Chris Reed
1964 was a busy year. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, The Beatles made their way to New York City, and the Olympics were held in Tokyo. But for our purposes, it also marked the wide release of the board game Acquire. Now, more than 60 years and multiple editions later, Renegade Games has the reins on this historic hotel-building powerhouse, releasing both a premium 60th Anniversary Edition in 2024 and its retail counterpart in 2023. While these new versions may have a fresh coat of paint, they still maintain the same wonderful gameplay that has kept it around for six decades and landed it on our list of the best classic board games.
Acquire
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Acquire plays with two to six players, where everyone lays tiles, establishes hotel chains, and purchases shares of stock – all with the hopes of getting big returns on their investments. While the theme may not sound the most enthralling compared to other games on your local game store’s shelves, there’s a reason Acquire has been around for more than 60 years. It’s easy to teach and has a deceptive amount of strategy involved – so much so that it was even featured at the World Series of Board Gaming tournament last year.
On your turn, players will pull a tile – each with a grid coordinate printed on it – and place it on the board in its corresponding spot. When a tile is placed and creates a minimum of two adjacently connected ones, a hotel is formed, and its founder gets a share of its stock. The larger a hotel chain grows, the more expensive each share of stock becomes, but also, the greater the payout when that hotel gets acquired and absorbed into a bigger hotel. So, buying low and selling high is the name of the game.
These latest versions from Renegade Games offer a new variant rule known as Tycoon Mode, which makes it easier for players who aren’t in the lead to stage a comeback. In the traditional Classic Mode, only the first- and second-place owners of a hotel chain – the two who own the most stock – get the payout when it’s acquired. Tycoon Mode expands this benefit to the third player as well. While I prefer the classic option, I appreciate this variant’s inclusion to help ease new players into the game.
Unique to the 60th Anniversary Edition are a set of special power cards that tweak the gameplay further. These cards provide powerful bonuses, such as playing four tiles at once or buying three stocks for free. While these cards dramatically change the game, I found them to be too powerful and game-altering for my tastes. After a single playthrough with them, I haven’t gone back and have no real desire to. However, like Tycoon Mode, they are optional, so they’re worth trying out to see if they suit your style.
Regarding the differences between the main retail release and the 60th Anniversary Edition, the $50 price difference comes with enough tweaks and adjustments to make the premium edition worth considering. Gameplay and core components (tiles, board, and cards) remain the same – with the exception of the power cards – so the main differences lie in the components.
There are three main upgrades in the premium version that make the investment worthwhile: a drawstring bag for tile selection, a removable insert for organizing share cards and hotel miniatures, and replacing paper money with sturdy poker chips.
On the surface, these may not seem like major upgrades – or worth the additional cost – but the improved organizer and drawstring bag significantly enhance the experience. Storing and blindly grabbing tiles from a bag eliminates the need to manually flip over tiles during setup, making the game flow much smoother. If you opt for the base edition, I highly recommend finding a bag to use.
Another helpful addition exclusive to the Anniversary Edition is the redesigned plastic organizer, which stores share cards in their own separate container with a plastic lid. This allows the cards, which are held upright in grooves alongside their corresponding hotel miniatures, to be placed more conveniently. In contrast, the base edition’s organizer is the size of the entire game box, which, while functional, takes up more table space. Most players would likely prefer having the cards placed separately on the table.
The last exclusive upgrade is purely cosmetic: replacing paper money with poker chips. Personally, I detest paper money in board games and believe it should have stayed in the 1960s. A significant portion of the Anniversary Edition’s increased price comes from this component upgrade, but what an upgrade it is. The chips have a nice weight to them, are neatly stored in their own container, and help keep the game organized. Plus, they’re simply more satisfying to handle than flimsy paper bills – there’s just something about that clinky sound.
Where to Buy
Acquire: 60th Anniversary Edition (MSRP $99.99)
Standard Edition (MSRP $49.99)
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