Game: Money!

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dominojones — 2008-08-02T04:31:08+00:00

Gryphon Games Box

Thread: Re: Whoa.

no_where_dense — 2008-07-25T07:13:26+00:00

The Asian currency is Japanese Yen (I am Japanese).
Also 10-point coin is South African Krugerrand coins.

As for the serial numbers(tie-break), the smaller points always wins.
If they are the same denominations, then the serial numbers have the following relationshps.

Japanese Yen < British Pounds < Swiss Francs < American Dollars(USD) < Swedish Kronors < Russian Rubles < Euros.

So Japanese Yen is the most strong (i.e., smallest serial number) and Euro is the weakest.... Quite opposite to the real world.

Thread: Re: Whoa.

aboveriver — 2008-07-16T03:07:13+00:00

Just picked this game up off the shelf again after several years and am glad to say it is as fresh as ever. Great game!

Thread: Re: Whoa.

ipgyst — 2008-06-11T06:17:16+00:00

My favorite filler ever. Glad you agree!

Thread: Re: Whoa.

dominojones — 2008-06-02T23:45:26+00:00

I am looking forward to picking this up later this year when FRED/Gryphan Games does the US reprint. Fun game.

Thread: Re: FRED Distribution - 2008 Reprint?

alexgrant — 2008-06-02T23:30:21+00:00

http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

Money and Gem Dealer [Attacke], both due out in September 2008, and High Society, which is now scheduled for early 2009.

Thread: Re: FRED Distribution - 2008 Reprint?

ipgyst — 2008-06-02T22:14:52+00:00

keithblume2 wrote:
We are very pleased to confirm that FRED Distribution will be publishing both High Society and Money in 2008.

Keith
When can we expect to see them?

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

Zigg — 2008-03-27T20:25:25+00:00

Boards and Bits has it for sell......

http://www.boardsandbits.com/product_info.php?products_id=12...

Zigg

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

Henry Rhombus — 2008-03-27T20:23:47+00:00

Rappak wrote:
I think I remember hearing that Fred was going to pick it up along with High Society. I don't remember where I saw it, but I think it was from a newsletter that someone posted on here.

I recently posted a news item about FRED's plans for 2008, and those plans include a new edition of Money! for the summer under a new imprint, Gryphon Games, which is intended for family-friendly games. You can see the news item on BGN: http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

High Society is also receiving a new look in a new edition.
Eric
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

Rappak — 2008-03-27T20:17:32+00:00

I think I remember hearing that Fred was going to pick it up along with High Society. I don't remember where I saw it, but I think it was from a newsletter that someone posted on here.

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

rtresco — 2008-03-27T20:07:32+00:00

To update, funagain is out but it's available at Boards & Bits - I just picked one up!

Thread: Re: FRED Distribution - 2008 Reprint?

keithblume2 — 2008-02-29T06:39:00+00:00

We are very pleased to confirm that FRED Distribution will be publishing both High Society and Money in 2008.

Keith

Thread: Re: Whoa.

ssmooth — 2008-02-26T00:05:11+00:00

I agree, this is a great short game! We play just one hand, winner take all, not three and keep score, which I always thought was what the rules said.

Thread: Whoa.

Tygo — 2008-02-25T20:30:56+00:00

Now, I'm generally not a Knizia standard-bearer, he does far too many games, and they're always interesting, but most don't turn my knobs as I can just *feel* the mathematical gears turning.

I picked this game up from Funagain recently, when they had some in stock, and at the time I was sure I had overpaid for it at $18.99 for what amounts to 75 pretty cards in a small box. I heard it was good, knew it was out of print, and I was placing an order anyways and I went for it, figured what the hell. They're gone now, and boy am I glad I impulse purchased one, and frankly I think I got the better of my $18.99 deal.

This won't be a terribly long review, as the mechanics of the game are pretty simple.

There is a deck with 7 denominations of money. These cards are very pretty replications of real world money. These are comprised of what I believe to be Swiss Francs, US Dollars, Swedish Kronors, Russian Rubles, Euros, British Pounds, and what I believe are Chinese Yuan. Unsure, and I don't read any asian languages and I'm not familiar with the money there. It really doesn't matter.

Each player gets 6 shuffled cards, and 1 play money card to use for bluffing. The rest of the deck is placed face down, and you flip 4 cards over on each side of the deck creating 2 "markets".

The object of the game is to score as many points as you can in 3 hands. You score points by having denominations of money. If you have less than 200 units of any one currency, you score your amount -100 points. So if you have 60 rubles and 150 dollars and 210 kronors you score 60-100=0 for the rubles, 150-100=50 for the dollars and 200 for the kronors. Your base total score would be 250.

Also, to make it more interesting, there are 3x 20's, 3x 30's, 1x 40, 1x 50, and 1x 60 in each denomination. So, if you collect all 3 20's or 30's in any denomination, you score 100 bonus points, regardless of your base score. So, using the example above, if the 60 rubles were made up of 3x20's your final score would be 350 points. (250 straight up +100 bonus, even though your base ruble score is 0)

I know I'm chucking math at you, but its a Knizia game...about money. Its really not all that hard to grasp. Its more painful to read than play.

So, you deal 2 sets of 4x cards to each side of the draw pile to make the initial "market". You all take your seven cards, and you bid your money, to buy more money. Whoever wins the bid, can exchange his bid with any other player's bid money or either of the 2 markets in the middle. No matter what you take, your bid takes those cards spot. So if you took one of the markets, then your bid takes those cards' place in the market. The next highest bid chooses a pile to exchange for, and so on. There will be a few unwanted orphan cards left over. You simply deal more until there are 2x markets of 4x cards in the middle and you continue.

You do this until you run out the deck, then you score. 3 hands of this make up the whole game.

Sounds complicated, but its really not. You can go through 3 hands of Money! in 20 minutes once you get it.

Its a mathy game about mathy things. Does it feel mathy? Not at all. I'm an English Major who does math for a living. I generally hate mathy deterministic things. This game while being borne from the murky depths of accounting and financial day trading, funnily enough turns into a fascinating guessing game punctuated with a little luck. You get into and out of currencies based on the prices others are paying -and the currencies they pay with.

The game is totally language independent, and rules are freely found on the geek. You could even make your own version I guess, but the money cards really lend something special to the game. Its truly criminal noone has reprinted this game.

Fast, fun, exciting, interesting, and probably one of the prettiest card games I own, and I hate math. Go figure. I'm bringing this to game night tonight and can't wait to play again.

I'm also taking it with me to visit my GF's non gaming family, and I am very interested to find out how it fares there.

If you come across one, pick it up for yourself. It is truly a really fantastic filler. I could play this game all night long.

9/10

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jsper — 2008-02-14T14:17:20+00:00

Sixty dollars

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jsper — 2008-02-14T14:10:47+00:00

Back of the cards

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

hahnarama — 2008-02-09T00:45:26+00:00

It's in stock over at Funagain

http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=012788

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

Krishna — 2008-01-19T00:53:26+00:00

Jay Tummelson should do it! I mean, talk about a license to print money....

-K

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jsper — 2007-12-23T19:27:47+00:00

Side of the Box

Thread: Re: FRED Distribution - 2008 Reprint?

Gilby — 2007-11-12T19:37:33+00:00

alexgrant wrote:
From boardgamenews.com:

http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

In terms of titles you can expect to see from FRED, Blume says, "International interest in Through the Ages is really strong, so we are certainly happy about that. We now have three games under contract with Reiner Knizia, in addition to Blazing Aces book of card games: High Society, Money and Attacke. These three are for release in 2008."

I hope this is the game they are referring to.

High Society sounds even better.

Thread: FRED Distribution - 2008 Reprint?

alexgrant — 2007-11-11T22:21:23+00:00

From boardgamenews.com:

http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

In terms of titles you can expect to see from FRED, Blume says, "International interest in Through the Ages is really strong, so we are certainly happy about that. We now have three games under contract with Reiner Knizia, in addition to Blazing Aces book of card games: High Society, Money and Attacke. These three are for release in 2008."

I hope this is the game they are referring to.

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

alexgrant — 2007-10-14T04:06:53+00:00

Maybe:

http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

Q: Do you have any plans to reprint Money!?
A: I am considering it.

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hylsberg — 2007-08-12T14:46:27+00:00

What's inside the box?

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Gorthyn — 2007-07-29T08:45:24+00:00

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

rodspade — 2007-05-08T17:30:56+00:00

I would buy an appropriately-priced reprint.

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-20T21:21:13+00:00

box cover

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-03-20T21:20:11+00:00

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

StephenAvery — 2007-02-21T23:57:54+00:00

I really like this one. A friend of mine grabbed a copy of this off the trade table after I told him what agreat game it was- Doh!
"I mean...its kinda lame, oh and the quality is piss poor..you really don't want that..."

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

Boot2daHead — 2006-12-03T22:57:43+00:00

I suspect he was referring to this: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/28/D8LMC4600.html.

Either way, I too wish they'd reprint this. I'd love to get a copy.

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

deacondavid — 2006-11-30T16:03:38+00:00

Asperamanca wrote:
I heard the US dollar has to be re-designed, after a decision by the supreme court. Does that count as a "reprint of Money"?

No, it doesn't. By the way, the recent re-design of the US dollar bills was an attempt to stay ahead of counterfeiters. I suspect that you are alluding to a case about the phrase "In God We Trust" - if so, note that the case was tossed out without hearing. It may (in fact, probably will) come up again, but, at this point in time, there has been no ruling on this matter from the Supreme Court.

In my opinion, US currency is dreadfully boring. This is another reason why Money! is an interesting game - the visual appeal of the currency from other countries.

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

Asperamanca — 2006-11-30T07:59:58+00:00

I heard the US dollar has to be re-designed, after a decision by the supreme court. Does that count as a "reprint of Money"?

Thread: Re: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

deacondavid — 2006-11-30T02:27:26+00:00

I'd buy a copy, if it ever gets reprinted.

Thread: Will this be reprinted? Ever?

richardolen2 — 2006-11-30T02:03:58+00:00

Because it should be. I just picked this up in a trade and got the chance to play it after about a year since my first play, and I don't understand why this isn't in print. It's a freaking great game.

Thread: Money! a fast, medium weight, thinking game - a review

filwi — 2006-11-01T17:42:51+00:00

Money! is a game with great mechanics and poor theme, which isn't surprising considering that it's designed by Reiner Knizia. The box claims Money! is a game about the world of international money changing, but it may as well have been trading reindeer, butterscotch or aliens. That is not to say Money is bad – it has one of the niftier game mechanics I've seen in a card game but it is sadly low on theme. Even so, Money is a great game for three to five players that takes about half an hour to play.

Components:
Inside the small but sturdy game box are 74 cards, consisting of seven currency sets of nine cards each, six low value generic currencies and five fake cards used for bluffing. The cards are of excellent manufacture, with clear print and lacquered rough linen surfaces.
The cards hold up well during play and even after some fifty games they still look like new.

Game play
The goal of the game is to collect sets of the same currency. As the game starts each player holds six random cards. Two sets of four cards are then dealt openly on the table. The players may then secretly bid on those sets by taking cards from their hands. Once the bids are revealed the player with the highest value of cards bid gets to exchange his bid cards for any of the available hands – either one of the two on the table or one bid by the other players. The next highest bidder then gets to choose a set of card and so on until all players have either taken one of the available sets or retracted their own bid into their hand.
Each round the two sets of cards on the table are filled up to four cards each and a new round of bidding commences.
Once the draw pile is depleted each player's hand is scored.

Cards are scored for their value – but if a player does not hold at least 200 points worth of a currency (there are 300 points in each currency) that currency's value is reduced by 100 points. Thus holding 150 points of a currency only yields 50 points, and holding only 80 points of a single currency wouldn't yield any points at all.
This being a Knizia Game there are also bonuses for collecting sets within the sets, so one may, by withholding a single card, cause quite a loss of points to an opponent.

Conclusion
Being portable and fast to play Money! is a great game to bring on any outing, trip or vacation. It is easy to teach and new players have a definite chance to win. At the same time it requires quite a bit of thought and counting ability, not to mention trying to guess what currencies your opponents are collecting, which makes it a medium weight game not suitable for young children or people who are tired.
Today Money! is available used for a few dollars on BBG or Ebay, and is a must for anyone who likes reasonably fast games requiring some thought.

/Filip Wiltgren

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moxtaveto — 2006-10-08T19:23:33+00:00

German edition by Goldsieber

Thread: It's a gas...

Codexier — 2005-09-01T17:41:48+00:00

For some reason I started off really disliking Knizia's games. Now I've come to treasure them over all of the others. He is so precise with his designs that they are a work of beauty. That being said, there are quite a few I have yet to play.

We took "Money" out for a spin today for our lunch game. Beautiful cards (Why is money so nice to look at?) and very elegant mechanics. You bid your money cards to get more money cards. Very simple.

DG won the first round of the game, by a pretty comfortable lead. I felt I had a good handle on the game and would do well, as I was sitting in second after the first hand. Boy was I wrong!

Second round saw RB take the lead, but a good bit. He pulled from 3rd to 1st with a huge lead. I was starting to doubt my grasp of the game. I could gain a decent amount of money, but nothing competitive. I only got 1 set of 3 the second round and knew I was spiraling down.

The last round saw RB take another sweet haul of cash and he ended well above us. DG got second, followed by myself, then AB.

Of course, I loved it, or at least liked it enough to try it again next time. I'm so impressed with how Knizia can take so few components and so few rules and come up with such interesting games.

My only complaint: The tie-break numbers printed on the cards are too tiny. Other than that it's grand.

Thread: Money, Money, Money

seppo21 — 2005-06-09T02:09:30+00:00

Tonight would be the first time in several weeks that we actually had someone show up for our game night. However, it would still be a small group: Stephen (myself), Christine (better two thirds), and Matt (brother-in-law)

First Game: Money!

Initially, we were expecting another couple with possibly a guest or two with them. I picked this out to start with because Matt has played before and we would likely be finished about the time the others would arrive. Money! is a simple, sort of blind bidding game by Reiner Knizia. Each player attempts to maximize the value of the money he holds. Each round, two sets of four cards are offered for trade. Each player then lays down his trade offer. Whoever has the highest value can trade for either of those or for another player's offer. Every player in turn has the same choice. After everyone is traded, whatever is left is expanded out to four cards. You repeat this until no cards are left in the draw deck. Each player scores what they have. After three scoring rounds, the player with the highest score wins.

The first round started off a little shaky for me. Both Christine and Matt were able to get in bids that were ahead of mine, essentially leaving me with the dregs. Then things began to pick up for me. I was able to form a triplet (three of a kind in the same currency), one of the better ways to score. Then I set up another one along with some extra cards. It should be mentioned that you need at least 200 points in a currency to score it without penalty. By now Christine was having a pretty difficult time, but Matt had a massive hand of cards. When we scored, Matt had a slight lead over me of 620 to 570.

The second round went really well for me as I was able to pick up most of what I needed. Once again, Matt had a massive hand of cards. I managed to set up an entire set of one currency, which is worth 500 points with all of the bonuses. Even though Matt had a lot of cards, they were not grouped together, so they did not earn him many points. This allowed me to take the lead with 1200 to his 1030 and Christine's 920.

The final round just was not my round. I did not have much to start with, but that really should not have made much difference. Most of what you start with leaves your hand anyway before the round is over. Not for me this time around. I think that I won the bid exactly one time. Every other time, I was either beaten outright or lost the tiebreaker. Granted, I could pick up some stuff, but it was rarely useful. Needless to say, Matt and Christine each ended up with a massive hand of cards. When it was all over, I scored 50 points in the final round. Christine picked up a whopping 790 to edge out Matt for the win.

Final Result:

Christine -- 1710
Matt -- 1690
Stephen -- 1250

The last couple of times that I have played this, I have not fared to well. I have yet to actually pick up the subtleties of bidding in this game. Some rounds I do all right, but then I have rounds like the third round tonight. Ouch!!! Maybe next time. Total playing time of 1 hour.

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darquil — 2005-03-19T14:28:31+00:00

Thread: Session Report

tcomfort — 2004-12-10T14:49:22+00:00

Keith, Justin, Jeff, Mike, and I tried our hands at Money, a lesser-known Reiner Knizia bidding game. As a very minor gripe, why are so many currencies pink and light purple? I admit to being completely illiterate when it comes to international monies, but I had a hard time telling some of them apart. In the first hand, I collected a Bingo in the brownish, non-Yen currency, which is worth 500 points. Jeff still pulled into the early lead. In the middle of the second round, it finally occurred to me that people were not afraid of bidding high. We had several bids over 100, and even a few over 150. I started low-balling almost every bid, which actually seemed to work pretty well. Even if somebody else grabbed the lot that I wanted, the cards in that lot that I specifically wanted found their way back onto the table as part of a bid, where I could scoop them up on the cheap. Jeff again won the round, but it was still pretty close. In the third round, my strategy clicked. The cards I wanted kept coming out of other people’s hands. Without putting down a bid more than 40, I got a Bingo in Yen, plus a complete set of 20s and a complete set of 30s. That was plenty to pull ahead for the win.

I think that for the most part, we didn’t respect how the low cards (20s and 30s) are actually quite powerful. Completing sets of them turned out to be important, but it is very tempting to use them as part of your bidding. If players held on to their singleton 20s, they usually wouldn’t lose any position in the turn order, and would keep the 100 point bonuses at bay.

Final Scores:
Player Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
Tim 660 500 870 2030
Jeff 720 530 500 1750
Justin 510 510 580 1600
Mike 460 220 540 1220
Keith 500 440 n/a 940

Thread: Session Report

seppo21 — 2004-10-06T02:54:50+00:00

My wife and I have slowly been indoctrinating our families into German Style games. For the most part, we have been quite successful. Since most of them live nearby, we've instituted a Monday gaming night for family and friends. This was our seventh gathering.

The players: Stephen (Myself), Christine, (longsuffering wife), Dwight (old friend), Matt (brother-in-law), Glen (old friend), and Amy (Glen's wife).

Money!

Matt was the first to show up tonight, with everyone else expected about an hour later. I didn't want to play something that would take too long and I wanted to play a card game. I settled on Knizia's Money!. Knizia is one of my favorite designers, and this is one of his that I don't get to play often (since it requires at least three people). Matt is turning into a real hard-core gamer and has really enjoyed the various Knizia games we've tried, so I figured he would be all for it. Basically, you are attempting to collect various sets of currency. You must have a value of at least 100 in each currency to avoid incurring a 100 point penalty. In addition, getting triplets of the 20 or 3o point cards yields a 100 point bonus. Since there are 300 points in each currency, you can get 500 points if you collect every card. Each player starts with a hand of six cards. Each turn, two groups of four cards are turned up. Players then bid cards from their hand to exchange for the face-up cards or for another players bid. Highest point value goes first with ties broken by lowest serial number. You do not have to exchange any cards if you so choose. However, you cannot exchange if you do not bid. Each round continues until there are no cards in the draw deck. Hands are then scored. Highest score at the end of three rounds wins (or however many round you choose).

I had a really slow start in this game, getting beat on early hands by both Matt and Christine. There is a delicate balance between bidding value and number of cards and the cards you receive in return. Furthermore, you end up with fewer and fewer cards that you are actually willing to trade away. Although I was bidding low, on a couple of occasions, I was simply getting beat by serial numbers. I did, however, make something of a comeback toward the end of the round, putting together a couple of bouns runs. Matt, on the other hand, managed to get all of cards for the US dollars, netting him 500 points in addition to the other cards he had. During the second round, I fared a little better. However, I was still beat on a couple of key trades. I ended with the highest score for the round, but not enough to catch Matt yet. Unfortunately, Glen and Amy arrived at this point, so we decided to call the game and play something else.

Final Scores:

Matt -- 1140
Stephen -- 1050
Christine -- 850

This is a card game I really enjoy and do not get to play near enough. Matt really enjoys the odd scoring rules of this (and other Knizia games). Unfortunately, it took a lot longer to explain and play than I expected. Total playing time was about 60 minutes.

Thread: Session Report

jlowe — 2004-07-25T22:17:39+00:00

The Flat Earth Game Votaries met at Scott and Christine's house for the weekly session.

ROLL CALL: Chris, Scott, Christine, Brandi, Jason

Scott sat out the first one to watch the kids, and we started with Money as a light opener. Christine and Brandi had never played before, so we went over the rules before starting.

Christine and I did well the first round, as each of us cornered the market in a single currency. First round scores:

Jason 660, Christine 590, Chris 390, Brandi 310

Chris and Brandi weren't out of it yet, as the second round wasn't as kind to Chrsitine and I. Brandi and Chris scored 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the second round, but it wasn't by enough of a margin to change the positions. Second round scores:

Jason 980, Christine 960, Chris 830, Brandi 810

The scores were tight enough that it was anybody's game going into the third and final round. I could see I wasn't going to score as much as Christine, but I tried to keep it as close as I could in hopes my slim margin from the second round would be enough. Meanwhile Chris scored a monster hand in the third round, so all three of us were holding our breaths as the scores were tallied.

Final Scores: Christine 1560, Jason 1550, Chris 1540, Brandi 1150

Wow, what a finish! Christine pulled off the win but just barely. Great fun, even if I did lose by the slimmest of margins. Not sure why this game received such faint praise early on, as it's turning into a consistently enjoyable light game for us.

Thread: Session Report

jlowe — 2004-03-14T14:28:26+00:00

After High Society I suggested we play Money, another bidding game by Reiner Knizia. I had purchased this a while back and was eager to see how it played. Scott and Chris agreed, so we read the rules and started up a three player game.

Players are traders in the money markets trying to collect high-scoring collections of various currencies. Players simultaneously bid cards from their hands for initiative. On your turn, you can either swap your bid for one of two sets of four cards, swap your bid with someone else's bid, or take your bid back into your hand. Money cards within a currency score score their sum if the sum is 200 or greater, otherwise the score is the sum minus 100 points with a lower bound of zero. There is also a bonus of 100 points for collecting three identical cards in a currency.

This game "clicked" for me, as I cornered the market in Kroners the first round and also scored fairly big in Kroners and Pounds in the second round. I held my own in the third and final round to grab the victory.

Scores by Round:

Round 1: Jason 540, Scott 380, Chris 260
Round 2: Jason 950, Scott 700, Chris 600
Round 3: Jason 1500, Chris 1160, Scott 960

This game initially had flat reviews with claims of it being dry and dull, but I quite enjoyed our first playing. Sure the theme isn't exactly a thriller for most, but it fits the game mechanics nicely. This is a game I'd gladly play again.

Thread: Session Report

EYE of NiGHT — 2004-01-13T14:05:28+00:00

A long session to make up for the lay-off and we cracked open Money. A Knizia bidding game with odd scoring, I've had this for years but not played it. Reading the rules, I doubted it, and thought it would go on for ages. But Money flew along, very fast. There are currency cards in different values, 20 20 20 30 30 30 40 50 60, plus some gold and dummy cards to allow players to bluff.

After shuffling the deck and dealing 6 to each player, you draw 4 to the left, 4 to the right of the deck. Players then select cards from their hand and show them together. The first highest bid can take one side in exchange, or take another player's bid in exchange, or take their money back. And so on. When each player has done, draw the two sides back to 4, play on till the deck is exhausted and score. The cards you collect go into your hand, and you can choose from them for your next bid. There's a very clever tie-break, the cards have serial numbers, lowest goes first.

The scoring in Money is typically odd for Knizia, but it works. You sort your hand into the currency and total up. If you got over 200, you score the value. If you got less than 200, score the total minus 100, ignoring negative results. If you get a triple 20 or 30, you score a bonus 100 points for the triple. And the golds are worth 10 points too.

So Money is a very peculiar creature. You want to keep some cards in your hand, you must spend some to get others back, you spend the cards the others want, you can waste your money or get something for nothing. All very odd, but extremely quick decisions.

Richard won the first round with nearly the whole of one currency and took a huge lead. We played another round and I stupidly bluffed a no-bid on the first go, so they picked up 4 cards each and I got 2 I didn't even want. So they could outbid me and I struggled to catch up. I pulled back, but Richard won comfortably.

I liked Money. It does exemplify Knizia's extraordinary ability to craft a game from a simple mechanism, especially through his handling of the scoring rules. How does his mind produce a game from this? Did he deduce a mathematical problem and convert it into a game?

The production is excellent, the banknotes on the cards are very high quality, the colours are very sharp. The next time we play, we'll do more to conceal our choices. Boldly slapping down 4 cards, Richard called my bluff and played his fake card. Doh!

Thread: Session Report

batman — 2003-11-19T22:55:26+00:00

Ken, David and I finished the night with Knizia's Money. His card game, not his actual money. Had we had access to his real money I probably wouldn't be at work today. But here I am, not that I'm working per se...

This game is a set collecting/bidding game. The cards you are trying to collect are also the cards you have to bid with. Typical Knizia convolution.

We played three rounds. Ken and I were familiar with the game. David, coming off of his dismal performance in Ra, was in a grim mood. He complained the whole first round about not knowing what he was doing and saying how bad he was doing. As it turns out he was doing very well. We all did well in the first round. I had almost 900 points, David had around 700 and Ken had somewhere in the mid-500's. David stopped complaining.

The second round wasn't as good for scoring but it evened things out a little. David and I were within 20 points of each other at the 1300 point mark. Ken had around 1100. The third, and final, round would determine the winner. The bidding was heavy this round as it appears that Ken and David were fighting for the same cards. This would normally work to my advantage but I just couldn't get the cards I needed. Ken was keeping a lot of spare cards to try to disrupt our sets. It worked. Ken was able to leap frog the two of us and take the game. Final scores (approximate): Ken - 1800, Carl - 1770, David - 1760.

Thread: Session Report

ssmooth — 2003-08-18T14:01:54+00:00

Finally my luck turned for the better and I won a couple of games of Money.

Dave, the new guy, said he had time for just a 15-minute game before heading home, but he enjoyed Money so much that he was the one who suggested we play it a second time.

I didn't do anything especially brilliant, but nobody was getting complete sets, and enough cards came my way that I won the first game with 680 and the second with 630, scoring over 200 in two different currencies each time.

For a 15-minute game, this is really a solid piece of work. I rate Money right up there with For Sale as a really satisfying, short auction game.

Thread: Session Report

Michael Becker — 2003-02-26T13:40:46+00:00

As Game's Day winded down we tried to get one last game in. We decided to play Dr. Knizia's Money.

I had played this game once previously and wasn't sure about the scoring. It either wasn't explained clearly, or my head was being stubborn and refused to learn the concepts.

This being said, I made sure I fully understood how the round was scored this time around. Once again, my ability to mind read put me in complete control of the game?? By the eighth deal I had managed to pick up the complete set of Kroner's (lucky - I know). I bid for a few 10 GP cards and had managed a very high score during the first round. At this point we had to leave for the evening and therefore ended the game early.

The game plays quickly and uses a blind bidding mechanic to good effect. I enjoyed the game much more the second time around and look forward to playing it again soon.

Thread: Session Report

telbert — 2002-12-03T16:22:24+00:00

A light filler to start the day. Money is played over a number of rounds, at the start of each round there will be four cards to either side of the draw pile. The cards are made up of a number of gold cards all worth 10 and sets of currency cards with 3x20, 3x30, 40, 50, 60 in each currency. Each player starts with a hand of 6 cards and a bluff card. The aim of the game is build your hand up into a collection of preferably a few valuable currencies. Players bid some of there cards by placing them face down in front of them, whoever has bid the most money gets to go first. The have the choice of: taking one of the two hands in the middle or someone elses bid, in either case replacing it with their bid, alternatively they can just return their bid to their hand. If a player only uses his bluff card he takes no part in this round. Once everyone has had a go both the hands in the middle are replenished back to four, and off we go again. The game ends after a final auction when the draw pile is depleted. To score players add up the value in each currency. Totals less than 100 are worthless, between 100 and 200 are worth 100 less than the total, totals over 200 score at face value. Adding these totals to 100 point bonuses for any sets of 3 identical notes gives a final total. Highest total wins.

There appeared to be two strategies at play in the game, Tel and Andy were bidding high to have first choice, while Oggie and Steve were bidding low to claim any cheap bargains. Bidding high enabled Tel and Andy to take whatever cards they wanted, but were forced to recycle the cards that were not in their immediate plans. Leaving Steve and Oggie to pick these up for very little. By the end of the game most players had collected either complete or almost complete collections of 1 currency, however Oggie had enough to make a big second currency.

A game with slightly more depth then originally appears. Not only do you have to think about what you want, but keep an eye on what you are dropping as this is almost certainly useful to someone else.

Final Score
Oggie 740, Steve 600, Andy 590, Tel 530

Ratings / 10
Oggie 7, Steve 7, Andy 6, Tel 6

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2002-09-15T12:56:15+00:00

Present were Mark (his house), Lynne, and Josh. Money came out as the closer after playing Stash, followed by a lighthearted Can't Stop session. This was a game Mark had played a few times, I had never played, and I honestly don't recall if Lynne was new to it. It was irrelevant--Lynne won, followed very closely by Mark, followed very, very distantly by yours truly. I am becoming ever-more enamored of blind bidding games, and I thought this was a fine one, with just enough variety in the currency distribution rules to keep you on your toes without causing undue brainlock. In my case, the brainlock set in almost immediately, but I can see how it should not have, and if I'd been a little more alert after a hard-fought game of Stash, I'm sure I'd have been able to more accurately "follow the money."

Ratings: Never asked, but nobody said "this sucked," and I know I liked it a lot, even as the loser.

FS: Lynne-650ish, Mark-590ish, Josh-200 exactly....

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Seems as though mostly everything has been said that can be about this game. Many people like it
as a filler game, and some are just left cold by it. For myself, I must say that it's the best game of
its type that I've played- which is my usual comment upon playing a Knizia game.

The interesting thing is that it plays well with two players. It's a very different game, mind you,
but my wife and I enjoy passing the time this way. (We play with four currencies in the deck,
following the trends in the preparation rules.)

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-08-04T02:11:46+00:00

Not bad, not great. It plays fast. There’s potential to watch what the others pick up and offload to play better, but I can never be bothered. That would interrupt the spirit of fast trading / fast money that the game tries to provide. At the end of the day, do the math, and work out who’s traded best. Seeing I’ve worked in trading floor technology most of my life, it should be right up my thematic alley.

Rick misunderstood the scoring rule in the first game, so the second game results were:

Scores: David 560, Rick 550, Nick 520, Pat 450

A rating of 6 after 6 plays; a decent closer. There’s a bit of luck involved - great if the currency(ies) you’re collecting comes out 1 card each turn, bad if it comes out in spurts on either side of the fence at the same time. It’s just not that exciting though. See what’s there, blind bid with what you can afford to not keep, everyone reveal, take cards, repeat ‘til finished. Some decisions, but never seemingly key decisions.

Thread: Session Report

derk — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

George, Tim, Scott, Derk and then the same people plus Charles

I’d moved into a new apartment last week, and I was anxious to see if I could host a session comfortably. I had the table space, to be sure. I had the air conditioner cranked down to seventy degrees in anticipation of all the warm bodies. I had the Coke cooling the in fridge and plenty of ice cubes in the freezer. Now all I needed was some gamers. Scott, our newbie Metrogamer, was the first to show up, so we sat around talking for a little bit. Tim and George showed up next, almost in tandem. After tending to their caffeine needs, George suggested we start off with this Reiner card game. George suggesting a Reiner game? How weird is that? I knew this was such an anomaly, I just had to play the game.

The game’s all about sets of cards, a.k.a. various monies from different countries. There are a bunch of different suits of cards and you’re trying to get the most of one type of suit. Each turn, two groups of four cards are laid out. Players select cards from their hands and bid with them. The highest bid value gets to exchange their bid cards for either stack in the middle, or for anyone else’s bid. After the exchange, the remaining players exchange their cards in order, until everyone’s finished. The cards in the middle are replenished, and play continues like that. I’m not very clear what the scoring mechanism was (in fact, at the time I didn’t even know, but basically concentrating on one suit is the goal), but you need a certain value of a suit to score it at all. And if you have triples of the lowest cards, you get bonus points.

Neither Scott nor I had played this game before, but it didn’t matter much as the game sped along. This is a fun little game with little in the way of tough decisions. With any game that has totally blind bidding, you’re gonna see some big variations in the values. There’s definitely a give and take element to bidding, in that if you bid high on this turn, you’re probably not going to be able to bid high the next turn (without spending some of the cards that you were trying collect in the first place). I guess I don’t understand why some people just don’t like this game. Sure, there’s little actual content to the game, but I don’t really think there’s supposed to be anything heavy to it. Ah well, it’s a fine game for what it is. And the artwork on the cards is simply stunning.

Tim: 600, Scott: 550, George: 530, Derk: 380
George/Charles: 510, Derk: 450, Scott/Tim: 380 (and I woulda won if Tim hadn’t been a butthead thinking, “Of course I’m gonna keep this single twenty-dollar card, I don’t want someone else getting the bonus…)

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Again, another Knizia title (man, this guy has been busy!). Sadly, this one struck me totally flat and uninspired. My opinion, however, was not shared by my fellow gamers, who thought this one was better than Rosenberg's Klunker.

The idea is to collect sets of currency. Various currencies are beautifully depicted on thick card stock. Each currency ranges in value from $20 - $60, with there being three $20 and three $30 of each currency, and only one $40, $50 and $60 note. Players must collect at least $200 of a particular currency in order to score its full value. If they collect under $200 worth, they must first subtract $100 to yield their total. Thus, if a player collects $180 of American dollars, its total is worth $80. Further, if a player collects 3 of a denomination (three $30 American dollars, for example), there is a $100 bonus to the score.

On a turn, two sets of four notes are displayed. Players each bid notes from their starting hand face down. They are revealed and the player who played the highest total selects first. If there is a tie, it is broken in favor of the player who played the note with the lowest serial number.

The top player may select one of the two sets of notes displayed, OR one of the sets of notes laid down by his opponents as a bid. Then the player who played the next highest total selects a set, and so forth. That's it, folks. This is repeated ad nauseum until the deck is depleted. Points are then totaled and the high total wins.

This one felt totally flat to me. Bland, dull, bordering on putrid. I want a bit more out of a game than this, and frankly, I expect more from Knizia. I played twice just to make sure I hadn't missed something. I didn't. This one is a definite PASS.

The finals in our game were: Jay Tummelson 490, Greg 420, Ty 340, Jonathan 220

As mentioned, however, my opponents obviously found more in the game than I did.

The ratings: Jonathan 7, Ty 7, Greg 5 (which ultimately reduced to a 4 on a subsequent playing).

Thread: Session Report