Loadstar 226/226.d81/t.acquire

Text File | 2003-01-01 | 6.8 KB | 247 lines

u
            A C Q U I R E
   by Sid Sackson & G. C. Crawshay


    ACQUIRE is a business game in
which players are investors in hotel
chains.

    During the course of the game the
chains grow and merge until most of
the board is covered.  The object is
to become the wealthiest player by
wise investment.

    This is a solitaire version played
against your chosen number of computer
opponents. The board is a 9 x 12 grid,
for each square of which there is a
corresponding tile. Each player has 6
tiles. There are 7 hotel chains spread
amongst 3 categories, as follows:

   3-star   Luxor & Tower
   4-star   American, Festival &
              Worldwide
   5-star   Continental & Imperial

 There are 25 shares available in each
chain. They start at $200, 300 & 400
respectively depending on category and
initially go up quite quickly as the
chains expand, but this slows down
when the chains get somewhat larger.
The full details appear later in these
instructions.

    Each player starts with $6,000.
The game opens with all players
drawing one tile and placing it on the
board. This gets the board going and
determines who goes first (the one
with the nearest tile to square A/1).

    A normal turn consists of two
action - laying a tile and buying
shares, in that order.

    A hotel chain is created by laying
a tile next to another one. "Next to"
means orthogonally - not diagonally.
The chain-maker chooses the name of
the new chain and gets one free share.
Thereafter any additions to those
tiles will cause the chain to expand.

    If all 7 chains are in use no new
chain can be created. Tiles which
could normally be played to make a new
chain are in this case temporarily
"dead".

    After laying a tile, a player may
buy shares. Purchases are limited to
only 3 per turn, but of any chain or
mixture of chains may be purchased, as
long as they are established on the
board. Current prices and number
available of each share are obtainable
from the menu. (Accessing the menu is
explained later). To choose to [not]
buy any shares during a turn, press
<0> instead of the hotel letter.

    You have the option of knowing
other players' holdings, but once you
are practised at the game it is more
fun to deprive yourself of this
knowledge.

    When a tile is laid which joins up
2 chains, a merger is declared and the
larger chain takes over the smaller.
The players with the largest and 2nd.
largest holdings of shares in the
chain which is absorbed - i.e. the
smaller one - receive big cash
bonuses, equal to 10 and 5 times the
share prices respectively. Where equal
holdings are involved the bonuses are
proportionally divided.

    Sometimes there can even be a
triple merger. These are dealt with as
2 separate mergers, with the larger of
the absorbed chains being settled
first.

   In the case of a merger of 2 chains
of the same size, the merger-maker
chooses which takes over which.

    After settling the bonuses each
player with shares in the absorbed
chain has to decide what to do.
Options include

  1) sell them
  2) exchange them on a 2 for 1 basis
      for shares in the survivor
  3) keep them
  4) a mixture of the above

 When all decisions have been settled
the defunct chain is available for
restarting when the opportunity
presents itself.

    Mergers are all-important in
ACQUIRE. It is [vital] to note that
there is no regular income or dividend
payment to players throughout the
game. Their sole means of raising new
cash is by bonuses or sales resulting
from a merger.

Here is a chart of the progression
of share prices as chains grow larger.

------------------------------------
# of Hotels in a Chain    !   Price
 L  T  !  A  F  W  ! C  I  !
-------+-----------+-------+---------
   2   !     -     !   -   !   $200
-------+-----------+-------+---------
   3   !     2     !   -   !   $300
-------+-----------+-------+---------
   4   !     3     !   2   !   $400
-------+-----------+-------+---------
   5   !     4     !   3   !   $500
-------+-----------+-------+---------
  6-10 !     5     !   4   !   $600
-------+-----------+-------+---------
 11-20 !    6-10   !   5   !   $700
-------+-----------+-------+---------
 21-30 !   11-20   !  6-10 !   $800
-------+-----------+-------+---------
 31-40 !   21-30   ! 11-20 !   $900
-------+-----------+-------+---------
  41+  !   31-40   ! 21-30 !  $1000
---------------------------+---------
   -   !    41+    ! 31-40 !  $1100
---------------------------+---------
   -   !     -     !  41+  !  $1200
-------------------------------------
1st/2nd Merger and End Bonuses are
10x and 5x share price.


    The game continues in this way
with chains expanding and merging.
However, note that when a chain
reaches the size of 11 hotels, it
becomes [safe] and is immune from
takeover.

    This means that a tile which would
merge two safe chains becomes
unplayable and can be changed as long
as there is a stock of spare tiles.

    Any player can end the game under
either of the following conditions:

 - all chains on the board are safe
 - one chain has 41+ hotels

    This is not compulsory - it is up
to each player to decide at the end of
his turn.

    When the game is declared over by
a player, all shareholdings are valued
at current prices, terminal bonuses
are awarded in the same way as in a
merger and these values are added to
players' cash to make a grand total.

    During the game a winking [red]
[star] at the top of the screen acts
as a prompt when it needs either an
input of information or a press of any
key to carry the game forward.

    At strategic intervals during your
turn the following sign will appear:

                  ME
                  NU

 This means you can access the menu,
which provides several types of
information, by pressing <M>. When
first running the program it is
recommended that you look at the menu
to see what is available.

    To finish with the menu and return
to the program needs a press of <Z>.
You can also exit ACQUIRE and return
to LOADSTAR by pressing <Q> in the
menu.

    When the sign appears and you do
not wish to go to the menu, just press
any key other than <M>.


[DAVE'S AFTERWORD]: Since 1969,
ACQUIRE has been one of my favorite
board games. Our group at college (the
Friendly Freaks) were addicted to it,
spending nearly as much time making
and merging hotels as we spent playing
Hearts! In December, 1974, when our
son was a good week overdue, my family
spent long hours in our little 10x40
foot trailer house playing this game.

I found this program on the Clark
County Commodore Computer Club disk
magazine that Wayne Worley sent me. I
have made a few adjustments (i.e.,
returns to LOADSTAR and the Quit
option). Otherwise, it is the game
Avalon Hill published back in the
glory days of C-64 software.

But it is [all] in BASIC. If you want
to understand the computer player
logic, the information is all here --
ready for you to print it out and mull
it over.

 DMM