The Armchair Empire
Danny Webb
April 2004
USA

Wheedle from Out of the Box is fast paced stock trading game that is fun the first play “out of the box”, but grows even stronger after repeated play. In Wheedle, players are dealt a random hand of stocks and then trade them in an attempt to fill their hand with majorities. The number of stocks available in each company is printed clearly on the cards, with each stock numbering 5, 7, or 9. When any player trades so that every stock in his or her hand is a majority, they declare an end to trading and the points are tallied. Players earn one point for each stock in their hand that is part of a majority or two points for each stock if they have managed to collect every stock from a company.  

To this point the game may sound like a glorified version of Go Fish, but it is far more dynamic than that for a couple of reasons. First, all trading is done simultaneously. When trading is open, everyone begins shouting out what they are looking for and what they have for trade. Anyone who has played the Parker Bros. classic Pit will be familiar with the hectic, noisy environment this creates—think the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, only with 4 to 6 people and you'll just about have it.

The second factor that keeps the game action packed is the Bankruptcy card that is dealt to the center of the table before trading begins. During the game, any player can trade for the bankruptcy card by placing another card on the table beside it and picking up the current card. When the round ends, whichever company is represented by the center card is considered bankrupt and all stocks in that company become worth -1 points. This means it is always important to keep an eye on the center card while trading, giving the game the feeling of constant pressure. It is particularly devastating to be working on a set of one of the “9” stocks and then have trading end while that stock is on the table.

Though the center card is one of the strengths of the game after a number of plays, at first it can be a bit of a drag. New players can be so focused on the center card that trading slows to a crawl, something that never happens in Pit. After players have a chance to polish up on the multi-tasking skills, however, trading becomes more active and fluid. It helps that a player is unlikely to win a round by trading exclusively with the middle.

The only other complaint our group has with the game involves the company names. The rules instruct players to handle trades by calling out company names: “Anyone have two Hard Cell Phones they are willing to trade?” Nearly to a man (and woman) our group felt the names were too long and clumsy compared to the stripped down trades of Pit where all that the players are yelling out is the number of cards they are looking for. To remedy this, we have taken to using the color of the company's card instead: “I need two orange; I've got three purple.” This change robs the game of its stock trading theme a bit, but we've found that it speeds things up considerably.

A complete game of Wheedle takes around 15 to 20 minutes with every second filled to the brim with action. We've been using it as a regular opener and/or closer of our sessions for almost a year now and no one seems to have grown tired of it. So, anyone looking for a fast-paced, hectic card game might want to give Out of the Box's Wheedle a try.

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