Hotel Magnates get ready to rumble. Donald Trump eat your heart out. This is where the real magnates come to play and strut their stuff. Acquire is moving to a three-heat MESE event. Each heat will consist of one game, with winners advancing to fill a 16-player semi-final. Initial table assignments will be done randomly while minimizing family members and teammates. Any version of the game is acceptable if agreed upon by all members at that table, with the default being the game provided by the designated player at table assignments.

MESE TIE-BREAKERS: A Preliminary Heat win will NOT in itself guarantee advancement. All MESE events will advance the optimum number of players to the next round based on the following tie-breakers without exception.
1. Win in first Heat entered
2. Most Wins
3. Win in second Heat entered
4. Win in third Heat entered
5. Highest % of money over runner-up, using best finish as game for tie-breaker calculation.
6. Average finish in all heats entered; e.g., a 2nd and two 3rds = 2.67 and beats two 2nds and two 4ths (average: 3)
7. High dice roll

Rules clarifications:
1. All tournament games will be between four players if possible. In the event of the number of entrants not being a multiple of four, then there will be three/five player boards as required to make the count correct. These will be allocated at random.

2. Seating is determined by each player drawing a tile at random. The lowest numbered tile starts. In the case of a tie, the player drawing the tile with the first letter alphabetically starts. Other players sit in ascending order around the table from the starting player. These tiles are placed on the board.

3. If two (or more) of these tiles are adjacent, they do not form a hotel chain. Instead, a player must add another tile to the group to form a chain. They then get the free share for starting the chain.

4. Your turn ends when you pick up a replacement tile. Play then passes to the next player, and shares can no longer be purchased.

5. Games should be played with all shares and cash hidden in a pile, but remaining on board in plain view at all times. Keeping a written record of transactions is not allowed.

6. When purchasing shares, players must announce what they are buying and how much they are paying. People may inquire what stock others have purchased their last game turn.

7. You are not obliged to end the game if you do not wish to and think that it is to your advantage to continue. If you do end the game however, you may end it at any point in your turn.

8. In the event a tile being played that merges three or four chains, the largest chain takes over the others. It takes over the subsidiaries in order from largest to smallest. In the case of a tie, the player who laid the tile chooses the order.

9. Once a piece has been placed on the board, it can not be retracted.

10. Permanently unplayable pieces are placed on the side of the board before drawing replacement tiles. They will not be placed on the board except to demonstrate they are unplayable and then will be exposed face up on the side of the board for the rest of the game. If an unplayable tile is drawn as a replacement, the player must wait until his next turn to discard it as unplayable.

11. In the interests of speed, a player may count remaining cards in the reserve pile for all hotel chains anytime during another player\'s turn provided it does not interfere with play. During his own turn, the player may count a maximum of two chains.