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Goal

Buy properties at auction as cheaply as you can, then sell them for checks. At the end your checks score their value and each money card you have left scores 1. The highest score wins.

Cards

The properties are the spades and clubs of one pack, Ace to King. The checks are the hearts and diamonds of the same pack. Each player’s money is one suit from another pack, Ace to 8. There are no Jokers.

Ranking

Properties rank from Ace (low) to King (high). At the same rank a spade beats a club, so the lowest property is the A♣ and the highest is the K♠.

A check is worth its rank: the Ace is 1, 2 to 10 as marked, the Jack 11, the Queen 12, and the King 13. Money is worth its rank the same way when you bid and pay, with the Ace worth 1.

Setup

Shuffle the properties and the checks separately. Without looking, set 2 of each aside, or 1 of each with 5 players. They’re not used. Each player takes their money face up.

Play

1. An auction. Turn up one property for each player. In turn, each player either raises the high bid or passes. A bid is a number: at least 1, higher than the bid before it, and no more than the money you hold. If you can’t raise, you pass.
2. Passing. When you pass you’re out of this auction. Take the lowest property on the table and pay half your own bid, rounded down. Passing before you bid, or after a bid of 1, costs nothing.
3. The last player in takes the last property, which is the highest, and pays their whole bid. They start the next auction.
4. Paying. If one of your money cards is worth exactly what you owe, you pay with that card. Otherwise pay with money cards worth at least what you owe. You get no change, and every card you pay has to count: if you could take one back and still cover the amount, take it back. Paid money is out of the game.
5. Selling. Once every property is bought, put your money away: from here on only how many money cards you have left counts. Turn up one check for each player. Everyone picks one of their properties in secret, and all reveal together. The highest property takes the highest check, the next highest takes the next, and so on down. Sold properties are out of the game. Repeat until every property is sold.

Scoring

Add up your checks, then add 1 point for each money card you have left, whatever its rank. The highest total wins. A tie goes to the player with more money cards left, and players still tied share the win.

Playing with your own deck

Use a second pack with a different back for the money, so a money card never gets mixed in with the properties. With 5 or 6 players, a third pack supplies the extra money suits. Keep your money face up in front of you, and play your pick in a sale face down until everyone is ready.

How this version differs

• Cards stand in for everything. There are 26 properties and 26 checks instead of 30 of each, so the game with 4 to 6 players has one round fewer. Checks run from 1 to 13, two of each, instead of $0 and $2,000 to $15,000.
• Money is cards, and you get no change. Each player starts with 36 (Ace to 8) instead of $18,000 or $14,000 in coins, and pays with the cards they hold. A card worth exactly what you owe pays it.
• Each money card left scores 1. The published game adds your leftover coins at their value. Here a money card scores 1 whatever its rank, so its rank only matters for bidding and paying.
• Passing pays half the bid rounded down, as in the original 1997 edition. The Gryphon edition rounds the payment up.
• Everyone’s money is on the table. The published rules suggest keeping it secret.
• Set-aside cards. 2 properties and 2 checks come out at 3, 4, and 6 players, and 1 of each at 5. The published game removes 6 of each at 3 players, 2 at 4, and none at 5 or 6.