Game: Trump: the Game

Thread: TRUMP the game on sale : Toronto area

dumsumdumfai — 2008-05-22T15:51:54+00:00

got a copy for $6.99 at Toys,Toys,Toys.
Think it's $10.99 at Mind Games

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rseater — 2007-11-08T02:31:10+00:00

sample cards of the 4 basic types

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rseater — 2007-11-08T02:30:47+00:00

box back

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rseater — 2007-11-08T02:30:27+00:00

one of the card-shaped boxes that match the properties on the board

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Rokkr — 2007-09-20T03:58:01+00:00

Trump cards

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Rokkr — 2007-09-20T03:56:18+00:00

the properties

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Rokkr — 2007-09-20T03:54:39+00:00

the properties

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Rokkr — 2007-09-20T03:53:00+00:00

original money

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Rokkr — 2007-09-20T03:51:44+00:00

1989 edition rule book cover

Thread: Re: "Trump Backs You" Card

LordBobbio — 2007-08-05T08:13:13+00:00

Coase wrote:
In the original 1989 game, you did get to keep the cash. It was explicit and in fact was a good tactic to convert cards into cash.

~~I'm not entirely convinced the 1989 rules state that the player who plays an "Outside Investor" card keeps the money. From pages 6 and 7 of the rulebook:~~

Ooops.... my version of the 1989 Rulebook did not include the FAQ that I just found in one of the two 1989 Rulebook PDFs on Hasbro's website. In that FAQ, it explicitly states that the player keeps the money from Outside Investor cards if used in an unsuccessful bid.

When you play this card(s), take the amount of cash listed on the card(s) from the bank and add all of it directly to your bid.

And...

You can also combine cash from OUTSIDE INVESTOR cards together with your own cash holdings when increasing a bid.

Also...

... and increasing their bids using cash and cards.

Plus...

All unsuccessful bidders get their entire cash bid back.

From these statements, it's hard to tell if the money from playing the Outside Investor card joins just the bid in the form of cash (returning to the bank if the player is unsuccessful in the bid) or joins the players cash on hand, regardless of the bidding outcome.

Thread: Re: 2-4 or 3-4 players

SliverXII — 2007-06-25T20:16:39+00:00

I just check my black box copy and it says 3-4. I haven't played this in 12 years.

Thread: 2-4 or 3-4 players

petegrey — 2007-06-25T19:51:51+00:00

BGG says 2-4, but the new ed. indicates 3-4.

Which is correct? I'd really like it if 2 player was possible.

Thread: Re: Trump: Play Me or You're Fired!

Blingy — 2007-02-05T22:19:39+00:00

I recently came across this game at a Filene's Basement going out of business sale for $9.00. I CAN"T BELIEVE I didn't buy it! I spent hours playing this when I was a kid... there was nothing like opening up a plastic box property casino and discovering it was stashed with a couple million dollars! Woweee.

Thread: Re: Trump: Play Me or You're Fired!

nello — 2007-01-23T06:14:50+00:00

great review
how to bring back from a deep coma a good underrated board game

Thread: Re: Trump: Play Me or You're Fired!

Coyotek4 — 2007-01-22T01:54:55+00:00

Ah, this takes me back to the late-80s when I and two or three others used to play this game. I always enjoyed finding loopholes (or creating them) in deals, like forcing the sale of a property I 'borrowed' to score a Profit Card. (I wasn't popular in high school, by the way.)

I think they still sell this game on the cheap at the local big-name bookstores. Maybe I should take another gander. (Or, maybe not ... even if I wanted to play this again, it'd be difficult to convince others to do so.)

I would continue, but The Apprentice is about to start. Bye for now.

Thread: Trump: Play Me or You're Fired!

Larry Levy — 2007-01-21T23:57:24+00:00

[This review originally appeared in Counter magazine]

The playwright W.S. Gilbert, who had been known to turn a phrase or two, once wrote, “Things are seldom what they seem; skim milk masquerades as cream.” These are very sagacious words which apply to many walks of life, not the least of which are games. We have all encountered designs which, even though they bore all the hallmarks of greatness, turned out to be as exciting as solitaire Uno. Conversely, think of the games which you were certain would be stinkers, which you were forced to play only upon threat of divorce and/or excessive whining, which nonetheless turned out to be true gems. Makes you doubt your powers of judgement at times.

The specific reason I bring all this up was the appearance about a dozen years ago of a production modestly called “Trump: The Game”. To properly set the scene, this was at a time when it was difficult to find any example of the written word, including fortune cookies, that didn’t blare out the name of Donald J. Trump, Real Estate Mogul Extraordinaire. Like many right-thinking citizens of the world, I was sick to death of him. Anyway, I was innocently walking through my local game store when I spotted this very large, oddly shaped box. Rarely have I seen a game so uniquely qualified for stinkerhood. Not only was Trump’s name emblazoned all over the box (in approximately 97 point type), there was an enormous leering photo of The Donald himself right on the front--signed yet! There were also clever quotes, presumably from the shy and retiring D.T., such as “It’s not whether you win or lose, but whether you win!” and “Live the fantasy! Feel the power! Make the deals!”. The bottom of the box showed the game board and it looked like a somewhat simplified version of Monopoly. And, oh yes, the game cost about $45. In 1989! I proceeded to run, not walk from the game store, lest dementia should suddenly set in and I might possibly be tempted to buy this loser.

Evidently, I wasn’t the only person to have this reaction, since the game stacks in the stores seemed to scarcely diminish throughout that entire summer. The situation must have been so bleak that, for once in their existence, the game companies took notice and slashed prices like they never slashed before. Actually, I can’t be sure of exactly what happened--all I know is that during the next summer, T:TG began appearing all over town for $10, and sometimes even $5 a copy. Well, hell, I’ll buy a bucket of chicken scraps for $5 if it comes with a gameboard and a rules book. Soon copies of the game began vanishing from store shelves and appearing in the closets of bargain-hungry gamers. And, like me, they probably figured if they’d bought it, they might as well try it. And damned if didn’t turn out to be a pretty good game. Ol’ W.S. Gilbert would have made a hell of a game publisher.

Trump is a negotiating game masquerading as a property game, no doubt to make it more palatable to the average American game player. The game revolves around eight properties, ranging from Sports Complexes to Casinos, all of them appropriate to the glitzy world of Donald Trump. The properties themselves are shallow, hollow, two-part plastic containers which can hold the game’s currency. Each property has a slot in the side, so that money can be added to it without revealing its contents. At the beginning of the game, each property begins on its spot on the game board with $50 million in it. Each player begins the game with $400 million. The game also uses a deck of 72 Trump cards (what else?); each player starts with five of these.

The game is played in two distinct phases. During the first phase (the Buying phase), each player on his turn first draws a Trump card and then has the option of either rolling the die and moving their token, or of playing a card. The die is a special one, with a “T” replacing the 6. If a player rolls a T, she chooses an opponent and draws a card at random from his hand and then rolls again until she gets a number. If you keep rolling T’s, you keep swiping cards from your opponents.

The board consists of 18 spaces. Eight of them are the property spaces. If a player lands on one of these, $10 million from the bank is added to that property’s container, whether the property is owned or not. Four of the spaces allow the player to put the property of her choice up for sale. On three of those spaces, the property must be unowned; on the fourth, *any* property, whether owned or not, can be selected. Another space lets a player trade a property they own for any other property, whether owned or not. Three spaces direct the player to add money ($30 or $50 million) to any unowned property. One other space gives the player money from the bank; another lets the player take a card from each opponent.

So most of the spaces deal with the properties, either adding money to them or changing their ownership. Before I get to the procedure for selling a property, which is one of the game’s central mechanics, let’s take a look at the Trump cards.

Half of the 72 cards in the deck are *profit cards*, which let the person who plays them collect money from the bank if they meet the conditions listed on the card. Some are based on owning single properties (for example, if you own the Tropical Island, collect $50 million). Others pay off only if the player owns both of the two listed properties (one card, for example, awards $110 million if the player owns both the Cruise Line and the Hotel). Yet others give you cash if you own *any* property (to the tune of $40-$50 million). The most lucrative profit cards pay off if you own any *three* properties ($160 million) or any *four* properties ($200 million). So a big part of the game comes from trying to acquire properties which match the profit cards you have in your hand and holding them long enough to cash in.

Besides the profit cards, there are tax cards, which require the player you play them on to hand over $20 million per property he owns, and cards which force the sale of any property, whether owned or not. There are also the most interesting group of cards, the ones that are used during property auctions. The simplest way to show how these work is to describe how a property is sold.

Properties are put up for sale due to a player landing on an appropriate space or playing an appropriate card. The amount of money in the property is not revealed prior to the auction. First, the players conduct an in-the-fist auction. This establishes a high bidder. Then, beginning with the player who initiated the auction, each player takes a single action. One obvious action is to increase your bid so that you are now the high bidder. However, no bids can be increased until at least one player has played an “Outside Investor” card. These cards add from $20 to $60 million to your bid, which you get to keep if you lose the auction, but there are only eight of them in the deck. Once an Outside Investor card has been played during the auction, any player can make their bid the highest one, either by adding cash, playing Investor cards, or both. Another popular action is playing a “You’re Out of the Bidding!” card on an opponent, which means that for the moment, her bid doesn’t count. Often, this makes another player the high bidder. The only action an ousted player can do is to play an “I’m Back in the Bidding!” card on herself. Since there are 13 Out of the Bidding and only 5 Back in the Bidding cards in the deck, auctions tend to get pretty bloody.

The auction continues, with each player in clockwise order either increasing their bid over the highest *active* player, kicking out an opponent, or climbing back into the fray. Players can also pass if they can’t do anything else or if they just want to await developments (which is often very wise). The procedure continues as long as the players keep adding money or playing cards, but once everyone passes in succession the auction is over. The active player with the highest bid wins the property and pays their bid to the bank, if the property was unowned, or to the previous owner, if an owned property was auctioned off. If the auction for an owned property is won by the original owner, they add their winning bid to the property itself. In any case, the new owner of the property reveals how much money it contains and then seals it back up.

The Buying Phase ends when either all eight properties are purchased or when the last Trump card is drawn. In the latter case, each of the unowned properties are put up for sale one by one. The game then continues with the Dealing Phase.

The Dealing Phase is simplicity itself, but in point of fact, the game’s first phase has merely served as prelude to this endgame. During the Dealing Phase, each player in turn must either play a card, propose a deal, or pass. Card play is exactly as in the Buying Phase. Deals can involve just about anything in the game: cash, cards, properties. These items can be sold, traded, or loaned. You can promise to carry out future actions or *not* to perform certain actions. Basically, just about any deal you can imagine can be proposed. The only restriction is that both players must try to honor the deal. The player to whom the deal is offered either accepts or rejects it; then the next player takes his turn. This process continues until each player has passed in succession (which usually doesn’t happen until the most stubborn player is convinced that there are no more deals to be had). Then, each player counts up the money they have, plus all the money in any properties they own. The player with the most money wins.

Trump: The Game is basically an embryonic version of the classic negotiation game, Kohle, Kies & Knete. Obviously, the Sackson game is a more refined design with wilder card play, but T:TG has the same basic feel and requires the same skills to play well. Considering the high regard that many aficionados of the gentle art of persuasion have for KKK, this is high praise indeed, particularly for an American game of the eighties.

One of the game’s small brilliances is the fact that all the die-rolling in the Buying Phase, which seems so Monopoly-like, actually yields very little benefit to the active player. Adding money to properties and triggering sales are important game functions, but it really doesn’t matter whether you land on those spaces or an opponent does. Collecting lots of cards is good, but that simply makes you a target for opponents rolling T’s. The principal purpose of the Buying Phase is to gradually distribute cash to the properties and cards to the players. The game accomplishes this using a familiar mechanic that holds the players’ interest. It also means that the die rolls don’t particularly add to the game’s luck factor.

Of course, there is luck in what Trump cards you draw. But like most negotiation games, T:TG is more about making the best of what you have then riding a lucky streak. The most important and enjoyable part of the game is the auctions, and here card play is very important. First, however, you have to make your opening bid, and this is not as straightforward as it may seem. Bid too much and you may wind up needlessly spending cash; you also make yourself a likely target for “You’re Out of the Bidding!” cards. Bid too little and you may never have a chance to win the property. It all depends upon the desirability of the property and the cards you hold in your hand.

Once the opening bids are made, things really get interesting. There are only eight “Outside Investor” cards in the game and unless one is played during the auction, no one can increase their bid. So waiting for the right moment to use one of your Investor cards is essential. Of course, you can always force your way to the top by putting the top bidders out of the auction. But patience can be a virtue here as well. Knock too many of the high bidders out and the fellow behind you can do the same thing to you and walk away with a bargain. “I’m Back in the Bidding!” cards can help you avoid this fate, but there are only five of them in the entire game. You’ve got to pick your spots, know when to fold ‘em, etc., etc. All of this should sound very familiar to the KKK veterans out there.

By the way, the rule about how to resolve an auction in which a player purchases his own property handles a thorny and common situation better than any other game I’ve seen. Traditionally in auctions of this kind, the owner of the property is paid unless he is the winner, in which case he pays the winning bid to the bank. This puts the property’s owner at a considerable disadvantage in the auction: his opponents can lowball him in the bidding, because if he wins the auction, he has to pay and gets nothing additional for it. In Trump, a player who successfully bids for her own property adds the winning bid to the property’s cash holding. Since she’ll get this money at the end of the game if she holds onto the property, she is essentially breaking even (just as if she had lost the property to an opponent making a fair bid). Of course, she could still take a bath if she loses a subsequent auction for the property for a cheap bid--say with the judicious use of “You’re Out of the Bidding!” cards. This merely adds spice to the original auction. Very, very nice.

Trump saves the best for last with the high-stakes Dealing Phase. Here is where those Profit cards you weren’t able to cash in during the Buying Phase come into play. The advantage goes not only to the player with superior negotiating skills, but also a vivid imagination. There really is no limit to the number of different types of deals that can be proposed; I can’t think of any other game of its time that so encouraged creative dealmaking. In this regard, the game is quite reminiscent of the much more recent Chinatown or Traders of Genoa. This phase also works as an equalizer for the players who weren’t able to match their cards with their properties, or who simply never owned a lot of properties at all. With the right deals, you can still make plenty of money and never touch a property throughout the whole game.

The end result is an enjoyable game, particularly for those who love wheeling and dealing. Played with the right crowd, Trump is a blast, highlighted by the auctions and the big finish. It can really be a kick seeing the crazy deals some players come up with--particularly when they’re accepted! The game also plays quickly, with literally no down time. On the negative side, luck can still play a sizable role, particularly with the Trump cards. Good draws really simplify your life, and a series of mediocre ones can make you work pretty hard just to hold your ground. The game can also bog down in the Buying Phase if the For Sale spaces don’t get landed on. And the auctions become much less interesting if a lot of the good cards get played early. Still, this is quite a good game for its time, and serves as a fascinating precursor to some of the great negotiation games of the Nineties.

The components for Trump are fantastic. Everything is much bigger than it needs to be, much like the larger-than-life subject of the game. The board is brightly, but not garishly colored, with the background brush-stroked to resemble marble. The properties are big (5” long), sturdy, and work quite well as a hidden depository for the money. The paper currency is functional and holds up well (three guesses whose picture is on each bill). The cards are nice and stiff, easy to read, and fashionably illustrated. Best of all are the instructions, which are a model of clarity and contain numerous examples and illustrations--they could easily pass for the best rules sets of today. This was quite unexpected at the time of the game’s release and really helped new players easily understand a rather unusual game. Milton Bradley clearly went all out in the physical design of this game--which certainly goes a long way toward explaining its original list price--and they add considerably to the pleasure of playing it.

In spite of the fact that it is a genuinely good game, it wouldn’t surprise me if I never played Trump again. The more recent games I’ve mentioned in this article (KKK, Chinatown, Genoa) are better designed and include more bargaining/cardplay bang for the buck. Such, sadly, is the fate of a trailblazer. I do feel that Trump could do an excellent job of introducing more passive players to the wonderful world of negotiation games (after all, you’re rolling the die and moving around a board--how nasty can it be?). It can also serve as a good bridge for exposing your stodgy American gaming buddies to the concepts of German gaming (and since the game itself is American, they probably won’t even realize they’re being indoctrinated). Of course, if your gaming group includes any Donald Trump haters, you might have to warn them not to jump to any quick conclusions. After all, it isn’t necessary to have written HMS Pinafore to know that you can’t judge a book by its cover.

Thread: Re: User Review

Coase — 2006-04-11T01:54:50+00:00

Yes, that's a viable play. You can fire everyone else and get the property for a song.

But, quite frankly, it should be fairly rare. The number of "You're Fired!" cards is infinate, and while you might be able to do this once, the chance of you getting enough "You're Fired" cards more than that is tricky. That said, more than once I've been able to (choose one: 1) Bribe 2) Convince 3) Trick) the other players into effectively knocking each other out. For that, you deserve a property for next to nothing...

Thread: Re: "Trump Backs You" Card

Coase — 2006-04-11T01:45:24+00:00

In the original 1989 game, you did get to keep the cash. It was explicit and in fact was a good tactic to convert cards into cash.

Thread: Re: "Trump Backs You" Card

Sunray11 — 2006-03-13T15:15:46+00:00

It's not clear, is it? Despite what it says on the cards about exchanging them for cash, I'd suggest playing the card directly onto the bid as IF it were cash. All cards so played would be discarded after the auction is over. Why would Trump reward losers by letting them keep his money?

I'd also suggest that the player with the highest opening bid be the first to play in the next bidding round. The first to play has a decided advantage in firing someone, so that would tend to make opening bids higher, and add some excitement to the initial secret bid.

Thread: Re: It's back

DJ Kuul A — 2006-03-07T16:14:05+00:00

Can anyone comment further on the changes in the new edition? Are there any rules that should be substituted in from the original?

Thread: Re: User Review

Sphere — 2006-01-01T21:33:53+00:00

It would require a considerable sum of money, cash up front, to induce me to play a game about Donald Trump.

Thread: Re: User Review

Sid Hawkins — 2006-01-01T13:03:44+00:00

Great review! I got this game as a joke Christmas present and am surprised that there is a half-decent game under the "Apprentice" tie-in, as your review makes clear.

One rule aspect I am unclear of, though: a couple of times someone has picked up a property for, say, $20m by firing all other players (or, to be specific, firing the last other non-fired player) whilst only having their opening bid (£20m) in play. Is that acceptable/allowable? I can't figure whether it is a clever risk in the game or a flaw.

I hope you don't mind me sending a "rules request" directly to you, but it was clear you knew a lot about this game!

Thanks in advance.

Thread: "Trump Backs You" Card

cordless — 2005-12-29T07:29:06+00:00

During the bidding process, when you play a "Trump Backs You" card and you lose the bid, do you keep the cash that was forwarded to you via that card or do you return it to the bank?

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Goodsound — 2005-06-16T13:18:08+00:00

Thread: User Review

Coase — 2005-03-20T21:14:37+00:00

This is a review for the re-release of Trump: The Game (released in 2004).

I had purchased the original Trump game back in the day (not quite 15 years ago) and it always served as a steady winner: sure it was light (it took usually a half hour to play) but people could jump in easily and the negotiation aspect was very fun. It wasn't outstanding, but it was very, very good for a mass-produced personality tie-in.

Fast forward a bit. Trump's a little older now (though his hairpiece is the same age--ahem, sorry) and the game gets a makeover, cashing in on his newfound celebrity surrounding the "Apprentice" television series.

*****

First, for those familiar with the old game, here's a short list of the major changes:

1) There are only seven properties instead of eight.
2) You roll two dice instead of one.
3) The deck of cards is cut about in half.
4) There is no "second phase"--all negotiations take place in the main game.
5) You can use cash from hand to increase your bid, even if no one plays an "Outside Investor/Trump Back You" card.
5) The types of negotiations are curtailed significantly.

There are some minor changes, such as an overt pricing structure for each property, so it's now obvious that some properties are worth more than others. However, a lot of the major changes deal with the cards, and we'll get to that in a minute.

***

For those unfamiliar with the game, the object is (rather appropriately) to end the game with the most money. Money is generated largely from three ways: acquiring properties, playing Trump cards, and making deals with other players.

The game starts off with players moving their pawns around the board. As players move around the board, you either add money to a property, auction a property off, or draw additional cards (as well as some other miscellaneous items). You always draw one card as well.

The auctions are one-off property sales, and players bid blind for their opening bid, then can play cards to attempt to increase their bid (and, on occasion, take money from their holdings). More important, you can knock people out of the bidding regardless of how much money you have if you have the proper card. (In the old 1990 game, it was simply a "You're out of the bidding" card; in the 2004 game, it is (are you ready?) the "You're Fired!" card. Like you didn't know that already.)

Properties are, of course, the heart of the game, because they will generate wealth. The simple act of landing on a property's space on the board will generate worth to that property...but this wealth is placed *inside* the property, and goes with it if the property changes hands! You also generate income through Trump cards; this is simply cash on hand and can be spent normally.

The game continues until all of the properties are sold. (In the 1990 game, it also ends if the deck of cards runs out; in 2004, the game continues with no more card draws.)

Here is where the two versions diverge. In 1990, the game continues by players playing cards, making deals, and attempting to get money through both means. This continues until all players pass.

In the 2004 version, the game ends almost immediately--players can, in turn order, cash in any cards that directly relate to any of their properties--no more deals can be made. Plus, any card not used can be traded in for $10.

In one way, this seems to be a drastic change between versions, because in addition to the reduced negotiation, in the 2004, only one type of deal is allowed--selling a Trump card to another player. At first, this shocked our playing group, because half of the fun was making elaborate deals such as "I'll loan you the Hotel for two turns if you give me a Casino card and any one other card, but if I roll to get money I at least get $20 million." But once I thought about it, most deals can simply be reduced into the selling of a card. While some of the fun is lost, it does streamline things a bit.

Also, without the negotiation phase, players now have to make a choice whether they want to move about the board trying to get some wealth, or to play a card instead while you still can. In the old game, there wasn't much reason not to simply roll around the board until all the cards were gone.

However, in some cases the game is slightly more aggressive, while in other ways it's toned down. Since there are two dice, there's a greater chance of rolling a T (the 6's on the dice are replaced with T's, and if you roll it you may draw a card from another player's hand.) On the other hand, some of the board spaces have been removed (most notably "Force the sale of any property), so once you have a property in 2004 Trump, it's yours to keep. Plus, the Trump cards that had two specific properties have been removed, so there's no real temptation to get a specific set of properties.

Review for Trump overall: There's a lot of good stuff here. The "random" element really isn't all that random, since most board spaces affect all players reasonably equally and it's all mostly done to differentiate one property from another. The real meat of the game is in negotiation, and you really' can't do much better than this for a light, short game. I wouldn't pay full price, but this game is pretty easy to pick up for less than $10, and probably will be cheaper once the Apprentice craze fades.

Review for the 2005 edition: I'm reservedly optimistic. It seems that the most fun is in the negotiation, and I'm not convinced that this was improved by the changes. We've played a few times and it's been fun, but we've "cheated" a bit and make extraneous deals that strictly aren't permitted. Plus, it is a lot less aggressive, and players simply try to increase their own wealth without giving too much thought into how other players are faring. It is streamlined and a bit quicker for this, but for a game that only lasts a half hour at most, it didn't really need streamlined. Still, most players should get enough enjoyment out of the game in relation to the amount of time spent on it.

It's possible we may institute house rules (which follow) but I would only recommend these if you're simply used to playing the 1990 version.

1) Change the "For Sale" space on the board to "Force the sale of *any* property" to make holding a bit less secure. Maybe only change one of these instead of both, or change the Start space to a Force the sale of any property.
2) Allow more latitude in making deals. I'm pretty sure we're going to do this no matter what, because it's so much fun.
3) Reshuffle the deck; with the deck at half the size, we almost always seem to run out early. This may make the game run a bit longer, but, again, the game really isn't all that long to begin with.
4) Allow more negotiations at the end of the game.

Thread: User Review

gameskeepllc — 2005-03-02T00:47:01+00:00

If you like bidding and finance games, this is a very enjoyable one. It moves faster than monopoly and has a definate ending.

I recommend playing with more than 2 players. Playing with only 2 really takes a lot of the enjoyment out of the game because it's too easy to know how the game is going to end before you even reach the 2nd phase.

The 1st phase is mostly just trying to amass money and properties. With more players, the money builds up faster and the bidding is more fun.

The 2nd phase is all about diplomacy and haggling. You need to wheel and deal by making your opponents think they're getting a good deal while you make out better. If opponents are unwilling to barter, this phase ends very quickly.

The game has a good balance of luck and strategy. There's enough luck to keep things interesting by keeping the properties, money and cards changing hands, but there's not so much luck dependency that one play will make or break the game - unless the play was excessively brilliant or stupid.

If you like games like Monopoly, Masterpiece, Acquire, etc. you should like this game. (Even if you don't like Monopoly, you'll still probably like Trump!) I loved the game back in high school and just recently got around to getting a copy for myself as an adult and still enjoy it (and in doing so, I've introduced it to several others who also now like it!)

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p38_Lightning — 2005-01-24T13:02:41+00:00

Witch King Used as a Token for a 5th Player

Thread: Re:BBC in game review shocker!

Nik_H — 2004-08-22T18:11:20+00:00

"Simplify the rules"? How could they be any simpler? ???

Thread: Re:BBC in game review shocker!

Bribaba — 2004-08-20T20:54:14+00:00

That's excellent news, shame about having his mug on the cover again, though.

Thread: BBC in game review shocker!

mrraow — 2004-08-20T12:22:55+00:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3579322.stm

... even mentions bgg, though not listed in the "related internet links", which is a shame!

Thread: Re:It's back

CameronL — 2004-07-26T02:44:43+00:00

Windopaene (#46753),
True. Other than a change to the look of the box and the board, it appears to be identical, no radical update.

Thread: Re:It's back

Windopaene — 2004-07-26T02:35:46+00:00

CameronL (#46751),

Or get it even cheaper from almost any thrift store. This one tends to be rather ubiquitous.

Thread: It's back

CameronL — 2004-07-26T02:26:36+00:00

I just spotted it in the store. Thanks to the success of his TV show, "The Apprentice", Trump, the Game, is back in print. It's not a bad negotiation game. Grab a copy once it hits the discount bins (which probably won't take long).

Thread: User Review

BoardGameGeek — 2001-08-01T14:44:35+00:00

Surpisingly fun game. Moving around the board is actually quite useless-t's just a way to randomize the game's starting wealth for each property (and let some players get a handful of Trump cards). The meat of the game is in the trading--and the cards usually help. There's plenty of "You can collect $X, but if you have property Y and Z, you can collect much more" type of things, which makes negotiation a lot more fun. You'll find that there's plenty of deal-making opporunities, and the most fun is that since it's difficult (though not impossible) to keep track of everyone's amassed wealth, you only have a vague idea as to who is winning at any given moment.

Sure, there's probably too much luck invovled in the card draw and the spaces on the board, but it's all done in fun. And no one ever seems to come out insanely ahead of anyone else unless they have skill.