LogFAQs > #897912827

22. For Sale
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172/sale

Genre/mechanics: Bidding, simultaneous bidding, hand management
Rules complexity: 3/10
Game length: 20 minutes
Player count: 3-6
Experience: 10+ games with 4-6 players
First played: 2015

For Sale is a two-part game. In each round of the first phase, you're given some currency with which to purchase a random array of property (valued 1-30), equal to the number of players. Pass on the auction, and you pay half your previous bid and get the lowest-valued remaining item. Win the auction, and pay full price. In the second phase, you flip those properties depending on demand. An array of "buyers" (money cards) will be turned face-up, and you simultaneously flip one of your properties - the money is passed out highest-to-lowest by property value. Your goal is to have the most money at the end.

Enjoyment - For Sale can easily be described as a filler game. There's no engine-building, and the playtime is short, and there's no board state that changes. But it could often be the best-feeling game I would play in a game night. Granted, I got hooked on it during a time when eurogames would feel suffocating, and I haven't played it much in quite some time. But it was fast, interactive, with little downtime, and it allowed interesting decisions.

Design - Even independently, each phase of the game is excellent. The value of a property can never be taken in a vacuum - you have to remember that if you win a bid, you're paying by far the most. It's often better to be the last one to pass a bid, so you can pay less and get the second-best property in an array. Sometimes you want to avoid being the first one to pass so you can avoid taking the lowest card in a board of 20-19-18-17-1, but in order to do that, you might have to pay a prohibitive cost. You have decisions on how much money to hold back for future bidding rounds, and since you play the entire deck, you know what's out there. You have somewhat strategic decisions in composition - do you want a hand full of middling properties, or one with lots of high properties? And needless to say, it's all extremely interactive.

The second phase of the game is simultaneous bidding, which involves valuation - how much is this board worth to me? how badly do I want to avoid getting the "0" money if it's there?; light memory usage - who still has what cards from the first round, and have they spent those cards already? - and of course, just some good-old-fashioned mind games, based on who you think will play what card. You're always making a decision, so even if it's chaotic, your agency really mattered. The game is quick enough that that its high-variance outcomes give you second and third chances to redeem yourself if need be.

Future - For Sale doesn't really hit the table often as we're chasing bigger experiences usually, but I could probably play it once every game night and not tire of it.

Bonus question - What are your favorite games where you don't build any sort of board?

Hint for #21 - the only game of this genre on the list, inspired by something inspired by a serial killer
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness