Game: High Bid

Thread: Re: 3M Collections - rarity of High Bid versions

dfhHouston — 2008-09-08T18:55:02+00:00

I have the 3M HIGH BID Gammette version. How would I determine it's value?

Unfortunately, the instructions or missing but the cards look like they have never been played.

Debra in Houston TX

Thread: Diceless update?

garygarison — 2008-05-28T23:18:57+00:00

Someone in the Personal Comments section alludes to a rules update that's less luck driven. Anyone familiar with this?

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garygarison — 2008-05-14T19:27:56+00:00

3M catalog listing 1970, gamette version

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garygarison — 2008-05-13T23:57:15+00:00

3M catalog listing 1970

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Speedwaysupporter — 2008-02-17T19:53:27+00:00

High-Bid-Family: (from the left) Gamette, Oversized Gamette, Bookshelf, Oversized Bookshelf

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Speedwaysupporter — 2008-02-17T19:48:53+00:00

Oversized Gamette, completely opened

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Speedwaysupporter — 2008-02-17T19:42:14+00:00

Oversized Gamette, partly opened to see what's all about...

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Speedwaysupporter — 2008-02-17T19:18:30+00:00

Ultra-rare oversized gamette: Box Cover

Thread: "Antiques Roadshow" Meets a Random-Number Generator

NateStraight — 2008-01-05T05:53:21+00:00

Overview

High Bid is a relatively simple auction game about collecting sets of rare antiques. The trick is that each antique is worth plenty on its own, but considerably more as part of a set. Throughout the game, you will add new antiques to your collection and sell off mis-matched high-valued antiques in order to build the highest-valued collection at the end of the game.

If you ever watch Antiques Roadshow, you know that the valuation of antiques, especially really odd collectibles, is sometimes hit-or-miss. The appraisers on the show will often give a number of possible sale prices to the treasure-hunters who bring their stuff to be valued, depending on the strength of the market, the possibility of the item being a forgery, the season of the year, and who knows what else. In High Bid, this variation in the valuation of antiques is captured, though perhaps a bit too randomly. Values can fluctuate by as much as a four-fold difference based on nothing but the roll of a die. There are a few ways to mitigate some bad luck, but ultimately not quite enough to really feel like you are controlling your fate. Close, but no cigar.

Gameplay

Each player starts with some seed money, but no antiques in their collection. Every round, a new antique will be put up on the auction block and the players will bid on it in the typical fashion. The winner takes the antique, and may then sell a number of the other items in their collection should they wish to. This goes round and round until the deck of antiques runs out or someone makes over $5,000 and thinks they have a more valuable collection than anyone else (they don't have to try to claim victory once they reach $5,000 if they don't think their collection is the most valuable). The different antiques up for auction belong to a number of different collections or sets. If you get all of one set, the value of the set as a whole is represented by a large bonus. Winning the game depends upon completing high-valued sets.

There are a few twists to keep the game interesting. First of all, the higher-valued sets typically contain the most highly-valued individual antiques. This means that in order to get the huge bonuses for the big sets, you'll have to hold on to valuable antiques that you could be selling off individually for big bucks. This makes for some very interesting decisions come selling time. Ideally, you'd like the largest bonuses as they make you the most money in the quickest fashion, but money can become excruciatingly tight in the game, and you will need to have income or you won't be able to buy up any more of your high-valued set should the antiques come out. Managing your cash flow is the key strategic decision in this game and you can, with poor play, end up in a situation where you just have to sit and pass until the end of the game, because you won't be allowed to sell anything (and, thus, make more money to bid with) until you actually win an auction. This can get frustrating.

The other twist is the "buyer" cards. These special cards, when turned up, are included with a regular antique card in an auction lot. The winner of the auction receives the buyer card in addition to the antique, and can use it later to purchase antiques the other collectors have sold off for cash, to fill in holes in their collections, or as extra money at game's end. Obtaining a buyer card or two at a crucial time can dramatically swing the balance of the game in your favor. To give players with smaller cash-on-hand balance a chance at winning these crucial cards in the bid, the auction style used switches to a blind-bid system whenever a buyer card is included in the lot. In practice, however, this usually ends up with the player with the most money simply bidding as much as he has to win the auction because of how valuable the buyer cards are to completing high-value sets (either as wild-cards or by purchasing sold items that complete the set). This happens often especially at the end of the game when players are scrambling to fill in their sets. Because the buyer cards can fill in high-valued sets as well as low-valued sets, a player can reach the $5,000 mark fairly easily if he happens to have the highest cash balance when a buyer card or two comes up in an auction, while the other players probably won't have finished their sets by then.

The most unfortunate part of the game, however, is the mechanism for selling off antiques, which models the variability of collectibles markets perhaps a bit too well. Depending on your roll, you could get anywhere from $1,000 to $200 for the sale of one particular antique. Sometimes, you won't get to sell at all; other times, the antique will go back up for auction and other players may be able to buy it from you for next to nothing unless you try to bid the price up. It works out that you have to plan to receive no more than 50% of the potential value of an item when planning your cash flow receipts and when purchasing your antiques. If you intend to sell an item for cash later, you had better not pay more than 50% of its value for it, as that's likely all you will get (at least a 50-50 chance on the die of receiving 50% or less with a sale, as I recall). One bad roll at a crucial time can really set you back, perhaps beyond the point of no return. Fortunately, the game doesn't last so long as to make this experience taste too sour, but it's still a bit troubling for people who like to feel that they control their fate in a game.

Conclusion

The one glaring flaw of this game is the overly random selling procedure. Because this is your only way of getting much-needed cash flow in the game's very tight monetary system, it means that your fate is decided largely by the luck of the dice. You can allay some of this risk by bidding low, but you will be creamed by someone who bids high and then gets a lucky roll when selling the same item back. The correlary problem is that the percentage difference between a good roll and a bad roll is very high, especially with the added bonuses and penalties. You could potentially get $0 for your sale, or as much as over $1,000... for the same item. This range of variability makes it very hard to plan, and often forces you to give up any chance at winning just so you can have enough money to keep playing. Still, the game is light-hearted and short enough to be fun for what it is. It's not quite as clever as something like For Sale, but it's a fun diversion in the auction filler genre with a nicely applied theme. It's cheap enough to be worth looking into if you like this sort of thing.

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okiedokie — 2007-09-12T03:08:02+00:00

Thread: Plays with 2?

Jormi_Boced — 2007-08-29T23:44:37+00:00

Anyone tried it with 2, does it actually work well?

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mothertruckin — 2007-06-16T20:02:33+00:00

The dice from the Avalon Hill version.

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mothertruckin — 2007-06-16T17:55:11+00:00

Box back, Avalon Hill edition 1977.

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mothertruckin — 2007-06-16T16:58:35+00:00

Avalon Hill Edition 1977

Thread: Re: 3M Collections - rarity of High Bid versions

keel — 2005-09-17T07:13:24+00:00

Dan, can I get a clarification? What is a 'butterbox' version? I have both 'High Bid' and 'Venture' in the small I guess you'd call them 'gamette' boxes of about 5.5" X 6.5" X 1".
Dave
keel131@comcast.net

Thread: I'll take four

seppo21 — 2005-09-07T01:09:03+00:00

Despite it being the Labor Day holiday, we were still able to hold our usual weekly game night. Christine and I were joined by my sister, Maria, and her husband, Matt.

First Game: High Bid

I initially played High Bid several years ago, before I essentially lost my mind to games. Jared brought a couple to one of our little get-togethers. He, CJ (who had played before), and I had a really great time. Jared then gave me a copy a little bit later. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get that copy played in the intervening years, despite several attempts. I decided that tonight would be the night.

High Bid is relatively simple auction game where each player is attempting to put together sets of goods. The about 12 different sets of items, such as books, china, and clocks, that are only worth money toward your "net worth" if they are complete. Each player starts with a hand of cards and $2000. The object is to get $5000 in cash and sets. On each turn, a card is turned up, and the item is auctioned to the highest bidder. This person may then sell up to three cards. The amount received is a percent of the total value (all listed on the card) and is determined by a die roll. One possible result is an open auction instead of a sale. After the selling is done, a player may trade a buyer's card for the right to purchase up to three cards from the dealers, which starts off empty, but is where the sold items go. The Buyer's Cards have 2 other uses: it can be used as $500 cash or it can be used as a wild for a card missing from a set. You then auction another card. You play until somewhere decides to "go out" with $5000. If they have over $5000 and the most cash, they win.

In our first game, we had but a single auction. Matt won, and proceeded to auction off some of the cards in his hand in order to reach $5000. However, one of the cards he held was a card that allowed Christine to complete a set. When he rolled the dice, it came up as an open auction. Christine won the auction and announced she had $5000. She had to be reminded that she could not go out until Matt had finished his turn. He then sold another card, hoping to be able to get enough cash. Alas, he was not successful.

Final Result:

Christine -- 5560
Matt -- 4880
Stephen -- 2500
Maria -- 2000

As you can see, one of the biggest problems with this game is that it can be extremely short if someone has a particularly good open hand. Still, it was over fast enough that everyone was willing to give it another go. Total playing time was less than 10 minutes

Second Game: High Bid

Since the first game went relatively quickly, we decided to give this one another go. That suited me fine. However, in this game, Maria had enough in her starting hand to win the game outright. Unfortunately, she did not notice until we had started the bidding on the first item. Matt won this and made a desperate bid to get some more dollars, but it was really too late.

Final Result:

Maria -- 6000
Matt -- 2920
Christine -- 2500
Stephen -- 2000

Yet another example of the chaos apparent in this game. Still, we wanted to play again. Total playing time was less than five minutes.

Third Game: High Bid

This time around, the game proceeded in a more orderly fashion -- sort of. The first card to be turned up was a Buyer's card. When this happens, you turn another card up and place sealed bids for both of them. Now, when I've played before, Buyer's cards always went for exorbitantly high bids. I put in a bid of $1050. No one else bid over $200. Ooops! I already had one of them in my hand with a really nice. I only needed to pick up about $1800 in sales. Unfortunately, the dice went against me. With three cards, I barely picked up $1000, getting 25% value on two and an open auction on the third. We then went through several more rounds. I won several of them, hoping to be able to sell enough stuff to win. However, it seemed as though I were not making any progress. Finally, Christine won the auction. Even though she had enough in her hand to win, she went ahead and sold three cards. She still ended up with enough to win, but she had missed that she had a set in hand and broke it up.

Final Result:

Christine -- 5180
Stephen -- 4440
Matt -- 4420
Maria -- 2500

I think this game played out a little more like the way the game was intended. There was actually some jockeying for position in this one as several of us attempted to get in on the action. Unfortunately for me, the dice were unfriendly. The total playing time was about 25 minutes.

Fourth Game: High Bid

We were having such a good time that we decided to play yet again. This time, things started out pretty well. Matt won the initial auction. However, when he went to sell, he kept getting open auctions. I was the only one bidding, so I picked up two of his cards for dirt-cheap. After this, we turned up another Buyer's card. We held the sealed auction as per rules. However, this time, Christine had caught on and bid pretty high. As it turned out, the face-up card allowed her to complete a set. The extra Buyer's Card was just icing on the cake.

Final Result:

Christine -- 5110
Stephen -- 2420
Maria -- 2000
Matt -- 1580

I thought I might have a chance at this one. I really wanted that last Buyer's Card. I would very likely have won, even with bad dice, had I won the sealed auction. The total playing time for this game was less than 15 minutes. The total time for all four games was less than an hour.

As can be seen by these four games, luck can play a significant factor in this game. Even so, I find it quite enjoyable. It's light, fast, and easy to pick. It certainly pales beside many of the deeper, more modern auction games. However, I think it still has its place with some of the lighter fare. I for one look forward to playing again in the future.

Thread: Re: 3M Collections - rarity of High Bid versions

Topdecker — 2005-07-16T00:47:34+00:00

Dan -

Thank you for the excellent response! I really appreciate the information.

Tim

Thread: Re: 3M Collections - rarity of High Bid versions

tool — 2005-07-15T16:46:48+00:00

Neither the standard bookcase version or standard gamette version of High Bid is particularly rare - in my experience they're both quite common, in fact.

Which is not to say there are not rare High Bid versions. In order of increasing rarity:

1. "Butterbox" gamette. I don't actually recall offhand if the High Bid gamette had a butterbox version (and my 3M collector's guide is at home), but if it did, it would be somewhat rare. The butterbox editions in general are scarcer than the others, but are not wildly rare except for Octrix, which supposedly has only one or two known copies.

2. "Teapot" edition. The first edition of the bookcase game had a different cover, portraying a woman bidding on a teapot, all on a yellow background. This is fairly rare and commands $150+ on eBay when it turns up.

3. Oversize gamette. This was in a box about the same size as two standard gamette boxes joined on their long ends. I don't know how different the contents are. I have only ever seen or heard of one copy of this, which was in the Sackson collection auction (and subsequently on eBay), and that may well be the only copy.

As for your other question, off the top of my head the only other game that 3M produced in both bookcase and gamette versions was Foil. The other gamettes (Sleuth, Venture, Monad, Octrix, Evade, Sum Up, and Tryce - I think that's it) were only produced in that format.

Thread: 3M Collections - rarity of High Bid versions

Topdecker — 2005-07-15T15:34:48+00:00

I noticed in the pictures that High Bid has 2 different versions, a full-sized bookcase game and a smaller gamette version. So I ask all you 3M game collectors...

Is one harder to come by than the other?

What other games did 3M produce both a full-sized and smaller-sized versions of?

Thanks!

Tim

Thread: Session Report

TamiWhitsett — 2005-04-24T00:20:07+00:00

The object of this game is to collect sets of antiques to get points totaling $5K. I got pretty lucky in the first few rounds, and ended up with 3 out of 4 of one set of antiques, plus a “Wild Card” that made my set worth $4800. I still had nearly $1K in hand, but didn’t really realize that the game was over yet… after another round of bidding, I decided to ask, and indeed, I had won. The game wanted to be good, and probably would have, had it been longer. As it was, I felt it kinda fell flat; Bruce, Mario and I all gave it a 5, with Eric giving it a 6. I think that if it had lasted a bit longer, I would have liked it more, which is why I gave it a 5, rather than a lower rating.

Thread: High Bid dice

jodyjm13 — 2004-10-27T04:14:33+00:00

Igloo cool (#20533),

On the green die, there's one side that's marked 0, and one side marked 200; the rest are unmarked. On the red die, there are two 25s, two 50s, one 75, and one 100.

Thread: General Comment

Igloo cool — 2003-10-10T13:16:05+00:00

I have this game but somewhere I lost the dice. Since they are not standard dice, can I get someone to tell me what is printed on each dice?

Thanks!

Thread: General Comment

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

This game was later republished by Avalon Hill under two different titles:

Auction
The Collector

Thread: General Comment

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

Thread: Session Report

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

Ty wanted to show me one of his old favorites, High Bid from 3M, which is essentially the same game as Auction and The Collector. We were joined by Brittany, but Lindsay opted out.

The idea is to bid on certain items put up for auction in attempts to collect sets. If one managed to collect a complete set (which can be anywhere from 3 - 6 cards, depending upon the item pictured), it is worth a substantial amount. Players can also opt to sell items during the game to improve their cash flow, but the percentage they receive is determined by dice rolls. This can be a bit random.

The first player to accumulate $5000 of worth (based on cash, certain cards and sets of collectibles) wins. Our game ended very as I managed to complete a set of 4 (using a wild card) which was valued at $3600. Plus, I had two wild cards in my hand (each valued at $500) and over $600 in cash. Ty said this was an extremely premature ending and the game is usually much more tense than this experience.

Still, I can see the game would be quite fun and am anxious to play again.

Thread: Session Report

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

Ty Douds introduced me to this classic 3M title in the summer of 1999. Unfortunately, we only played with three players, one of them being new to these style of games. So, although I saw promise in the game, I wasn't particularly enamored.

It was time to break it out for the Westbank Gamers. The artsy collectors were Joey Konyha, Lenny Leo, Jim Fairchild and myself. Interestingly, the game was re-released by Avalon Hill under the title "Collector".

The basic premise of the game is players represent collectors attempting to gather sets of valuable properties and artifacts ... coins, antiques, miniatures, etc. These sets are worth handsome sums at game's end. Individual pieces of a set are worthless at game's end, but are able to be sold during the course of the game in order to provide a cash flow.

These 'properties' are represented on cards. There are 12 different types of properties, varying from 3 - 6 pieces per set. Naturally, the sets containing six pieces are much more valuable than the sets containing only three pieces as it is much more difficult to complete these larger sets.

Each player is dealt six cards and given a starting 'fund' of $2,000. The top 'property' card is revealed and a bidding ensues. The winner pays the bank and takes the card into his hand. The player then has the option of selling 1 - 3 properties to the bank. The idea here is to rid yourself of properties which you do not wish to collect and provide a source of income.

There is danger, however. The sales price is determined randomly via the roll of two dice. The price can vary from 25% - 100% of the listed worth of the item. Further, if a '0' is rolled on one of the dice, then the item is NOT sold outright, but rather an auction takes place amongst the players. This can result in a substantially reduced price to the seller, or a higher price, depending upon the demand for the item. Further, it is quite possible that no one desires the item, so the seller must take the item back into his hand. There is also the possibility that the player will earn a $200 bonus if the proper digit is rolled on one of the dice.

When a property is sold, it is placed on the appropriate section of the 'board' - 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% (there really isn't a board, just a card holder which indicates these sections). After a player sells properties, he may surrender one of the special 'buyer' cards and purchase from 1 - 3 cards from one of these markets. The player must pay the indicated price (based on the particular percentage market where the property is located) and takes the property into his hand.

Again, there is a decision to be made here. Buyer cards are very valuable as they can be used in a number of fashions:

1) Purchase properties, as described above;

2) Used as a 'wild' card to complete a set; or

3) Valued as $500.00 at the end of the game.

So, a player has to weigh the advantages of each of these options and play accordingly.

Buyer cards are purchases at auction in conjunction with a property card. When a Buyer card is revealed, another card is then revealed and both cards are then auctioned together. The auction is a 'sealed' auction, however, so the stakes are often high as these cards carry tremendous advantages.

The game continues in this fashion until the property deck expires or a player calls an end to the game. One can only do this, however, if he has a total value (property sets plus cash) in excess of $5,000. Even then, a player should only do this when he feels he has more assets than any of his opponents.

The temptation during the game is to sell whatever cards you are not aiming to collect in order to provide a cash infusion. However, by so doing, you may well be making properties available on the market which your opponents are seeking to collect. So, one has to very carefully weigh the need for cash versus the chance that you will be providing the opportunity for your opponents to complete sets and vastly increase their wealth. An interesting dilemma, to be sure.

I found the game quite enjoyable and challenging. The game's duration was in the neighborhood of 45 minutes, so the constant auctions didn't detract from the enjoyment. There were always the questions of what to collect, how much to bid, what to sell (so as to not help your opponents), how to best use the Buyer cards, etc. In short, this was a fun game to play and one which should hit the table again very soon.

Our game was quite close and tense. It was very difficult to discern who was winning and closest to completing sets. At various point during the game, I honestly felt each of my opponents was ahead! As the game progressed and the deck depleted, I managed to complete several sets and felt fairly comfortable with my position. Sensing that there were not enough cards remaining to allow me to take another turn, I called an end to the proceedings as I had accumulated well over $5,000 in net assets. Unfortunately, Jim had managed to complete several sets as well and had more net worth than I, thereby claiming the victory:

Jim: $9,140; Greg $8,010; Lenny $6,080; Joey $4,180

Ratings: Jim 7.5, Joey 7, Greg 6.5, Lenny 6