Achoir is free and open source!

Achoir is my unofficial computer adaptation of the classic Sid Sackson boardgame, Acquire. Like any great board game, Sackson’s Acquire is one of emergent complexity from simple rules. But unlike most other greats, Acquire’s rules are more than just simple, they are elegant. The gameplay is more than just complex, it is surprising. Sackson didn’t achieve these heights in all the games he designed, but he did so more than most, and Acquire is one of those successes, perhaps his greatest.

I decided to make my computer adaptation of Acquire for many reasons, and first among them is my appreciation for the game and the designer. But second was the practical fact that, having just completed work on adapting The Manhattan Project I found myself suddenly very well positioned to do it again for a different game.

So that’s how Achoir came to be. Simply put, I love the game, and the opportunity presented itself. Over the years the trajectory of Achoir matched that of The Manhattan Project, in that sadly, it was eventually was delisted from mobile platforms, but also happily, I have since made it freely available on PC along with its source code.

Today, in 2023, I still sometimes get emails and message from people telling me how much they love my version of the game. For example, a few years back, I learned that one user had played the game over 500 times! And more recently, I had this conversation on reddit, from a kind user that still plays the game all these years later!

Additional Screenshots

Early Screenshots

For posterity, here is what the game looked like in early development: