In Take Stock, you compete with other players to control the "stock market", represented by five different numbered suits of cards (entertainment, technology, food, oil, and gems). Each turn, you can either raise the price of a stock, invest in a stock, save a "market event" card for later, or draw two event cards and play one immediately.

Take Stock is a well-balanced game in that there are a number of different strategies you can use, and each strategy has been delicately balanced against the others. Want to go ballistic with market events to control the pace of the game? Great, but you had better remember to invest in some stock before the market closes, and keep the prices of your investments high. But don't reveal your investments too early, or others will be able to crush your stocks with their own market events. Don't want to reveal *any* of your investments? Not a problem; you can use stock options at the end of the round instead. But you are only allotted a few per game, so use them wisely.

Because of the wide variety of strategies you can use, and the fact that there are four rounds in each game, it's fun to try a new strategy each round to keep your opponents guessing. You can even build up a war chest of market event cards. But watch out: if the Market Close event is drawn, your arsenal is lost.