For Sale

With the problems the real estate market has had over the past few years, it surprising that a real estate themed game can be so amusing.  But this quick, simple, money grabbing game, makes people laugh every time.

Overview

For Sale is a game of bidding in bluffing to get the highest ranking properties and then sell them for the most profit.

Players must manage their money during the bidding and property acquisition please.  They want to purchase the most valuable properties with the least amount of money.

Then players then try to outsmart, out guess and outsell the other players during the selling phase.  They want to sell the properties for the highest-valued Currency Cards.  The richest player at the end of the game wins!

Components /Set Up

The game comes with 30 property cards numbered 1-30 and 30 Currency Cards valued ($0 to $15,000 skipping $1,000--two of each.)  These cards should be separated by type and shuffled into separate piles.  The Currency Cards should be set aside for use in the second half of the game.  The property cards are placed face down as a deck.  

The game also comes with 60 silver $1,000 coins and 12 gold $2,000 coins.  In a 3 to four player game each person gets two $2,000 coins and fourteen $1,000 coins.  In a 5-6 player game, each player gets two $2,000 coins and ten $1,000 coins. 

With three players, remove six properties and six currency cards from the game without looking at them.  With four players remove two properties and two currency cards.  These cards are discarded and placed back in the box.

How to Play

There are two phases to the game.  During Phase One, players will be buying properties and then selling them during phase two.

Phase One:  Buying Properties 

Setup:  Turn face up the number of property cards equal to the number of players.  For example, three cards for three players.  All the face-up properties will now be auctioned so that no player goes empty handed.  Each player may bid or pass.  

Bidding:  The player who lives in the largest house begins and lays down any number of his coins onto the table. Play then continues clockwise around the table. The next player must decide whether he will bid or pass.  If they bid, the bid amount must be more than the previous bid.  Bidding continues around the table for as many times as necessary until all players have passed.  

Passing:  If a player passes, he takes the property that remains on the table with the lowest value.  He also takes back half his bid (rounded down).  For example if a player had previously bid $3,000, but decides to pass, they take back $1,000 into their hand. The rest of the money is returned to the bank and is placed out of the game.  After all players but one have passed, the remaining bidding player takes the highest valued property, but pays the full amount of their bid to the bank.  It is not necessary to bid anything to gain a property.  You can pass, pay nothing and secure the least valuable property at no charge. 

Tip:   Keep your money secret. 

Purchased properties are placed face down in front of the player who purchased them.  The player who took the most valuable property turns over the next set of Property Cards for auction and continues to p0lay by bidding or passing.  This continues until all of the Property Cards have been sold.  When this occurs Phase 1 is finished.  Unused coins are kept by the players.  They will be worth their face value at the end of the game. 

Phase Two:  Selling Properties

Now players are going to sell their property cards and earn some money.  In this phase, the Property Cards will be sold for Currency Cards.  As in Phase 1, the same number of Currency Cards will be turned face up as there are players.  Each player takes his Property Cards into their hand and places one Property Card face down in front of them.  Once all players have a face-down property card, they turn over the cards simultaneously.  The player who has played the most valuable Property Card takes the highest-valued Currency Card.  The player who has played the second highest valued Property Card takes the second highest-valued currency card, and so on.  Property Cards are then discarded from the game.

Game End

The game ends when all players have sold all of their properties.  Players add up their Currency Cards and remaining Coins.  The richest player wins.  Ties are resolved in favor of the player with the most remaining coins. 

My Thoughts

Most of my friends are gamers and it can be very difficult to entice them into playing a game.  One game that has been a hit is For Sale.  Now, it helps that the theme of buying is selling appeals to them, but the simple and fast game play may be the bigger selling point.

For Sale is definitely easy to teach to new comers.  The two phases can be broken up and explained separately so players can start Phase One, after a few minutes of rules explanation.  As the properties are placed on the table there are usually a few good chuckles as players view the artwork.  I must admit the outhouse card is pretty funny and the idea of selling a space station is also rather amusing.  I like the cartoon artwork of the cards.  It really goes along with the fun light-hearted nature of the game.

Because it is a card game there is definitely luck involved in the game.  All the highest priced cards may come out at once and players might end up paying very little for a really good card.   The strategy of Phase One comes in as players decide when and how much to bid.  Managing your money and knowing when to bid high or low is very important during this phase. 

And, like in the real world, players just might drive up the bidding price to encourage their opponents to bid just a little bit more.


As players gloat over their acquisitions from Phase One the fun begins again as the Currency Cards show up to the table.  That element of poker, not showing your hand, pushing your luck, and hoping you have the best strategy kicks into high gear in Phase Two.  Now players must read their opponents, remember the properties they acquired, and make the best choice of property to put down.  Being able to bluff would be a bonus in this round.  In the end, this phase always brings more laughs as players realize that the manhole just sold for $7,000. 

No matter the outcome, players are smiling at the end of For Sale and of course asking to play another round.  Non-gamers, hobby gamers, families and so forth could get a lot of enjoyment of this simple game.  It a light filler that will remain on my shelf for years, not only because I enjoy it,  but my friends do, as well.

Quick Stats

Designers: Stefan Dorra
Artists:Alvin Madden, Klaus Wilinski
Publishers: F.X. Schmid, Gabinete Lúdico, Gryphon Games, Ravensburger, Überplay, Wargames Club Publishing, Взрослые дети
Players: 3-6
Game Length: 20 minutes
Ages: 8 and up

Picture Credits: Penny (kittyangel), Gábor Iványosi-Szabó (Artax), Jed Hastwell (nnjed), Ender Wiggins (EndersGame), Michael Jordal (Jormi_Boced)(2), Ender Wiggins (EndersGame),  Fred CS (Gryphon Eagle), Agnis Skuskovniks (Biku-Beku), Ender Wiggins (EndersGame)

 

Thanks for sharing your great pictures!