How to Play: Stockpile

BGG  Amazon

Hi! This is Ambie from Board Game Blitz, and today, I'm gonna show you how to play Stockpile.

Place the game board in the middle of the table. This is the regular side of the board - the advanced version is on the other side. Put the turn marker on the calendar space corresponding to the number of players. Put a stock ticker on the starting value of each stock - the darker circles.

Shuffle the company cards and the forecast cards and put them next to the board. Put the currency cards next to the board too.

Each player gets a bidding meeple and player board of their color, along with $20,000.

Get one of each of the six different company stocks from the Market Deck and deal one randomly to each player, who puts it face down on their stock portfolio spot. Shuffle the remaining market cards into the Market Deck and place it next to the board.

The player who paid the most for their previous meal is the starting player and gets the first player token. Play goes clockwise.

The goal of the game is to get the most net worth. Throughout the game, you’ll be buying and selling shares of stocks in different companies to try to get the most money. At the end of the game you’ll get a bonus for being the majority shareholder in a company, and you’ll also liquidate your shares to total up your money.

The game lasts a number of rounds depending on the number of players. Each round, you’ll get forecast insider information, you’ll buy stockpiles of market cards, you’ll be able to sell stocks, and then the stock prices will move based on the forecast.

At the beginning of each round, deal a Company card and Forecast card to each player. This is secret insider information that shows how that company’s stock will perform at the end of the round. Then put one company card and one forecast card face up on the board, with the rest of the cards face down next to the board - they will be paired off at the end of the round.

You get shares from these stock cards, which are from the market deck. Each round, there will be one stockpile per player. One card will be dealt face up to each stockpile location, and then each player gets dealt 2 cards from the market deck to place into stockpiles.

In turn order, each player plays both their two cards - one face up, and one face down, on any stock pile. You can place them in the same pile or separate piles, but one must be face up and one face down.

After everyone has placed their cards, there are now complete stockpiles that players will bid on. In turn order, choose a stock pile, and place your bidding meeple on one of the numbers of the bidding track for that pile. You cannot bid more money than you have, and you must bid above any currently placed bidding meeples for that pile. If someone outbids you, when it comes to your turn again you can place your bidding meeple again. If you’re still the highest bidder when it comes to your turn, you cannot move your meeple. Bidding ends when each bidding track has one meeple on it. Then you all pay the amount of your bid and get the contents of the stock pile.

There are three types of cards in the market deck - stock cards, actions, and trading fees. If your pile has any trading fees, you must immediately pay them to the bank in addition to your bid, and then discard the card. If you don’t have enough money, keep the trading fee card and pay the fee when you receive enough money, then discard the card. Any stock cards you get go to your portfolio face down. These are the shares you own.

Next, action cards are used. You have to use all your action cards you got from the stockpile that round. In turn order, each player plays all their action cards. Action cards allow you to choose one company and move that stock’s price up or down 2 spaces.

After actions, players can decide to sell shares. In turn order, each player can sell any number of shares they have by discarding them and getting money equal to the current stock price for each share.

Finally, the companies move on the stock markets according to the forecasts that were dealt at the beginning of the round. Each player reveals their company and forecast cards and moves that stock accordingly. The face-up company and forecast card also gets moved, as well as the remaining companies - each company should be paired with a forecast card. The ‘$$’ card doesn’t move the stock, but pays dividends. Players can choose to reveal shares of that company to get $2,000 for each share they own.

Whenever a stock’s value would move to the split $ space, either through the forecast movement or through action cards, the stock splits and shares get doubled. All players who have that stock in their portfolio reveal all their shares of the company and move it to their Split Portfolio face-down. The stock value returns to the value that’s indicated by a hexagon - 6 on the basic board. For example, if this stock is moving up 3, starting at 9, then it goes up one, two and splits, and then three, ending on 7. New stock that’s obtained after the stock splits goes into the regular Stock Portfolio. If you already have that company’s split stock in the split portfolio and it gets split again, then you get $10,000 for each stock card of that company in your split portfolio, and it stays there.

Stock cards in the split portfolio count as two shares for paying dividends and for end game scoring.

If a stock’s value ever hits the trash can space, it goes bankrupt. All players discard all their stock cards of that company in their regular and split portfolio. Then the stock’s value goes back to its starting value indicated by the dark circle.

At the end of the round, pass the first player token to the left and move the round marker to the right. If the round marker was already on the last space, the game ends.

At the end of the game, all players reveal how many shares of stock they own for each company. Shares in the split portfolio count double. For each company, the player with the most stock is the majority shareholder and gets a $10,000 bonus. If there is a tie, all tied players get a $5,000 bonus.

Then all players sell back their shares at the final value of the stock, with split portfolio shares counting as double.

The player with the most money wins.

In a 2-player game, each player starts with $30,000, 2 bidding meeples, and one starting stock instead of the usual $20,000 and one bidding meeple. When you get forecast cards, each player gets two of each - they must still be paired up separately and cannot be switched around. There is no public forecast - the two remaining company and forecast cards are kept face down until the end of the round.

There are 4 stockpiles in a 2-player game, and there are two rounds of placing cards - first each player gets 2 cards, places one face-up and one face-down, like normal, and then the process is repeated so that there are 12 total cards in the stockpiles. In bidding, the players alternate using their bidding meeples, as if it were a 4 player game. You cannot bid on a track that contains your other bidding meeple. If both your meeples are outbid, you can choose which one to bid with first.

There are a couple expansions included in the game - the advanced board and investors.

For the advanced board, use the other side of the board when you set up. The game plays the same as normal, except the companies aren’t uniform. The starting spots and stock split spots are still indicated by the dark circles and the hexagons, respectively. Also, Stanford Steel pays dividends whenever its stock value lands on or passes a $ space when it is moving up, not when it’s moving down. It then pays $1000 per dollar sign per share to each player.

For the investor expansion, each player will get an investor card at the beginning instead of their starting money. Each player gets dealt two investor cards and chooses one. All investors have starting money and a special ability. Abilities happen in turn order. The investor abilities are described on page 9 of the rulebook.

And that's how you play Stockpile. Check out our website for more videos, podcasts, and blogs. Thanks for watching Board Game Blitz!

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