Game: Owner's Choice

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kin2x — 2008-10-26T03:16:50+00:00

explained the rule

Thread: Re: Initial Stock Selection

TONi — 2008-09-28T16:48:40+00:00

That's how we play it.

Thread: Initial Stock Selection

tmarozas — 2008-09-25T15:11:34+00:00

So, when setting up the game, does stock selection go like this ? Say there are 4 players.

Player 1 has one opportunity to buy between 0-6 stocks.

After P1, P2 has the same opportunity and so on.

After all 4 players have had a single opportunity to buy 0-6 stocks, the game begins.

There is no round robin, or go around the table buying 1 at a time or anything like that.

Correct ?

Thread: Re: The market is rising on Owner's Choice

TGov — 2008-09-17T22:02:32+00:00

Sounds like fun, but why couldn't they make quick games like this 6 player instead of 5? I mean, I don't think adding another player would bog things down too much...maybe I am wrong. Our gaming group often consists of my sister-in-law and her husband and my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. Along with my wife we have 6 and there aren't a ton of neat little games like this that play 6 that aren't card games.

Good review Steve!

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

DLongo — 2008-08-31T17:13:23+00:00

Well, that is how we were playing...so that is good. For us, this question was not all that important because everyone was selling first, then buying...and we just did not buy more than 12. The question only came up because we looked at the rules for something and noted the odd way this was worded.

So overall, a nice light filler game. Thanks.

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

Zambo — 2008-08-31T16:29:03+00:00

DLongo wrote:
Okay. This is a very simple (yet fun) game and I know I am getting all nitpicky and starting to sound like a "rules lawyer" on this...but I am trying to understand why this really matters.

So just tell me if this is possible.

On your turn, you move the pawn first to Red, then (before rolling either die) you buy 5 shares of Red which makes you the president (and which gives you 13 stocks), then you roll the President Die for Red, and then you sell at least one share to bring you to twelve.

This isn't possible. Moving your pawn to Red and having the Red company president decide whether to roll the President's die or the Fund die is all part of moving the action pawn. Your example attempts to intermingle the purchasing with the action portion; the two are distinctly separate.

See Simon's post above for the possibilities.

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

DLongo — 2008-08-31T16:02:59+00:00

Okay. This is a very simple (yet fun) game and I know I am getting all nitpicky and starting to sound like a "rules lawyer" on this...but I am trying to understand why this really matters.

So just tell me if this is possible.

On your turn, you move the pawn first to Red, then (before rolling either die) you buy 5 shares of Red which makes you the president (and which gives you 13 stocks), then you roll the President Die for Red, and then you sell at least one share to bring you to twelve.

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

Zambo — 2008-08-31T15:56:10+00:00

DLongo wrote:
This question came up last night while we were playing. Originally, we read the same section you did and interpreted it to mean that you could buy and sell only once....either before OR after you move the pawn.

However, then there is a different section of the rules (I apologize, I do not have the rules in front of me) which states that a player can only have 12 stocks at the end of their turn. It says something like you can buy more but you can only have 12 at the end of your turn. That raised questions for us...because we could see where you might want to buy a 13th and 14th stock, then move the pawn and use the extra stock (to get dividends or something) and then sell down to 12 before you end your turn. But that would mean you could buy and sell anytime on your turn (before and/or after).

So we thought we had interpreted the first part incorrectly. Is there any official ruling on this?

The rule that you're referencing states the following: "The maximum number of total stocks a player can own is 12. A player can purchase stocks to exceed 12 but must sell enough stocks to end the turn with 12 stocks."

Your interpretation is correct in that you may only buy and sell either before or after movement, not both. This rule does not supersede that rule, either. During the "Stock Trade" portion of your turn, you may purchase more than 12 stocks (possibly to take over a presidency, for example) but must have 12 or fewer stocks at the end of your turn.

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

DLongo — 2008-08-31T15:36:30+00:00

This question came up last night while we were playing. Originally, we read the same section you did and interpreted it to mean that you could buy and sell only once....either before OR after you move the pawn.

However, then there is a different section of the rules (I apologize, I do not have the rules in front of me) which states that a player can only have 12 stocks at the end of their turn. It says something like you can buy more but you can only have 12 at the end of your turn. That raised questions for us...because we could see where you might want to buy a 13th and 14th stock, then move the pawn and use the extra stock (to get dividends or something) and then sell down to 12 before you end your turn. But that would mean you could buy and sell anytime on your turn (before and/or after).

So we thought we had interpreted the first part incorrectly. Is there any official ruling on this?

Thread: Re: You would think a banker would have an advantage at this game, but that wasn't the case

steveoliverc — 2008-03-28T06:17:36+00:00

That fund die is awesome! And pretty thematic, too, don't you think? You take over a company and then raid its coffers! Let everyone else scrabble over the stocks while you get rich.

Not sure about 2 times around the board, though -- one thing I like so much about this game is how quickly it plays. That really keeps the excitement level up.

Thread: Re: The market is rising on Owner's Choice

PatK — 2008-03-27T00:01:39+00:00

I and those I played with took about 10 seconds to say "This is a slightly gamed-up version of Stock Ticker"...

Thread: Re: The market is rising on Owner's Choice

steveoliverc — 2008-03-26T18:51:52+00:00

Nice review!

In comparison to Buy Low, Sell High.... I think Owner's Choice captures the excitement of the market much better than BLSH. BLSH is much slower and more thoughtful than Owner's Choice. It's a fun game as well, and very similar in many regards, but Owner's Choice gets my "choice" for the stock market game.

Thread: Re: The market is rising on Owner's Choice

stormseeker75 — 2008-03-26T15:32:07+00:00

I'm waiting patiently for the Acquire reprint at which time I will certainly snag myself a copy. My buddy loved Owner's Choice, so I'm hoping to hook him into stock market games.

Thread: Re: The market is rising on Owner's Choice

Isamoor — 2008-03-26T15:25:23+00:00

stormseeker75 wrote:
Thanks Sheamus, I'll check it out.

Heh, now that I pay attention, here's the breakdown of Owner's Choice stats versus Buy Low/Sell High stats:

Players: 2-5 vs 2-4
Playing Time: 45 min vs 45 min
Rating: 6.53 vs 6.39
Weight: 1.81 vs 1.89
Mechanics: Stock Holding vs Commodity Speculation (C'mon folks, why are these mechanics not just merged?)

And of course, if you're looking for a heavier version, there is the classic Acquire...

Thread: Re: The market is rising on Owner's Choice

stormseeker75 — 2008-03-26T15:15:56+00:00

Thanks Sheamus, I'll check it out.

Thread: Re: The market is rising on Owner's Choice

Isamoor — 2008-03-26T15:07:11+00:00

Nice review Steve. I really do need to try this one sometime.

A somewhat comparable game might be Buy Low Sell High. I actually find the market simulation in BuyLow/SellHigh to be a little more accurate, but that doesn't make it a better game. I will mention how easy it is to acquire BuyLow/SellHigh at the moment. If you're at all interested in stock market games, I think it's worth a look.

Thread: The market is rising on Owner's Choice

stormseeker75 — 2008-03-26T13:36:49+00:00

Any time I see a game that looks to pack a lot of fun in a 20-30 minute window, I'm always intrigued. This seems to be the time frame that my family really likes in a game. That way, they can play 5 or 6 different ones in a night. Owner's Choice looked to have that sort of quality, so I picked it up. I've been looking for a good stock market game that was light enough that my family would play, but also had enough strategy to be mildly realistic. So is Owner's Choice a bull or a bear?

Rules

Owner's Choice is a stock market game for 2-5 players. Each player will buy and sell 4 different stocks throughout the game. If a player holds a majority of shares, he gets the President's die for that color. Players will roll these dice in hopes of making their stocks rise, others fall, or even gaining dividends. The goal is to have the most money after one trip around the board. The player with the most cash is the winner.

Z-Man Games is kind enough to put the rules on their website, which you can read here. This will give you all the information you need to know to play the game.

Components

Owner's choice is fairly light on components. The game is really quite simple so there's no need for tons of chrome. You get what you need to play, and thats about it.

The paper money is actually pretty nice quality. The paper is thick, the colors are bright, and its easy to read. I still much prefer poker chips to paper money, but this is pretty good quality.

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The stock tiles are really thick cardboard with nice artwork and bright colors. The stocks are easy to tell apart thanks to the great coloring and the nice logo on each.

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The pawns are very generic plastic pieces. There is one for each color which is used to indicate a stock's price. There is also a purple pawn which is used to move around the board.

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The board is broken up into 2 main sections. The central board is used to keep track of the stock values and also serves as the holding place for the Fund money. The price track is laid out pretty clearly. On the left side is the value of the stock when it is bought or sold and on the right side is the dividend value. Once a stock gets to the 190 level, there is an icon in the middle that signifies the President of that company must pay $100 instead of $50 to roll the President's die.

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The outside of the board is made of 4 L-shaped pieces. These pieces are double sided so that you have a lot of variety regarding configuration. One piece has the Start and Goal spaces in the corner, but the rest of them are a mix of company spaces and event, dividend, and President spaces. This outer track is used to move the pawn and cause actions. I think the ability to lay out the board in different configurations is essential because otherwise, there would be way too much emphasis on the dice rolling. It would make the game stale to use a standard game track. My biggest gripe about these pieces is that they don't stay in place very well and if someone jostles the main board, the game tracks move too. Its a catch 22 because you'd sacrifice the replay value by removing them while increasing the component quality.

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The dice are arguably the most important part of the game because they're responsible for everything that happens. On the plus side, the dice are made of brightly colored plastic that makes them easy to tell apart. On the negative side, you have to apply stickers because the dice don't come printed. The stickers are fairly easy to read, but not from a distance and you'll find yourself picking up the dice to read them. I suppose its better to have the text on the dice than to constantly have to refer to a table to find out what the result is.

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Gameplay

How exciting can a game about stock trading be? When it comes to rolling dice and pressing your luck, it can be quite a lot of fun

Two Actions

On a player's turn there's only one thing he has to do, and thats move the action pawn on the game track. In a 2 or 3 player game, it can be moved 1-4 spaces while in a 4 or 5-player game it can be moved 1-3 spaces. You always have to move the pawn at least one space. The nature of the game dictates that you'll probably want to move anyway, but I like this rule because it keeps the game moving. The second action you may take is buying and/or selling stocks. You may do this before or after you move the action pawn. These 2 simple options keep the pace high because there isn't a lot to bog you down on a turn.

Roll the Bones

Fortunes will be made or lost in this game by rolling the dice. There's no way around it. If you own stocks and the value goes up thanks to the dice, you're sitting pretty. If a price goes down because of the dice, thats the way it goes. If you can't deal with a healthy dose of luck, then you really want to look elsewhere. There's no way to mitigate the luck, you just need to deal with it as it comes.

Luck vs. Strategy and Risk vs. Reward

While the roll of the dice will almost always be the deciding factor in Owner's Choice, smart play can go a long way towards helping you win. When talking about stock, you always hear people say "Buy low, Sell high" and thats exactly how it works in this game. But again, luck plays a big part in that strategy. If red is low and you buy it up at a cheap price, you may get lucky and have the price rise at which time you'll make a killing. But the stock could also go the other way and end up Bankrupt, causing all players to lose those stocks without getting any money for them. Along this same line is the Risk vs. Reward balance. Much like in real life, you can buy stocks that are moderately priced and sell them when they get just a bit higher. On the other hand, you can buy cheap stocks and hope to ride them up. Either way you look at this game, its a lot of luck, but its fast and fun.

El Presidente

When one player holds the majority of one of the stocks, that player gets the President's die. Depending on the color of the stock, the die will have different sides. The real question is do you want to be the President in a company or just an investor? If you're the president, you have a measure of control over the fate of your company whereas the investors are forced to take the good with the bad. But with power comes a cost. When the action pawn lands on a stock space, the President of that company has a choice: Pay $50 into the Fund and roll the President's die or simply roll the Fund die. Again, depending on the color of the die, you will have different results. The Yellow die tends to raise its frequently. Green is a solid dividend provider. Blue is equally at home raising its own price as it is lower other companies. Red is the most balanced and does everything fairly well. It seems that its usually in the President's best interest to roll his die instead of the Fund die. The one exception to this is if the President is low on cash and has a high valued stock, he can roll the Fund die. The Fund die usually gives out a lot of money, but it also results in a stock price decreasing.

If you're just an investor, you want the presidents of the companies you hold stock in to roll the President's die. This will almost always help you. On the bright side, the stock will go up. On the downside, the price will drop. But if it does drop, the President will lose more virtual money because he has more stock. The best case scenario is that Dividend gets rolled and you make money for nothing.

Buy Stock Before or After?

When's the best time to buy stock? That really depends where you are on the board, how much money you have, and who has the Presidents' dice. If you can land on a spot for which you have the die, its probably good to buy before hand, especially if that die is Yellow or Green. If you have Blue, you want to buy afterwards because you may be able to decrease the price of a stock and swoop in at a low price.

Take That

You wouldn't think a game about the stock market would have a "take that" feel, but its very present in Owner's Choice. While the actual player interaction may be small, players will sometimes have an opportunity to lower stock prices. If multiple players own the stock it doesn't feel like a deliberate shot at any one player but if only one player owns the stock, it can definately feel like that player has been targeted. This is especially true when it comes to Bankrupting stocks. If you own a stock that goes bankrupt, you've just been virtually eliminated from the game.

Game Length

The game takes about 20-30 minutes to play once everyone is familiar with it. There's hardly any downtime because the turns go pretty quickly. When its not your turn, you will want to be watching the dice fly to see who's making money, who's losing it, and what you should do next to maximize your cash. The rules say you're supposed to play one trip around the board but it almost feels like the game is over before it gets going. I've tried playing twice around the board and that makes the game stale because players get filled up on stocks and theres no more buying and selling. I think you could tweak a few rules to get around this problem, but out of the box, its a weird situation.

Player Numbers

2 - Mechanically it works, but its boring and there are much better 2-player choices
3 - Better than 2 by a longshot, but still not great
4 - Great game with 4. Everyone can be a President
5 - The best way to play. 4 President's dice and 5 players means there will be a lot of competition to buy and sell

Replayability

Owner's Choice has high replay factor for 2 main reasons. First, the game is short which means that players probably won't have their fill after just one game. This game is basically a super-filler which makes it a great choice for times when a big game is too much and a light filler isn't enough. Second, the roll of the dice makes everything turn out different in every game. The luck factor is big in this game and that means that players who do poorly will blame it on luck and they'll be sure luck will help them in the next game.

Compare it to...

I'm sure there are games out there like Owner's Choice, but I haven't played them. Unfortunately, I can't give you any comparison on this one.

Overall

If you're in the market for a stock trading game, but don't want anything to complex or heavy, I would highly recommend Owner's Choice. The basics of stock trading are present but there's a lot of luck so the game doesn't bog down in complexity. You get the feel of trying to buy low and sell high with out the relying on charts or calculations to figure out what things are worth. You can go from rags to riches in 30 minutes and leave the table feeling like a Wall Street professional.

I rate Owner's Choice 7/10. I like the game and I'll play it whenever someone asks. I'll probably suggest it on occassion too. While I don't mind the luck, its a bit too much to make me outright love the game. I prefer games with strong emphasis on decisions and Owner's Choice lacks that. The components could be a bit better as well. Still, the game is fun and while its not one I'll constantly want to play, its a game I'll gladly bring out as a nice change of pace for my friends and family.

Owner's Choice has some value as an educational tool as well. The game could very easily be used to teach early teens a bit about investing. The emphasis on timing the market and how to rationalize value could be invaluable to teaching kids the basics of financial responsibility. I'm a big kid, and I feel like I've learned a bit.

Thread: You would think a banker would have an advantage at this game, but that wasn't the case

stormseeker75 — 2008-03-24T15:03:31+00:00

I had a golden opportunity to play games after Easter dinner. My fiance was with me and we were at my mom's house. My mom is quite an avid gamer. Luckily, my best friend and his wife happened to be there too. They're on the cusp of becoming gamers since we introduced them to the hobby. They own Ticket to Ride and Switzerland as well as a bunch of other simpler games. They like lighter games that they can play with their family which is fine, because thats the kind of games I usually end up playing too. One of the game I had brought with me was Owner's Choice which Luke was more than willing to play because he's a banker. The real question is, would his knowledge of money and the financial industry play any role in helping him win?

We dealt out the money and I explained the rules. The game is pretty easy to understand so there wasn't really any questions. We started out by buying stocks. I went for enough yellow to take the President's die while mom took the red die. Bianca took blue while Brandy took green. Luke decided that he wasn't going to buy any stock. His plan was to wait for a price to drop and snag it up.

As the first turn made it around the table, blue had dropped a bit so Luke jumped on it. He bought 6 shares at 80 and took the President's die. He moved to the blue space and rolled, scoring a Price +2 which worked brilliantly for him. At this same time, my yellow was climbing slowly. It was already at 160 so Bianca sold off the 2 shares she had to try and take advantage of the high price. Brandy sat tight with her green shares at 120.

Red was starting to dip low, so my mom quickly sold it off at $60 per share. Luke and Bianca both thought this would be an opportune time to take a chance so they both bought it up. On my mom's next turn, she hit an Event space and rolled "Any Company -2". Like a shark to blood, she took the opportunity to Bankrupt red, thus basically ending Luke or Bianca's chance to win the game.

Earlier in the game, I had taken a chance with the Fund die. Yellow was climbing high, so I had some margin for error. I rolled the Fund die and scored all the cash in the Fund at the cost of -1 to the yellow. This still kept yellow at $140. So I effectively got $450 for nothing. This was honestly the breaking point in the game because it gave me so much cash that I didn't need to worry about buying low and selling high. In fact, I rode my yellow all the way to the top, at which time I sold of 3 shares for $900, giving my mom the President's die.

We decided to play around the board twice because in previous games, once seemed a bit short. The second trip around the board proved difficult because most of the stocks were bought up. It really makes planning ahead much harder.

In the end, I coasted to an easy victory. The Fund money plus my outrageous yellow sales netted me $1550. Brandy came in second by not making any enemies and by not having too much bad luck. Mom came in third because she narrowly avoided the Red Bankruptcy Scandal. Bianca came in third with $680, so she only lost $10 on the game. Luke however, came in dead last with just under $500. His plan to buy red at such a low price didn't play out as he had hoped. Unfortunately for him, that cost him the game, but I think everyone was playing for 2nd place after I got all that money from the Fund.

Thread: Re: Anybody played this with 2 yet?

Chris Dorrell — 2008-03-16T16:01:54+00:00

I own this game but haven't played it yet. Why do you say it doesn't work so well with 2?

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nnoc — 2008-01-31T09:32:56+00:00

The Four Company Stocks

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nnoc — 2008-01-30T16:19:18+00:00

The Game Dice

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nnoc — 2008-01-29T14:49:00+00:00

Game Money

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nnoc — 2008-01-27T22:24:55+00:00

Stock Price Markers

Thread: Bull & Bear / Portuguese Review

nnoc — 2008-01-27T17:31:52+00:00

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Owner's Choice é um jogo de gestão económica que passa pela compra e venda de acções de quatro companhias cotadas em bolsa. Publicado pela Z-Man Games e autoria de Yasutaka Ikeda, o jogo decorre à volta de um tabuleiro modular, de forma rápida e com fácil jogabilidade. No decorrer do jogo, o valor das acções vai sendo determinado por eventos, bem como pelo lançamento de um dado pelo presidente da companhia, o jogador com mais acções da mesma. Ganha o jogo quem tiver mais dinheiro, depois de vendidas todas as acções no final. Owner's Choice não é uma simulação do mercado de capitais, o factor sorte está presente, o jogo está equilibrado e é divertido.

Componentes: Um bonito tabuleiro em cartão grosso, mais quatro partes em forma de "L", modulares, que são acrescentadas ao exterior do mesmo, impressas dos dois lados. Os marcadores são de plásticos, os dados são fornecidos com autocolantes para para as faces. O dinheiro do jogo são notas, de boa qualidade e impressas dos dois lados. Também impressas de ambos os lados, são as acções, embora estas sejam em cartão.

Duração: 25 minutos com 4 jogadores, menos com 2 jogadores.

Repetitibilidade: Média. O facto do exterior do tabuleiro de jogo, onde se assinala a progressão, ser modular, oferece inúmeras configurações, permitindo sempre diferentes jogos. A optimização de diferentes estratégias também acrescenta longevidade ao jogo.

Apropriado para jogadores casuais: Muito
Apropriado para jogadores frequentes: Moderado a Muito
Apropriado para jogadores veteranos: Pouco

Interacção: Com apenas acções de quatro companhias, frequentemente vários jogadores são accionistas da mesma, o que contribui para estratégias comuns. A opcção que os jogadores têm de poder lançar o dado do "Fundo", no seu turno e numa casa de companhia, obtendo o dinheiro do fundo mas depreciando a companhia respectiva, contribui muito para a interactividade entre si. Também a existência de casas de "Evento" e lançamento do respectivo dado, permite desvalorizar determinada companhia(s), com prejuízo para os outros jogadores.

Tema: Bom. O jogo está bem integrado no tema, muito contribuindo os seus componentes. A mecânica do jogo tem semelhanças com a negociação em bolsa. A ocorrência de eventos, que o jogador nem sempre pode controlar, aproxima-o ainda mais da realidade.

Notas: Embora não seja referido no regulamento do jogo, cada dado da respectiva companhia tem diferentes atributos, proporcionando resultados e estratégias diferentes.

Luis Nunes

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nnoc — 2008-01-27T16:30:14+00:00

Game Board Back

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nnoc — 2008-01-27T16:28:55+00:00

Game Board

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nnoc — 2008-01-27T16:27:43+00:00

Box Back

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nnoc — 2008-01-27T16:26:29+00:00

Box Front

Thread: Owner's Choice - Session Report

gschloesser — 2008-01-24T11:25:55+00:00

NOTE: My full review of Owner’s Choice will appear in the upcoming issue of Counter magazine. What follows is an abbreviated version.

While there are some notable exceptions, I tend not to be a big fan of stock market games, as I find many of them to be a bit dry, calculating, and not very exciting. I tend to dislike “roll and move” games even more, as I find most of them too heavily dependent upon luck. So, one must understand my hesitation when Zev Schlasinger of Z-Man Games suggested I give Owner’s Choice a try. A stock market game that involves moving around a track and rolling dice to determine stock values? Not exactly a game that would normally fill me with anticipation and excitement.

I must say, however, that my trepidation proved unfounded. Owner’s Choice by Yasutaka Ikeda is a fun, exciting game that challenges players to purchase and sell shares at the optimum time, while attempting to drive down the share values of the companies in which their opponents are heavily invested. While it does contain a significant element of luck, properly taking advantage of this luck and astute timing are critical, and victory will go to the player who is best able to manipulate the market to his financial favor.

Players will invest in four companies, and the value of each company will often rise or fall based on the roll of the company’s die, which can cause increases or decreases in the stock value, yield dividend payments, or possibly even cause a rival company’s stock value to rise or fall.

Each turn, a player has the option of purchasing and/or selling stock based on the current value of these stocks. After trading stock, the active player may move the pawn 1 – 3 spaces along the track, implementing the action dictated by the space landed upon. Most of the spaces depict a specific company, which forces the president of that company to either roll the company die or the “fund” die. Other spaces award money to company presidents, mandate a dividend from the company with the highest stock value, or allow the player to roll the event die.

Rolling the company die has the potential of increasing the company’s stock value, or perhaps triggering dividend payments. Each company die is slightly different, with some being more volatile, while others are more conservative. Most carry slight risks, so choosing to roll a company die is not always an easy decision. The enticement of a handsome dividend payout or increased stock value often makes the risk worthwhile.

When opting to roll a company die, the president must deposit money into the “fund”. Instead of rolling the company die, he may opt to roll the “fund” die instead. The fund die has several possible outcomes, the most lucrative being the rewarding of the player with all of the money in the fund. This overtly greedy action by the company president does have its consequences, as the value of the company’s stock will usually decrease from one-to-two spaces. Still, the lure of quick cash is often difficult to resist!

Choosing to land on an event space generally causes havoc in the market, as the event die can result in the value of one or more companies to decrease. The event space is usually a good place to land when desiring to devalue an opponent’s company. Woe to the players who hold stock in a company that goes bankrupt, as all stocks of that company are rendered worthless. Sort of like Enron.

The game continues until the pawn is moved to the final space, which awards the player $100 from the fund. All players sell their stocks for their current value, and the player with the greatest wealth is the financial kingpin, winning the game.

The basic thrust of the game is the same as many stock market games: buy low, sell high, and attempt to maximize one’s profits. What makes this game so different is the clever use of the various dice, and the decisions that must be made in moving the pawn. There are interesting decisions to be made, and the proper timing of one’s stock trades can substantially increase one’s net worth, and often wreak havoc on the finances of one’s opponents.

Those looking for a serious, detailed simulation of the stock market should look elsewhere. Owner’s Choice is NOT the definitive stock game. Rather, it is a light, fun game of stock trading, with a deliciously nasty element of attempting to sabotage the value of your opponents companies. What’s more, the game plays to completion in approximately 45 minutes, so it doesn’t have enough time to grow stale.

I must admit to being taken completely by surprise by Owner’s Choice. I entered the expecting to waste 45 minutes of precious gaming time. The result, however, was a game that taught me that a fun game can be designed using a usually bland subject-matter and a mechanism I usually avoid. This is one stock trade that doesn’t make me nervous, and that I actually find enjoyable!

Gail and I formed a partnership that proved to be quite profitable. Our primary competition was Rhonda, but when the final funds were tallied, our combined management prevailed.

Finals: Greg / Gail $1,200, Rhonda $1,110, Jim $830, Alison $800, Paul $690

Ratings: Gail 7, Greg 6.5, Alison 6.5, Jim 6, Paul 6, Rhonda 6

Thread: Reseña de Owner's Choice en español

Carmille — 2008-01-15T22:04:38+00:00

Owner's Choice
Z-Man games
2-5 Jugadores

Nunca hubiese reparado en este juego de no ser porque leí en una revista que se trataba de compra y venta de acciones, tema que me gusta y que quería probar, desde que jugue un juego de “La Bolsa” que era muy sencillo en que siempre perdía.

No he jugado Acquire o Shark por lo que no puedo hacer comparaciones. Quizás eso sea bueno para hacer un comentario más objetivo del juego. Y bueno, aquí vamos.

De partida, he de decir que el nombre no dice mucho del juego en si, solo lo entiendes una vez que has jugado, y digamos que la ilustración de la portada tampoco da a entender cual es el tema del juego. Creo que esa es una caída, pero no muy grave, sobre todo porque muchos juegos tienen unas ilustraciones que te hacen pensar en un gran juego y finalmente te decepcionan.

Al interior de la caja nos encontramos con un tablero central separado en dos areas, una para los Fondos (Funds) y otra que muestra el precio de mercado de las acciones y los dividendos que pueden repartir. Todo muy simple y facil de comprender a simple vista.

Ademas vienen cuatro tableros en forma de “L”, los que cuentan con casillas con diferentes iconos a modo de un metropoli, y la idea es colocarlos en torno al tablero central. Estas “L”s estan impresas por ambos lados con iconos diferentes lo que hace que el tablero no sea el mismo cada vez que juegas. Las casillas representan a las cuatro compañías en juego, más otros iconos que permiten que ocurran otros eventos. Los tableros son de un carton grueso y firme. Se ven de buena calidad y los iconos de las casillas son faciles de comprender y diferenciar.

Por otro lado, trae dinero en billetes de 10, 20, 50, 100, 500; lozetas para representar las acciones de las cuatro compañías (verde, azul, roja, amarilla); un peón de color morado para avanzar por las casillas de los tableros “L”; un peón con el color de cada compañía para representar el precio de cada una de estas; un dado del color de cada compañía con autoadhesivos para pegar en cada una de las caras; y dos dados más, el de evento y el dado negro, ambos con autohadesivos para sus caras.

De estos elementos hay que hacer notar que los peones son de plástico y se ven de lo más corriente, al igual que los dados, donde llama la atención que, al parecer, éstos no están del todo pulidos, seguramente para que los autoadhesivos agarren fácilmente.

Ah bueno, además de esto, vienen las reglas, que son cortas y sencillas, las cuales espero próximamente tener traducidas ya que no vienen en español.

Ok, veamos como se desarrolla el juego.

El juego se desarrolla en turnos y vencerá el jugador que, una vez terminada la partida, tenga más dinero. Durante cada turno el jugador debe mover el peón morado, llamado "Peón de Acción" por las casillas que rodean el tablero central. Es a elección del jugador la cantidad de casillas que avanza sin superar el máximo permitido que está dado por la cantidad de jugadores. Luego dependiendo de la compañía donde haya quedado el peón, el Presidente de esa compañía deberá tirar el dado que corresponde a esta compañía y llevar a cabo lo que este indica.

El Presidente de la compañía está dado por quien tenga más acciones de esta compañía, por lo que se puede ser presidente de varias compañías a la vez, y el presidente puede ir cambiando de jugador en jugador en cada turno.

Además de mover el peón de acción, el jugador de turno también podrá comprar y vender acciones, pero siempre contra el mercado, no con los demás jugadores, y el precio de las acciones irá variando de acuerdo a las tiradas de dados de Presidente. El precio de estas también se indicará en el tablero, moviendo el peón de cada compañía a lo largo del tablero con precios y dividendos.

Esta es toda la mecánica del juego. Si sólo fuera esto sería monótono y muy similar al juego de la bolsa que jugué de niño. Por suerte tiene algunos conceptos que lo hacen más entretenido.

Por un lado, los dados de cada compañía son diferentes. Algunos orientados a mover la propia compañía por el rango de precios, mientras que otros orientados a mover las otras compañías o pagar dividendos. También hay que mencionar que uno puede obligar a otro presidente a tirar el dado de su compañía y no necesariamente se debe ser Presidente de una para ganar el juego.

Dentro del tablero también existen otras casillas con eventos para uno o todos los jugadores como pago de dividendos, y también, una casilla que permite arrojar el dado de "Eventos". Una vez lanzado este dado, el jugador deberá realizar la acción que se indica. Estos eventos no afectan particularmente a una compañía, y esta orientado a entregar dinero al jugador que esta arrojando el dado.

Se me estaba quedando afuera el dado negro. Cada vez que el Presidente de una comañía debe tirar el dado, debe sacar de su cuenta personal 50 dolares y ponerlos en el tablero en las seccion "Fondos", y entonces lanzar el dado. En caso que no tuviese el dinero suficiente, debe arrojar el dado negro. Este cuenta con otros sucesos, que generalmente permiten que el lanzador de los dados se lleve todo el dinero que hay en el espacio de "Fondos".

El juego cuenta con una duración definida, ya que el Peón deAcción solo puede dar una vuelta al tablero. Finalizada esta el juego termina y se pasa a valorizare las acciones en poder de cada jugador y contabilizar el dinero total.

El juego es bastante sencillo como pueden ver. No cuenta con mucha interacción entre jugadores y no se siente la adrenalina de la Bolsa que se puede ver en las películas de Wall Street. El factor azar está limitado, pero existe, ya que cada jugador puede determinar qué dado se va a lanzar. No siempre podrá elegir el que más le guste, pero se puede optar al menos entre dos.

La duración del juego es limitada, y podría decir que es dificil extender el tiempo de juego a más de 1 hora, a menos que cada jugador se tome un tiempo extremadamente largo en sus decisiones.

En resumen, es un juego medio. No lo aconsejo para quienes quieran un juego que simule las altas y bajas de las acciones, la sensación de poseer una compañía y hacer quebrar a otras. Es un juego entretenido que dado la sencillez de sus reglas es recomendable para una amplia gama de jugadores que busquen un juego rápido, sin muchas reglas. Tiene una muy buena rejugabilidad, dado por la variabilidad del tablero, y un alto factor de azar dado por los dados. Quizás esto es lo que encuentro menos favorable de este juego. Me hubiese gustado un mayor control ante la subida y baja de las acciones. Algo que te permitiera generar algún tipo de estrategia confiable, ya que aquí, puedes pensar en una estrategia, sin embargo, nunca es muy confiable. Mi nota personal sería un 5.5 de 10.

Review por Carmille y Arcadio.

Image

adamdynris — 2008-01-09T04:26:07+00:00

Thread: Re: Game length?

swaits — 2008-01-07T04:50:55+00:00

Yep, as far as I can tell we played correctly. It sounds like your experience pretty much matches mine. I realize it's meant to be a filler, but its duration just doesn't, so far, match its gameplay for me. It feels like a game that got crammed into the mold of "filler".

Thread: Re: Game length?

steveoliverc — 2008-01-07T00:46:12+00:00

I think it is a filler, and my games have been around thirty minutes max. Also, I don't think this game is at its best with 2 players. Haven't played with 5 yet but wonder if that is just too many people. I have played several times with 3 and 4 players which were just great. But remember, it's really a filler dice game, not a full-blown stock game.

Also, in a 4 or 5 player game, each player can only move the pawn 1 to 3 spaces on their turn (not up to 4 spaces in the 2 or 3 player game). Did you play it that way when you played with 5?

Even so, the game always seems to end practically after it's started so every player needs to make the most of every turn -- there's no time for a long-term strategy. Try to talk the other presidents into rolling the dice you want them to, and buy and sell every turn as needed. And keep an eye on that fund -- there's usually only a few chances to raid it for a good payoff.

Thread: Game length?

swaits — 2008-01-06T19:15:57+00:00

We've played a few games of this now, and both went way too quickly. So much so that no player was able to develop any sort of strategy, the stock prices barely moved, and everyone walked away kind of thinking "meh".

One was a two player game with my wife, another was a five player game I moderated.

I realize that more experienced players would probably be more aware of this, and move the pawn in smaller increments. I wonder though, if the game is still just a little too short.

I think the mechanic is pretty cool, but it seems like it got crammed into being a filler.

What have others, hopefully more experienced than me, observed?

Thread: Re: Anybody played this with 2 yet?

swaits — 2008-01-01T09:11:08+00:00

Steve nailed it. Works Ok with two, but shines with more. That said, my wife and I played for the first time a few days ago and enjoyed it.

Thread: Re: Anybody played this with 2 yet?

steveoliverc — 2008-01-01T06:14:26+00:00

Not at its best with 2 players. Great game with 4 or 5 players.

Thread: Anybody played this with 2 yet?

smithhemb — 2008-01-01T02:53:56+00:00

Does it work well?

Thread: Re: Maximum Number Of Stocks

swaits — 2007-12-31T01:58:21+00:00

Twinge wrote:
So, based on that - is there any point whatsoever in buying enough stock to go over 12 when you have to immediately sell back down to 12 before you can have any benefit from having the extra stock?
The rule is simply that you cannot end the trade portion of your turn with ownership of more than 12 shares combined. The mechanics of how you end up with twelve are indeed pointless (sell, then buy; versus, buy, then sell). Seems simple enough.

Thread: Re: Rolling Dividend on the die

Steve99 — 2007-12-23T06:07:53+00:00

Thanks for the quick response Zev; great service.

I was playing it that way but it's good to have it confirmed.

I bought this game as I love the Stock market theme but I have to admit: I wasn't expecting much. However, I was really pleased to see that it's a clever, fast filler that I'm sure I'm going to enjoy playing over the Christmas holidays (in between games of 1960 no doubt .

Thread: Re: Rolling Dividend on the die

Zman — 2007-12-23T04:31:12+00:00

Steve99 wrote:
The Rules seem to make a distinction between Rolling 'Dividend' on a die and landing on the Dividend Square.

If you land on the Dividend Square the successful player will receive ' the dividend amount times the number of stocks owned in that company'

In contrast, if a player receives a dividend resulting from a die roll, they 'receive a Dividend payout equal to the value listed on the Stock price chart'. It appears that every Stockholder in the company gets the same small amount and it does not matter how many Stocks they own.

However, I noticed in Tom Vassel's review of this game that he treats the die like landing on the Dividend Square.

The difference in interpretation of the rule dramatically alters the importance of Dividends in the game, so is there distinction between Rolling 'Dividend' on a die and landing on the Dividend Square, or not?

*****The main contrast between the two is this:

landing on the square: only the highest valued stock(s) payout a dividend (equal to the number on the right of the stock's value). You get that number times the number of stocks owned in that company.

Rolling a Dividend on the die only pays out for that company's stock - the dividend value (number on right) times the number of stock you own in that company.

Zev Shlasinger, President
Z-Man Games, Inc.
www.zmangames.com

Thread: Re: [Review] Owner's Choice

Steve99 — 2007-12-22T22:32:59+00:00

Good review Tom. I too was surprised at how good a filler game this is, considering the dice and the 'move around the track' mechanics.

However, the Move round the track mechanics are closer to the Rondel choices in great games like Imperial where the active player has to make a choice from moving 1 to 3/4 spaces ahead. There are some tough decisions to be made here: you may not be able to land on a company you own, so which is the best alternative. Also, like Pueblo you have to consider how far to move as this limits the options available to the next player. This could be important, especially when playing with fewer players.

Though I don't normally enjoy dice games (Cloud 9 Pickomino, Yahtzee, excepted) the dice add more tactical and Strategic options than you would think in this game. Each company die has it's own distinct characterics: the Green is great for Dividends, Yellow is more likely to secure a Stock price rise; blue a Share price fall for another company and Red is reasonably well balanced and can even be used to increase other company's Stock.

So I found your review to be very well balanced and typify my own thoughts on the game.

Just one small comment; contrary to what you said in your review, in my version of the English Z-Man rules a player is not prevented from choosing the Fund option if there is not enough money left in the Fund. So you could always choose the Fund, not to gain money but for the distinct possibility of reducing another Company's Stock value by 1 or 2.

Thread: Re: Maximum Number Of Stocks

Steve99 — 2007-12-22T21:53:37+00:00

Twinge wrote:
I'll bump this thread back up because I don't understand why this rule is included at all. We did interpret the 2nd rule clarification correctly - that is, you can buy/sell only before OR after moving the pawn (not both).

So, based on that - is there any point whatsoever in buying enough stock to go over 12 when you have to immediately sell back down to 12 before you can have any benefit from having the extra stock?

I simply thinks it covers the situation where you would want to increase your Stock holding temporarily above 12 by buying into one Stock and then reducing your total Stock back to 12 or less by selling another Stock, at the same point of the game.

You could achieve exactly the same by conducting your sales before your purchases but this exception to the rule, means you don't have to worry about the order in which you do the transactions and keeps the game light and prevents the occassional rules lawyer from coming down heavy and insisting on the 'proper' order of things, even though the net effect is just the same.

Thread: Rolling Dividend on the die

Steve99 — 2007-12-22T21:41:35+00:00

The Rules seem to make a distinction between Rolling 'Dividend' on a die and landing on the Dividend Square.

If you land on the Dividend Square the successful player will receive ' the dividend amount times the number of stocks owned in that company'

In contrast, if a player receives a dividend resulting from a die roll, they 'receive a Dividend payout equal to the value listed on the Stock price chart'. It appears that every Stockholder in the company gets the same small amount and it does not matter how many Stocks they own.

However, I noticed in Tom Vassel's review of this game that he treats the die like landing on the Dividend Square.

The difference in interpretation of the rule dramatically alters the importance of Dividends in the game, so is there distinction between Rolling 'Dividend' on a die and landing on the Dividend Square, or not?

Thread: Re: Maximum Number Of Stocks

Twinge — 2007-12-12T15:05:30+00:00

I'll bump this thread back up because I don't understand why this rule is included at all. We did interpret the 2nd rule clarification correctly - that is, you can buy/sell only before OR after moving the pawn (not both).

So, based on that - is there any point whatsoever in buying enough stock to go over 12 when you have to immediately sell back down to 12 before you can have any benefit from having the extra stock?

Thread: Re: Terrible dice!!

steveoliverc — 2007-12-02T23:59:21+00:00

I printed out a couple of copies of this and it helped out a lot --

]]>

Thread: Re: Terrible dice!!

thesedarkdice — 2007-12-02T19:42:48+00:00

Since it is a sticker die... you could make your own stickers with custom icons. Reference sheets aren't terribly hard to home brew either.

Thread: Re: Terrible dice!!

steveoliverc — 2007-11-21T05:11:51+00:00

Well, the game is really good so I recommend this game if you enjoy investment games at all. The way that each company uses a different die makes the game very interesting, and the game plays so quickly that it gives you the sense of excitement that you are on the trading room floor. Which is a long-winded way of saying, I think you should get the game despite the terrible dice

One of the people in my weekly group suggested using a regular d6 and writing the numbers and results onto a reference chart. But for now, we just all roll and expect to crane our necks to see what the heck it is on those dice.

Thread: Re: Terrible dice!!

Daddy-O — 2007-11-21T04:44:57+00:00

Thanks for pointing out how the dice are so difficult to read, Steve. That's a real sore point with me too as we are usually playing in far less than ideal lighting conditions. It makes me think twice about buying this game. Too bad, too, because is sounds like good fun.

Thread: Terrible dice!!

steveoliverc — 2007-11-14T19:36:26+00:00

This is a very fun game, and I'm impressed with the quality of the board, stocks, and even the paper money is nice (thick and double-sided).

But those dice

First off, stickers. Enough said!

But worse, is how hard they are to read. The text is small, and also the colors are very hard to read, especially in coffee shop lighting. We played with four players last night and with nearly every roll, all of us had to either pick up the die to read it, or crane our necks in for a close look.

I wonder why Z-man didn't use icons in place of all that micro-text on the dice?

And a reference for the dice would have been really helpful. In fact, I think that is a requirement for the game, since you need to know the difference in each company's dice in order to make an "informed investment" in any company.

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

Pyjam — 2007-09-29T20:11:21+00:00

Thank you to both of you.

Pyjam

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

simonh — 2007-09-29T19:32:48+00:00

Pyjam wrote:
simonh wrote:
either before or after
Thank you, but I have a problem with the translation to French (not only me but my friends and all online translators have the same problem) : does “either... or...” means that both are possible in the same turn or not ?

“either... or...” means one or the other (mutually exclusive), not both.

On his turn, a player may choose to do one of the following three sequences:

[c]
(1) (a) Trade (buy and/or sell)
(b) Move pawn - resolve event

(2) (a) Move pawn - resolve event
(b) Trade (buy and/or sell)

(3) (a) Move pawn - resolve event
[/c]

Hope this clarifies.

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

Pyjam — 2007-09-29T18:57:12+00:00

simonh wrote:
Starsunsky wrote:

A player can choose (A) or (B):
A) Trade stocks (buy and/or sell stocks) -> Move Pawn
B) Move Pawn -> Trade stocks (buy and/or sell stocks)

Star is correct. You can trade either before or after moving the pawn (or not at all). You must move the pawn, and carry out the associated event.
Thank you, but I have a problem with the translation to French (not only me but my friends and all online translators have the same problem) : does “either... or...” means that both are possible in the same turn or not ?

In my opinion if this was possible the rules should say “you can trade before AND after” but other players disagreed.

Pyjam

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

simonh — 2007-09-29T18:43:34+00:00

Starsunsky wrote:

A player can choose (A) or (B):
A) Trade stocks (buy and/or sell stocks) -> Move Pawn
B) Move Pawn -> Trade stocks (buy and/or sell stocks)

Star is correct. You can trade either before or after moving the pawn (or not at all). You must move the pawn, and carry out the associated event.

Thread: Re: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

Starsunsky — 2007-09-29T09:20:56+00:00

I am not an English speaker, either.

According to my understand of the rule, the turn sequence should be like this:

A player can choose (A) or (B):
A) Trade stocks (buy and/or sell stocks) -> Move Pawn
B) Move Pawn -> Trade stocks (buy and/or sell stocks)

A player cannot trade stocks before AND after moving a pawn. He can trade before moving OR trade after moving.

I don't know if it's the official way of playing but I play like above.

Cheers,
Star

Thread: Buying and selling in the same turn ?

Pyjam — 2007-09-29T07:46:23+00:00

Hello,

English is not my native language. I would like to know if I can buy actions, then move the pawn, then sell actions. Thanks

Pyjam

Thread: Re: Maximum Number Of Stocks

Zman — 2007-09-15T18:07:49+00:00

skeletodoc wrote:
Zev..............do the rules say you can buy and sell stock both before and after your turn? My son was buying stock, rolling die after purple pawn move and then selling them after the roll which raised their price. This seems excessive. I think you can buy and/or sell only one time, either before the pawn move or after, but not both. What say you?

****I answered Anthony but I'll repeat it here. You can buy and/or sell stocks only before OR after your move. Not both before AND after.

Zev Shlasinger, President
Z-Man Games, Inc.
www.zmangames.com

Thread: Re: Maximum Number Of Stocks

LemonyFresh — 2007-09-13T13:14:05+00:00

Official word from pub - you may not trade both before and after, you must choose one or the other.

Thread: Re: Maximum Number Of Stocks

LemonyFresh — 2007-09-12T01:32:05+00:00

My feeling is it has to be strictly before OR after, otherwise you can seriously cheese up the Dividend space (sell out of your current position, buy allll the dividend stock you can, take the dividend, buy back your original position).

Though, we'll see.

Thread: Re: [Review] Owner's Choice

owll — 2007-08-10T19:28:14+00:00

I got the game today and I agree totally with your Review. It is a refreshing good little game...even my non-gaming wife thought it was cute and fast.

Thanks for the review...

Owll

Thread: Re: Maximum Number Of Stocks

rcrawford — 2007-08-09T11:58:25+00:00

We just played this for the first time the other night and really enjoyed it. We also questioned if we could make a stock trade both before and after moving the action pawn. The rules say "or" so we decided that it could only be done before or after moving the pawn, not both. However, the previous post from Z-Man suggests you can trade in both. Would like to see a clarification of this.

--Robert Crawford