aesthetically pleasing than ACQUIRE games made in the United States.
The Information Cards in this game are written in French, but with the hotel names being in English, these Information Cards are beneficial in either language. Even so, I am including four enlarged Information Cards with this game that have been translated into English. These enlarged Information Cards allow for easier readability to determine hotel values and payouts at the time of merger. They are printed on card stock for greater visibility and durability.
In addition, Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE are included. These rules were designed to help eliminate the one-sided games that can occur during game play and makes the game more enjoyable.
Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE
ACQUIRE is a fantastic game, and a huge tribute to the intellect of Sid Sackson. Yet, after my first experience with the game, I felt that the rules needed some adjustments to increase the ability of the game to attract new players.
I wanted the game to have a broader appeal to more of my friends. The more friends I could get to enjoy the game, the more chances I had to play the game. I accomplished this by creating a way for players to stay involved in the game even if the didn't have any money. I also created a level playing field for obtaining stock while at the same time increasing the strategic maneuvering of stock purchasing.
Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE allows trading of stock when a player is out of money. The player can get rid of stocks that do not help the player and trade them for stocks that are more important within their portfolio. It allows these players to try and maintain majorities in the companies that are most important. It also allows the ability for players to invest on every turn, to potentially increase their portfolio, without the fear of being "stuck" with those purchases when they are ultimately out of money.
Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE eliminates the 2-for-1 trade rule when companies merge. In the corporate world of hostile takeovers, is is very seldom that the conquering company offers the shareholders of the vanquished company a cut-rate bargain for the stocks of the conquering company.
The 2-for-1 trade creates the possibility for a person who holds majority in a conquering company to lose that majority to numerous shareholders because they decided to sacrifice their small company. It decreases the strategy level of obtaining majorities and skews the game into more of a factor of luck. In Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE, the players of the vanquished company are given payouts for their companies, and their shares, and they can invest wherever they choose when it is their turn.
Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE are printed into a convenient 10-page booklet that is printed on yellow card stock for long lasting durability and fits neatly into the original versions of this timeless classic. This booklet can be used to replace old, worn, or lost rules as they conveniently have the original rules of ACQUIRE fully printed with Lloyd's changes to the rules printed in red.
This 10-page booklet also includes a Stock Price Extension chart. This chart helps when figuring payouts at times of merger or at the end of the game and helps eliminate the need for a calculator or a math professor.
Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE can be used in all editions of ACQUIRE from 1962-2008. They can also be used in the International versions of ACQUIRE. They can be used with the Special Powers Variants that were found in the 1993 Schmidt Spiel edition and the 1995 Avalon Hill Edition. They can also be used with the Wild Tile Variant and the 1963 World Map Conversion Kit.
If you are interested in additional information, visit the Lloyd's Rules of ACQUIRE page on our main website.
If you have questions, you can contact us through the "Contact Us" link on this website, or you can email us at megacquire@hotmail.com.
