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RPGnet.com
Shannon Appelcline
November 2005
USA
Gavitt's Stock Exchange comes as an
authentic 1903(!) game packed in a 2004 tin with some additional
material.
1903 Game: The original GSE game comes with a set of 49
cards, a rulesheet, and two ads for the game in a tuckbox.
Cards. The cards are medium-weight with a stiff lamination.
The corners are just barely rounded, which would be pretty
unusual in modern designs. They're printed one color: red
on the back, black on the front. Each one lists a stock (e.g., "Rock
Isl'd R.R."), a value (e.g., "$225"), and
has some game graphics in the middle.
The cards are a little harder to distinguish from each other
than I would have liked and the prices aren't very big and
thus not something I factored into someone of my hands, but
the cards are overall pretty period pieces.
The Rules. A rulesheet explaining the game. It's fine, but
there's a more modern one in the tin.
Ads & Box. The ads are additional glossy sheets featuring
news articles and other period info on the game. The tuckbox
is also filled with advertising ("The Great College
and Society Card Game ... Corner the Burlesque Stock Market").
These are both entirely delightful because they give a really
strong impression of the period in which the game was played.
It reminds me of "Burma Shave" ads and others that
were written in a type of language that you just don't see
any more.
2003 Game: The new version of the game is packaged in a
nice collector's tin. It also includes a new rulebook.
Rules. The new rules come as a glossy three-fold rulesheet.
It's full color, though that's not used much. The rules here
are easier to read and follow than the original, and also
change the rules a bit (lowering the victory conditions,
adding rules for ties, and dropping a few silly rules for
how you could lose points, as by not speaking "in a
tone at least twice as loud as he generally talks when offering
a trade").
Overall, OTB's Heirloom Games line is a great method to
package classic games, showing the original design and simultaneously
updating them for the present. The original GSE with its
monochromatic, plain cards can't possibly stand up to the
expectations of modern gamers. However, with a 101 year span
between the original publication of GSE and this one, the
components now do stand out as a wonderful and enjoyable
artifact of their time. As such I've given Gavitt's Stock
Exchange a "4" out of "5" for Style.
The object of Gavitt's Stock Exchange is to gather all or
a majority of the railroad cards making up a stock.
Setup: The deck of GSE is made up of 6 stocks with 8 cards
each. To start a game a number of stocks equal to the number
of players (3-6) are separated out to form the game deck.
Then each player is dealt 8 cards.
Playing: GSE is a simultaneous real-time game. Each player
may either offer 1 or 2 cards for trade at any time; if he
offers 2 cards they must be a matched set. Another player
may exchange the same number of cards with him.
Ending a Round: A round of play ends when someone gets a
complete set of 8 cards of a stock through adroit play. Any
player who has managed to collect a majority (5 cards) of
a stock scores that stock's value. The player who ended the
round by collecting a complete set of stock earns double
the stock's value.
Ending the Game: The game ends when someone exceeds 1000
points through multiple rounds of play. (The original game
went to 2500.)
Gavitt's Stock Exchange (1903) was perhaps the earliest
simultaneous action set collection game. The next year the
largely identical game Pit (1904) was released; in the years
that followed Pit flourished and Gavitt's Stock Exchange
disappeared ... until its reappearence in 2003.
Similar simultaneous-action, trading set-collection games
include: Zaster (1978), a Pit variant; Zaubercocktail (2001);
and Reiner Knizia's Wheedle (2002), also published by Out
of the Box.
Simultaneus action is a pretty rare genre in board & card
games. Others that I've reviewed include Light Speed (2003)
and Tom Jolly's Camelot (2005) my general experience is that
the mechanic can add a lot to a simple game.
Gavitt's Stock Exchange was the first release in Out of
the Box's Heirloom Games series, publishing older American
games in authentic reproductions; the second release in the
series is Harry's Grand Slam Baseball Game.
Gavitt's Stock Exchange surprised me. I wasn't expecting
a lot out of a 100+ year old American-designed card game,
but it actually really holds up to the test of time. At core,
it's just plain fun to play. The trading is exciting, frustrating,
and amusing at the same time. Beyond that, there is some
real opportunity for strategy. If you can keep a level head,
and figure out what a player is giving away you can often
get the precise cards you want by forcing trades with that
player.
Granted, the game is light, and you don't have a lot of
control over things. Nonetheless, Gavitt's Stock Exchange
rises above its position as a nolstalgic reprint; it's well
worth playing too.
As a light filler Gavitt's Stock Exchange earns a "4" out
of "5" for Substance.
Gavitt's Stock Exchange is a beautiful reprint of
a hundred year-old American game, the first in Out of the Box's Heirloom
Games series. The Victorian era packaging (and ads)
are all humorous and insightful, an interesting look into an era
several generations gone. However, the game is also
enjoyable to play. There's not a lot of depth to this simultaneous-action
trading filler, but it's a lot of fun to play & it does
allow some strategic play.
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