Stock market reduction

We’ve been playing 1889 lately (3 games in three days). It sparked the following game notion (and thus the creation of this category):

  • Something akin to an 1830-esque 2D stock market
  • A fairly large deck of cards, each card bearing the name of a company and an arrow (right, left, up, down)
    • Some cards may have double arrows
  • The deck of cards is shuffled and some number are laid out in an ordered draught pool
    • The draught pool should be long, providing a long view into the future.
  • One their turn a player may: 1. Buy one share
    • If all shares of a company are in player’s hands at the end of a round, the stock value moves up a row 1. Sell any number of shares
    • On share sales, stock value moves down one row per sold share 1830-style 1. Play one or two cards from their hand
    • Each played card affects the stock value of the names company by moving its stock value in the arrowed direction
    • Assume a smallish hand-size limit, perhaps 5 1. Draught any two cards from the pool
    • As soon as a card is draughted a new card is drawn and added to the new end of the draught pool
    • The oldest card is free
    • If one of the new cards is draughted the draughting player must place $N on each older card in the draught pool, sweetening those cards for later players
    • If a card bearing money is draughted the draughting player takes the money
  • The Game is played until the card deck is exhausted
  • The deck is then inverted (no shuffling) and the game continues through the ordered deck
  • Once the draught deck is exhausted the game is over
    • Players cash in their shares
    • Player with the largest net worth wins

Possible extension:

  • Instead of the cards bearing a company and an arrow, have two decks, one of companies and another of arrows and players must draught one card from each deck’s pool and play two cards (one of each) on their turn