For Sale

Phase 1: you ante coin chips into the middle to bid on a row of property cards (values 1-30), one ascending-auction round at a time, choosing each turn whether to raise or pass. When you pass you take the lowest remaining property and reclaim half your committed coins (rounded down per Dorra's preferred rule). Phase 2: you reveal one property face-down simultaneously with everyone else to claim the highest available cheque card. The whole game is two stacks of cards and a pile of coins — pure information, almost no fiddly bookkeeping.

Phase 1 (Buying): each round, N property cards (N = player count) are revealed; players ante up to bid in turn-order-until-pass; passers take the lowest remaining property and refund half their bid; the last bidder takes the highest property paying full price. Repeat until the property deck is exhausted and every player owns a hand of properties. Phase 2 (Selling): each round, N cheque cards (values $0-$15) are revealed; players simultaneously play one property face-down; reveal — highest property takes highest cheque, second-highest takes second-highest, etc. Ties broken by tiebreaker rules. Game ends when properties are all sold; player with most money (remaining coins + cheque values) wins.

Phase 1 decisions: when to pass (taking the lowest property and recouping half your bid) versus when to push (committing more coins to win a high-value property). The math is sharp — if you bid 6 and pass, you net a low property at a cost of 3 coins; if you push to 10 and win, you got the top property at 10 coins. You're constantly pricing properties relative to opponents' coin stacks and the spread of remaining cards. Phase 2 decisions: which property to play against which cheque-spread — dump your low properties into low-cheque rounds, save your top ones for fat cheque windows. Option space per decision is small (3-6 plays) but tradeoffs are sharp.

Dominant skill is auction-theoretic pricing: reading the value gap between properties on offer, the coins remaining among opponents, and the bluff-discount on passing early. Second is opponent reading — late-game Phase 1, you can sometimes infer who has the strong property hand and counter-time them in Phase 2. Third is risk-curve modeling: knowing when a 28-card is worth pushing for vs accepting a 12-card cheaply. Almost no memory or math complexity (additions to ~50). Weak players overpay early when coins are 'plentiful'; strong players track relative coin stacks and play passive-aggressive in Phase 1 to bank for surprise raises.

Pretend to be a 1990s real-estate flipper bidding on cardboard houses ranging from a cardboard box (1) to a space station (30), then selling them when the market is hot. Quick, breezy, the theme is window dressing.

Überplay/Gryphon edition: cartoony Tom Murphy whimsical illustrations of properties (outhouse, igloo, castle, UFO) with bright primary palette and gag-comic energy. The art is the joke — a 1 is a literal cardboard box, a 30 is a space station — and reinforces the casual-light tone.