In October 2022, Renegade Game Studios announced a deal with Hasbro to license and publish titles from four game lines in the Hasbro catalog: Axis & Allies, Diplomacy, Robo Rally, and Squad Leader.
Now, Renegade has announced an additional pick-up from Hasbro: Sid Sackson‘s Acquire, a game in which 2-6 players (caveat below) place tiles on a shared game board to increase the size of companies, ideally owning shares of companies that merge with large companies so that they can receive a payout that will fuel further share purchases.
Here’s part of the press release announcing this deal:
First released in 1963 [see below], Acquire puts gamers in the shoes of a real estate mogul, vying for control of companies as they expand, merge, and gain value. Renegade’s latest version will incorporate community feedback and feature much-desired features like a return to the 9×12 gridded plastic board, plastic tiles and buildings, and classic theming of the hotel chains, including one named for the late great designer Sid Sackson. The rulebook will also be updated to include clarifications and adjustments gathered from previous versions of the game.
Gamers can expect the new updated version of this classic game in 2023 with distribution in friendly local game stores as well as specialty retailers worldwide. Localized editions are in the works and will be announced at a later time.
Renegade will also be supporting the game with a Gen Con Championship held in Indianapolis this August.
As designer Joe Huber detailed in an excellent 2014 article on the development of Acquire, while “test marketing” editions of Acquire were released in 1963 in eight U.S. cities — Shreveport, New Orleans, Saint Louis, Kansas City, Des Moines, Madison, Milwaukee, and Denver — Acquire as we know it wasn’t released until Q3 1964. In his article, Huber details some of the discussions between Sid Sackson and 3M product merchandiser Bill Caruson over suggested changes to the design, which Sackson had submitted under the name “Vacation”, following the sale of the “test marketing” editions.
As for the player count, while some debate whether being last in a five- or six-player game is a disadvantage, I still recall a game in the late 2000s in which my friend Max had exactly one playable tile for several turns early in a six-player game — you can’t place a tile that would start a new company if all seven companies have been started — and he was ready to burn my house down before the game was halfway over. He effectively had no decisions, so he couldn’t direct the development of anything and was just along for the (painfully slow) ride.
Sure, you might get equally unlucky in a game with fewer players, but in that situation you typically have multiple chances to start companies and you play a greater percentage of the tiles being placed on the board, which means you (generally) have more of a chance to shape what happens.
In any case, nice to know that Acquire will be on the market once again!
