Acquire FAQ
51 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
Game Terms
Setup
Placing Tiles and Founding Corporations
- Is playing a building tile mandatory every turn in Acquire?
- In what order do you place a tile, buy stock and draw in Acquire?
- If a tile joins two or more unincorporated tiles and a headquarters is still free, must you found a corporation?
- Can you play a tile that would found an eighth corporation once all seven headquarters are in play?
- If a tile connects a corporation to a single unattached tile, is that a merger?
- If the tile you place founds, grows and merges nothing, can you still buy stock and draw?
- Can a player found a corporation on the first turn after setup?
Unplayable Tiles and Drawing
- When can you set aside permanently unplayable tiles and draw replacements?
- Can you place a building tile that would merge two safe corporations?
- What happens if every tile in your hand is unplayable at the start of your turn?
- Can you discard your whole hand and draw six new tiles when none of your tiles can be played?
- What happens when the draw pile of building tiles runs out?
Buying Stock
- How many stocks can you buy in one turn, and can all of them be in one corporation?
- Is the stock price based on the corporation's size before or after a merger?
- Can you sell stock back to the bank during your turn outside a merger?
- Can players trade stock or money directly with each other in Acquire?
- If every stock card of a corporation is owned, can you still buy that corporation's stock?
Mergers
- Can a player cause a merger even if they own no stock in the merging corporations?
- When three or more corporations merge, which smaller corporation is dealt with first?
- If the two merging corporations are the same size, which one survives?
- After a merger, is the defunct corporation's size counted before or after the merge for bonuses and the sale price?
- After a merger, what can you do with your stock in the defunct corporation?
- What happens if the surviving corporation has no stock left for the two-for-one trade after a merger?
- Can you trade a single defunct share for a share of the surviving corporation?
- When a corporation is absorbed, are its tiles removed from the board?
Stockholder Bonuses
- Are stockholder bonuses multiplied by the number of stocks a player holds, and who pays them?
- If only one player owns stock in a defunct corporation, do they get both stockholder bonuses?
- How are stockholder bonuses split when two players tie for primary, secondary or tertiary?
- How are bonuses split when three players tie for the primary stockholder bonus?
- How are bonuses paid when two players tie for primary and two others tie for secondary?
- Do newer Acquire editions pay a tertiary stockholder bonus, unlike older ones?
The End of the Game
- Does the game end when one corporation reaches 38 tiles or 41 tiles?
- Must a player declare the game over once the end conditions are met?
- After someone declares the game over, can they finish their turn and buy stock?
- Do corporations not yet on the board count when checking whether all active corporations are safe?
- Does the game end when all corporations on the board are safe, even if no new corporation could be founded?
- How is the game scored at the end, including bonuses for corporations still on the board?
- How is a tie for the most money at game end resolved in Acquire?
- Can a player earn money outside mergers and the end of the game?
Playing a Two-Player Game
Editions and Variants
- Do you have to use the special powers in the 60th Anniversary Edition?
- Do owners of the 2023 edition get the special powers cards without buying the 60th Anniversary Edition?
- Are the hotel flags optional in the 60th Anniversary Edition?
- Is there one official set of Acquire rules that every edition follows?
- Are the rules of the 1993 Schmidt Spiel edition the same as the other editions?