Rule of Acquisition number 21 “Never Place Friendship above Profit.”
Wizkid’s latest foray into the world of Star Trek, pits you and up to eight of your friends in a no holds barred quest to hoard the most latinum possible by any means necessary. The game is an absolute delight of simple game mechanics and social interaction which makes me remember why I like playing games in the firstplace.
Setup
The game itself consists of a deck of cards, a price fixing sheet, and latinum pieces, which is the in game currency you are trying to amass. The deck itself is made up of two types of cards; action cards and market cards. There are various methods of play, but classic has you shuffle a specific set of action cards into the market deck, and remove some extraneous market cards as well. The market cards consist of various commodities that you and your competitors will try to snatch up and resell on the open market. They are specifically: phasers, synthahol, power cells, tribbles, PADDs, Dabo Machines, Replicator Units, and Dilithium Crystals.
Phases of Play
The game starts with the “Financial Mandate” Phase, where the “First Clerk” draws from the deck and lays out the cards available for acquisition. Players then move in turn order bidding on the various cards, until each have gotten a card (assuming there are any left by the end). In the next phase players trade, bargain, and fix prices on their individual assets. This is where one of the keys to the whole game is. In order to make money you want multiples of the same card, and you want to set the lowest price for the highest return, because the person who sets the highest price on the same commodity (if it’s available from other players) gets nothing during the commission phase. This encourages players to try and gain monopolies over items, or collude with other players to artificially inflate the price. The only thing is, there are no rules that say if you and another player agree to a price that you must follow through. You could just as easily tell someone that you are going to set the price as high as possible, and be lying. There were multiple points in our games that two or three players would agree to set the price for Synthehol at 4 latinum per card (it’s highest maximum price), and everyone was lying to each other and set the price below 4. In one turn, one of our players made deals with three separate players who had various matching commodities to him, and all agreed to set the highest price. He was the only one who followed through. The others set it lower, making money, and he didn’t get a dime that turn. It’s that fundamental tension between mutual self-interest, trust, and cutthroat tactics that make this game so fun.
Strategies to Victory
Aside from simply gathering monopolies, it’s just as important to acquire items other players have (especially of the high value items) specifically so you can hold the price down, or profit from their own greed. The game makes fodder for the worst impulses of the players, as extortion, racketeering, and collusion are absolutely the name of the game. One player even came in second by not having any commodities. He make his money by buying action cards, which have really powerful effect, and used the threat of these cards to extort money from players. For instance, he had a card that essentially locked down two market cards from generating income for a turn. He then said, “Whoever gives me money, I wont use this on them.” It worked. He would steal commodities from people and resell them. He would buy into a monopoly and sell the card to the highest bidder. It worked surprisingly well.
The Good: The rules are surprisingly simple, fast, and foster a highly competitive social atmosphere that’s sure to illicit shouts, laughs, and cheers.
The Bad: The first time playing the game, it’s too slow. We also ran into a money crunch in our testing. We didn’t have enough latinum pieces.
The Final Sum: The game is run, simple, and well worth the price. At only $24.99, this game is a steal.
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