On the 3rd day before Christmas, we want to share our top 5 Auction/Bidding games that we love playing. This mechanic requires you to bid on items in an auction of goods in order to enhance your position in the game. These goods allow players future actions or improve a position. Besides using critical thinking and logical thinking skills, auctions test our ability to communicate and convince skillfully get what we want or to dissuade someone from achieving their goals.
5. Condottiere: These are hired swords contracted to fight for individual city-states known as a condotta. To do this players auction off different provinces on the board and bid on these provinces with a hand of cards representing mercenaries, seasons, scarecrows, and political figures. Unlike standard auctions in which only the highest bidder loses their bid, in Condottiere every player loses their bid. Players are, in effect, bidding the number of troops they are willing to lose in order to win a province. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/112/condottiere
4. No Thanks! is a card game where players have 2 options: play one of their chips to avoid picking up the current face-up card or pick up the face-up card (along with any chips played on that card). However, the choices aren't so easy as players compete to have the lowest score at the end of the game. Runs of 2 or more cards only count as the lowest value in the run, so look for connectors. Each chip is worth -1 point, but they can be even more valuable by allowing you to avoid drawing an unwanted card.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12942/no-thanks
3. Power Grid: The game is to supply the most cities with power by marking pre-existing routes between cities for connection, and then bidding against each other to purchase the power plants to power their cities. However, as plants are purchased, more efficient plants become available, so by merely purchasing, you're potentially allowing others access to superior equipment. Additionally, players must acquire the raw materials needed to power said plants, making it a constant struggle to upgrade for efficiency while retaining wealth to expand your network.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2651/power-grid
2. Modern Art: Buying and selling paintings can be a very lucrative business. 5 different artists have produced a bunch of paintings, and it's the player's task to be both the buyer and the seller, hopefully making a profit in both roles. He does this by putting a painting from his hand up for auction each turn. He gets the money if some other player buys it, but must pay the bank if he buys it for himself. After each round, paintings are valued by the number of paintings of that type that were sold.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/118/modern-art
1. For Sale: is a quick, fun game nominally about buying and selling real estate. During the game's two distinct phases, players first bid for several buildings then, after all buildings have been bought, sell the buildings for the greatest profit possible.
