For Sale

For Sale is a simple yet canny card game that takes place over two phases – buying of buildings, and then selling them.

Players begin the game with a certain amount of money in front of them, and in the first phase they use this money to buy buildings, which are represented by a deck of cards and have a value of 1-20. However many players there are, the same amount of buildings are flipped over and players, going clockwise around the table, put forward their bids. The crucial thing here is that when someone decides to pass, they take the lowest value building and pay half their bid. This happens every tie someone passes, until only one player is left – they’ll get the highest value building but must pay all of their bid for it. If anyone runs out of money they are forced to pick up the lowest value card, as they cannot bid.

When the building deck is exhausted the second part of the game begins, and a second deck of cards is dealt out – again, a few cards at a time, matching the number of players. These are also valued at 1-20 (also including a couple of zeroes!), and represent the prices you’re willing to sell your property for. Everyone now “bids” at the same time, placing one of their building cards face-down on the table. When these are revealed, the highest value building sells for the highest price, the next highest takes the next highest price and so on.

When all buildings have been sold, the game ends, and players count up their money, including any they had left over from the buying phase. The richest player is the winner!