Hey all, working on a property auction game and created an auction mechanic. Searched high and low, but haven’t found it elsewhere yet. Was hoping to tap the wisdom of the crowd about: a) whether it exists already and b) any feedback you may have.
Here’s how it could work: Players representing different organizations hold numbered cards in their hands (say 1-12) that represent multiple currencies (money, political influence, etc). Players have asymmetrical powers, so the corporation might be able to use all cards as $ and only some cards as influence, but the gov’t might be able to use all cards as influence and only some as $. A property is put up for auction. Players that want to bid on the property can place as many blind bids as they have currencies, so, let’s say two blind bids: one for the cost of the property and one for the amount of political influence the player wants to exert. Players that pass cannot join back in. Once all players have placed bids or passed, bids are revealed simultaneously. Combined highest total wins. Winning $ card is spent (i.e., removed from the game). All losing $ cards and political influence get discarded. Another property is placed up for auction and so on. A limited number of times per game, players can reclaim their discards, so they must be judicious with when to place bids and whether/how much to bluff. Each property has a VP amount. There are bonus VPs for sets.
I’m aware of Revolution!, where there are three separate currencies you could bid (money, blackmail, force) that have a hierarchical relationship. Also Fist of Dragonstones, where you bid gold, but, if there’s a tie, bid again with silver. Also Turandot, where you can choose to bid money in addition to an opera card as a preemptive tiebreaker (and bluffing technique). None are quite what I’m thinking of.
Curious for any feedback, thanks!
Ah, interesting point. In that case, there could be three categories for played cards: 1) Winning $ card, which is removed from the game (i.e., spent, can’t be used again) 2) Losing $ card, which goes back into the losing player’s hand (i.e., not spent, can be used again immediately), 3) All Influence cards, which go into each player’s discard pile (i.e., spent, can’t be used again immediately) and can be reclaimed a certain amount of times/game.
I think I’d also add a rule that, in order for Influence to count in the total bid, the player’s $ bid must be within X amount of the highest $ bid. Thematically, it wouldn’t make sense that a very small bid beats a large bid just because of influence. This would also further distinguish the two currencies.