Play Experiment: Acquire
CTIN 488
Zack Keller
Peter Van Dyke
Shon-Ting Fu
Jonathan Zabel
Todd Carranto
Tre Ford
Acquire Play test
Formal Elements
The formal elements of Acquire consist of essentially just the board. From game to game this stays constant, while the tiles that are placed on it and the distribution of money change.
Dynamic Elements
The primary dynamic elements consisted of the tiles and the money. Tiles are what players use to create, expand, and merge chains. As the game progresses and chains merge, money is distributed to players through Primary/Secondary stockholder bonuses and the selling of stocks they control in defunct chains.
Dramatic Elements
The game doesn't have characters per se but the player is able to become a powerful business/property owner and therefore takes on that persona. As you play through, you are able to see your empire grow/topple and actually feel worried about what the other people will do next.
You literally build the story in this game creating power struggles, conflicts with other hotel chains, and the personal choices therein. The set up is you are trying to create the largest hotel chain in order to end up with the most money at the end of the game. Through gameplay, the story emerges as empires are built, chains are acquired, and players are cheated out of their profits.
The dramatic arc didn't work quite as well in this game because it is about continuously building until you have the most money and therefore had no real climax. Instead, players emerged as dominant about halfway through and left the others to devise new ways of making profit. This changed the dynamic but the dominant stockholders still stayed on top.
Play Experience
Dramatic Elements: Challenge
• Clear Goals and Feedback
o You want to:
o Increase the value of your shares.
o Have your chain bought out.
o Gain control of the most shares.
• Flow
o Depends on the skill levels of the other players.
Dramatic Elements: Play
• Player types that thrive:
o The Competitor
o The Collector
• Participant play:
o Each player has a stake in the end outcome of the game.
Dramatic Elements: Premise
• Charged world of corporate acquisitions:
• Wealthy hotel-chain owning moguls.
• Money and stock are vital game resources.
