Dad's Gaming Addiction

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http://www.dadsgamingaddiction.com/for-sale-2/

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“I’d rather tie my shoes twenty times in a row rather than play this game again.” – Jen

For Sale, 3-6 Players, Ages 8+, Average Play Time: 20-30 Mins

I was a bit disappointed that everyone found this game to be boring. The above quote came from my other half, Jen, who made snoring noises within the first two minutes of the game. At one point she didn’t even look at her hand to play a card…she just threw in whichever card happened to be on the top of her pile. It takes an expert eye and a keen intellect to figure out that, in cases like that, she’s not enjoying the experience.

So what is “For Sale?” I suppose you could call it a card game more so than a board game. The box itself comes with two decks of cards…one set of property cards ranging from 1-30 in value, and one set of money cards ranging from $0.00 to $15,000. You will not find duplicate values in the property cards but you will find duplicate values in the money cards. The game also comes with $1,000 silver and $2,000 gold plastic coins. That’s it…no other pieces or any board to play on.

Simplistic, but also easy to play on the go.

The object of game is to have the most money at the end of the game.

First, everyone receives a certain amount of plastic coins. Both decks are shuffled and some cards randomly removed, depending on how many people are playing.

Phase one of the game are the property cards. A number of property cards are flipped up, based on how many are playing. If four people are playing, then four property cards per round will be flipped up. Players take turns bidding with their plastic chips in clockwise order. The first player to pass gets the lowest valued card on the table and half their bid back. The second player to pass gets the second highest and half their bid back…and so on and so forth. The person with the highest bid gets the highest valued property card, but does NOT get half their bid back. Players rotate on who starts the bid every round, until all property cards are owned by the players. This stack of cards now in their possession forms their hand.

Phase two of the game involves the money cards. A number of money cards are flipped up, based on how many are playing. Each person looks at the money cards currently on the table that round and must decide which property card is worth playing. Players pick a card from their hand and place it face down on the table, revealing them all at once. The highest property card value gets the highest money card on the table, second highest property card value gets the second highest…you get the idea. Rounds continue until all money cards are owned by the players.

Players count their money cards and any leftover coins from phase one. Whoever has the most money wins.

Sounded interesting to me, so what went wrong? I think it was a combination of the game being too light and the group I was playing with. There is some strategy involved during the bidding, for example, if only two property cards are left and they are one value away from each other, it makes sense to pass (if it’s your turn) and get the lower card and half your money back while the other player has to pay the full bid for a card one value higher. With that said, there is a luck factor that turns me off and the others didn’t feel it to be complex enough to hold their interest.

I honestly think this would be better received by younger kids, or by adults who play heavy board games regularly and want to break the mood. I’d play it again myself, but only when I didn’t have the time to play something else more in-depth. “For Sale” succeeds at being a light card game, but it won’t appeal to everybody.

Final Verdict: 5/10