Equity is a quirky but fun auction game from Intuitive Games in Norway. It's one of the games we picked up at Spiel Essen. It's an economic game where the 3-5 players are competing to be the first to amass $50,000 in cash and acquire a luxury yacht. Players can buy stock. It won't form part of your end-game wealth but it will give you income each round during the course of the game; the more you have of a particular stock, the better your return, so this contributes a set collection element to the game. Dividend income is subject to the multiplier rolled on a standard d6 so the returns can be very substantial, especially if you've managed to get hold of several stocks in the same business. Because of this, Equity is a game that's bound to involve 'hate drafting', where players bid for a stock they don't particularly want just to prevent an opponent who already has that stock from adding to their potential income, and of course to force up the price.
There's a rondel that indicates when yachts can be bought and determines the nature of each auction; for example, whether it's a conventional auction or one involving blind bids. And when you win an auction, you always take a card that may offer you bonus income or a potentially profitable trading opportunity; for example, guaranteeing you a generous price for a work of art by a specified artist. The contents of these action cards are hidden from other players, so there's plenty of scope for bluffing and deduction as you try to work out what others are especially keen to buy. Some cards can also be played on an opponent; for example, to hit them with a fine.
There's even more scope for deduction and misdirection when you hit the Insider Dealing round. Here players are bidding for cards without knowing their value, which could be zero. Players will have limited information from cards they are dealt; so, for example, if I'm dealt a card with the zero value then I can safely conclude that the card being auctioned will have an actual value. Other players won't have the same information but they may be able to make reasoned deductions from another player's bidding; but, of course, that other player may be bluffing to try to get their opponents to overpay...
Tho' there's a fair amount of bidding variety in Equity, it's easy to play. We especially like the way it ramps up; as players acquire multiples of the same stock there's more money in the game and more at stake in each auction. Likewise, the action cards players collect with successful bids adds a steadily increasing amount of inside information to each player.
Equity uses Monopoly-style paper money, which some will find annoying, but it's otherwise beautifully produced. It comes with engraved wood tokens for the yachts and it's packaged in a neat wooden box. If you have difficulty finding a copy at your local games store, you can order direct from the publishers at https://equityboardgame.com