Even though this is a game for adults, my kids (3 and 6 yo) are always fascinated by the game, which includes lots of plastic tiles with numbers and letters on them, and big colorful buildings. The fact that the kids can easily place the tiles on the board and build things with them makes them eager to play the game. Rather than tell them that it's just too complicated I made up some rules that make for a fun game that they can easily understand and only takes about 15 minutes to play. I'm including the rules for anyone interested in playing this game with their young children. I'm also assuming you already know how to play the regular version of the game.
1. The youngest player goes first. He or she takes 4 tiles and places all 4 of them on the board. The next player does the same and so on. We use 4 tiles per play for the first round or two. After that, we usually switch to each player placing just 3 tiles per play.
2. If a player places a tile next to another tile already on the board, they create a corporation. They choose one of the buildings that are not already on the board, place it on the tile they just played, and take 2 shares of stocks. (If, in forming this new corporation, they are joining 3 or more tiles, they take one share for each tile in this new corporation.)
3. If two corporations merge, the smaller corporation is merged out and the player gets to take a share of the remaining corporation for every new tile added to this corporation. For example, if a player places a tile that joins Sackson (with 4 tiles) and Phoenix (with 3 tiles), they would remove the Phoenix building from the board and receive 4 shares of Sackson (1 for the new tile they just played and three for the tiles that used to be Phoenix). Players who have Phoenix stock simply hold on to this stock.
4. If all corporations are on the board and someone plays a tile that adjoins another, non-incorporated tile, no new corporation is formed. (In the actual rules, a player would be unable to play this tile.) This can lead to fairly big new corporations being created later on. For example, let's say that the tiles 1a, 2a, and 3a are on the board, unincorporated. Then a merger happens, freeing up Sackson. If a player were to play 2b, they can place Sackson back on the board and would receive 4 shares of Saxon stock.
5. There is no buying or selling of stocks. Money isn't used at all in this version of the game, except as an award to the winner. This is quite a compelling offer for my kids. They love getting a huge stack of money at the end of the game.
6. As in the real game, a corporation is safe from merger once it reaches 11 tiles.
7. Once a corporation runs out of shares, the game is over. The winner is the player with the most number of shares. I've tried playing past this point but the game really stops being interesting for the kids. This seems like the best place to stop.
As you can see, there is almost no strategy to this game. It's purely luck of the draw, which makes it easy for kids to understand. I say "almost" no strategy because there is some. I've found that it's best to look at all of your tiles before playing one. For example, if you have tile 4a, which can merge out two corporations and another tile (3b) that can be added to the smaller corporation, then it's better to play 3b first, to get a share of the existing corporation, before merging it out. So you'd get a share of the smaller corporation for playing 3b and then you'd get a share of the larger corporation once it merges out for that same tile.
Anyway, those are the rules. I find that kids are way into this game for one game. Mine often ask to play it again immediately after the first game is over but inevitably they lose interest about halfway through.
Once a week or so I take Sadie on a date to our local grocery store (Harris Teeter). We have a tea party of sorts with free cookies and Starbucks espresso. Sadie likes to dunk her cookie into her espresso shot. This is just one of the valuable life lessons I've taught her.
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