Acquire was part of a series of bookshelf games released by the 3M Corporation. It was released in the mid-1960s, and is one of the best of the series. It was the first of the business simulation games in the line of bookshelf games. The rules are fairly simple, but the gameplay can be incredibly complex.
The basic premise of the game is that you are an entrepeneur who is creating hotel chains. You do this by placing tiles onto the gameboard. Each tile contains a number and a letter (i.e. 1-A, 7-G, 2-C, etc.) corresponding to one of the spaces on the gameboard. Numbers range from 1 to 12, and letters range from A to I. If you place two or more tiles next to each other, they form a chain. A chain is represented by placing the tile containing the first letter of its name on top of the tiles representing to hotel. There are only 7 chains, and if all have been created, you can't place a tile that will create a chain. The 7 chains are (in order of stock price): Tower, Luxor, American, Worldwide, Festival, Imperial, and Continental.
The object of the game is to collect the most money. You collect money through the purchase of stock. The price of a stock is determined by the size of a chain (number of tiles) and by the price level of the chain (there are three levels, with two chains on the upper and lower levels, and three in the middle). You earn money from your stock when it cashes out. Stocks cash out at the end of the game, or when two hotel chains are merged by the placement of a tile that connects two already existing chains. Upon the merging of two chains, the person with the majority of the shares gets a bonus, and the second majority also gets a bonus, equal to half of the majority bonus. These bonuses are also related to the number of tiles in the chain. After the merger, you can either sell your stock, or trade it for the new company's stock, at a rate of 2 to 1. Once a chain has 11 or more tiles in it, it is considered "safe," and cannot be merged.
Gameplay can be very complex, and the game can be very interesting. Games magazine rates this game as one of its all time classics.