Takeover Draft

[jdroscha@...]

Here is a draft of the rules for Takeover.  I am interested 
in any and all remarks.

Thanks,
James

__________


TAKEOVER
a game of strategy and tactics for the piecepack
(v 1.0b, 7 May 2001)

Copyright (C) 2001 by James Kyle and Chris Young

2 to 6 players
30 minutes


SUMMARY
	Players take turns merging corporations (tiles) to increase 
either short-term cash gains (value-up coins) or long-term stocks 
that pay out at the end of the game (suit-up coins).  The suit of a 
tile represents its industry; the value of each tile, along with the 
number of other tiles in its stack, represents its worth.

SETUP
	Shuffle all the tiles and lay them out, face-up, in a 6 tile 
by 4 tile grid.
	Place all stocks (coins) value-up on the table.  Roll to see 
who will begin initial stock selection.  Take turns choosing and 
collecting one stock each, reversing the pecking order each round.  
Continue until all stocks have been taken by players.  Then, 
simultaneously, all players must conceal their stocks and may flip as 
many of them as desired suit-side up.  Henceforth, all suit-up coins 
are considered stocks and all value-up coins are considered cash 
assets.

PLAY
	Starting with the player who began initial stock selection, 
take turns; on your turn, you may either merge two corporations or 
pass.  At any time during play, players may negotiate, deal, and 
trade stocks and cash assets.

GAME END
	If no more mergers are possible, or if all players pass in 
succession, the game ends and players cash out their stocks.  The 
player with the most money wins.

MERGING CORPORATIONS
	Corporations that are adjacent (diagonal is not sufficient) 
and are within the same industry may be merged for free.  Simply pick 
up one of the corporations (including any tiles stacked below it) and 
stack it on top of the other.  The owner of the stock matching the 
corporation that is being subsumed must then cash out the stock (if 
it has not been already) by flipping the coin value-side up.
	Corporations that are adjacent but are within different 
industries may be merged at the cost of the value (NOT total worth) 
shown on the corporation being subsumed.  The player performing the 
merger must pay this cost by discarding cash assets with a total 
value equal to or greater than the cost.  If the player overpays, the 
extra is lost.  (Subsuming a penny stock (null value) corporation is 
free.)  Beyond this cost, the procedure for the merger is the same as 
described above.

SPECIAL MERGING OPPORTUNITIES
	Penny stocks (null coins) that are cashed in have no cash 
value but represent special merging opportunities.  By discarding 
such a coin, a player may merge two corporations that are not 
adjacent to each other on the board, provided the two corporations 
are in the same row or column.  The merger is performed in the same 
way as described above (in MERGING CORPORATIONS) including any cost 
associated with merging corporations that are from differing 
industries.

SCORING
	At game end, players calculate their individual scores as 
follows:
1) Evaluate each stock (suit-up coin) by finding the corresponding 
corporation on the board (the tile that matches by suit and value).  
The corporation's worth is equal to the value showing on the top 
tile, in millions of dollars, plus one million dollars for each other 
tile in its stack.  For example, a corporation consisting of the 2 of 
suns stacked on top of three other tiles would score a total of ($2m 
+ $3m =) $5 million.
2) Evaluate each of your cash assets as each value-up coin's value in 
millions of dollars.
3) Add the total worth of your stocks and the total worth of your 
cash assets to arrive at your total score for the game.

-end-