PUBLISHED GAMES OF SID SACKSON

(A through B)

   with commentary by Nick Sauer and Herb Levy

Acquire:

   There is not much to say that hasn't already been said about this classic game. This is easily Sid's most famous design. The wood piece set shown here is an early 3M printing of the game. The game would later be published by Avalon Hill and Hasbro in America and Schmidt in Germany.

   One interesting note is a variant that Schmidt planned to publish but, never did. It would have been called Acquire '97 and featured a modified board that was 12 by 10 spaces instead of the standard 12 by 9. The board was split into four quadrants of A1 through E6 each. Tiles were placed via a deck of cards that featured each space four times. Thus, a card gave a player four possible locations to play a tile at the start of the game.  It would be nice to see this Sid approved variant published in the future. - NS

   Before 3M settled on their standard bookshelf box size, they experimented with other sizes for many of their games. (For example, early editions of  Oh Wah Ree, High Bid, Phlounder and Jumpin appeared in boxes shorter, fatter, smaller [depending on the game] from the standard bookshelf box.)  One of the early Acquire editions came in a taller box (same artwork as the version shown on the right, though). This edition had wooden pieces as some of the other early editions had. Besides the size of the box, what separates this edition from the others is the board/grid. The grid for the tiles displays a map of the world which gave the game an "international" flavor and "background" for merging hotel chains. This difference makes this game a very desirable addition for collectors of the 3M line of games as well as fans of the games of Sid Sackson. - HL

   Acquire went through many editions. The new Avalon Hill (Avalon Hill/Hasbro) issued a new, deluxe, edition of Acquire in 1999 (shown on the right). The production was first rate with thick plastic tiles, a molded plastic grid to hold them and big, three-dimensional markers. Although game play (thankfully) remained the same, there were a few changes. The theme underwent a slight change. This was no longer a game of hotel mergers. Instead, in keeping with the times, this new edition became a game of CORPORATION mergers. Also, this edition awarded Sid a special recognition. One of the corporations in the game was renamed "Sackson". - HL 

ALF Games:

   These were given out by Burger King as part of a kid's meal give away in 1988.  These are activity kits that include records, activity books, hand puppets, and games.  The games were designed by Sid and are very much children's fare.  There were four sets in total.  The set missing from the above picture is ALF's Melmac Beach Party.  If anyone happens to have a copy, I would be interested in acquiring it. - NS

Bazaar:

   This game was first published by 3M in 1967. It has since been reprinted by Discovery Toys in America and by Parker Brothers, Schmidt and Klee in Germany. The most interesting version is the Germany PB edition which was retitled to Bierborse and featured beer bottle caps as opposed to the more standard trading stones. The game was originally designed by Sid to teach his children basic algebra and the game looks very much like this is the case. In spite of this it is an interesting and fun little trading game. The basic engine from this game would be used much later by Sid for the game Business by Relaxx in 1999.- NS

Bazaar II:

   This was published by Schmidt in 1980.  The story that I was told was that Schmidt apparently wanted to reprint Sid's 3M classic Bazaar but, was unable to secure the rights to do so.  Sid, being the accommodating designer that he was, told Schmidt that he could design them another game to be called Bazaar. They accepted and the rest is history. The game is a trading game that is not even remotely related to the original 3M title.  Players move around a map buying, trading, and eventually selling goods. The first player to reach $5,000 wins the game.  Abacus and Rio Grande Games would later reissue this as Samarkand with a number of changes made based upon their playtesting of the original game. (See the Samarkand entry for a more detailed description of the differences in the rules.) - NS

Blockade:

   This was published as Sly by Amway in 1975 and later in Germany as Blockade by Butehorn in 1979 and by Hexagames in 1985.  The game is actually six games that use the same board and pieces.  The games are: Blockade, Empire, Gateway, Line Up, Sniggle, and Solitaire Sly.  Sniggle would later be reissued as Flotte Krabbe by Abacus in 1991 in their white box line.  Compare the board and pieces in this game to Realm (below) with which he collaborated with Phil Orbanes on two years earlier and you can see what Sid toyed with to make the games in Blockade.   

BuyWord:

   Interesting combination of money management and word building. Letters are given values (denoted by dots on the bottom of each letter). Players buy letters in order to make words to then sell the words to make more money to buy more letters to make more words. Short words can generate some money but longer words result in bigger payoffs. The game actually plays like simultaneous solitaire as you constantly challenge yourself to devise bigger words. Interaction is more subtle as you try to keep letters other players may need by outbidding them. 

   Played this in prototype form with Sid and Bernice. Sid told me that although he liked the game (as did others he played it with), he couldn't get the game placed with any company. According to the "powers that be", word games were not in demand and not worth publishing unless they were called Scrabble and Boggle! The game was finally published, posthumously, by Face 2 Face Games and was named Game of the Year by GAMES magazine! - HL

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