I'll Look Under the Hood!!!

Last week I had a big gamenight and on impulse I pulled out an old game from the 70's, Dealer's Choice.

No, this is not poker but it does have bluffing in it! You take the role of a used car salesman and attempt to make the most money you can by unloading your cars to other dealers. Every dealer has a Blue Book, which tells what each of the cars are worth to him. The cars are great and range from old classics to even a tank!

The game allows you to set fire to other players cars, force the sale of one of your cars that is a piece of junk, you can lie , cheat and steal your way to making the most money.

This was the first time I had played this game in years and certainly the best and most pleasing part of the game is unloading a junk car for top dollar without being caught because if another dealer thinks you are asking too much for the car you can "look under the hood" and check the Blue Book value of the seller. If the seller was cheating, a stiff fine is imposed and the buyer gets the car for Blue Book value.

Lots of laughs in the game and things didn't go well for me since I had Fly By Night insurance which is worthless and it didn't protect me from my best cars being torched and stolen.

Critics of the game say that the Blue Book Values can be memorized and thus that spoils the game. I don't find this a problem because the Blue Book Values are changed game to game with different cards and I simply don't play this game often enough to remember the values. If this was the only game you ever played and you played it every day you would begin to remember who had what card but it is not likely you will play the game that many times in a row for this to happen. It reminds me of the Iranian hostages that played "Scrabble" everyday and eventually learned what the letters were by the grain on the wood tiles. If you play anything that much, certainly the element of surprise will begin to fade!

I have fond memories of a lot of the old games from the 70's. My original copy of this got heavy play and was worn out. I was happy to get a beautiful copy on ebay for $3.00. This is basically a card game with money and the oversized organizer is not really needed and takes up most of the box contents. However, I would NEVER part with the organizer because the photo of the used car dealer is great! It is the image of the dishonest used car man that immediatley comes to mind just like the used car dealer in the first Vacation movie with Chevy Chase. I still remember the TV commercial for this game too with the little old lady speeding off in the car!

The players that played this had never played it before and seemed to enjoy it. If you haven't tried it give it a go, and if you think the guy is asking too much for that Edsel, LOOK UNDER THE HOOD!!!!

C'mon - I want a game that is an escape from my normal life !

C'mon - I want a game that is an escape from my normal life !

You sell cars?

Damn you, Weeks! I was going to write a review of this game for the front page. This is a terrific game, and it can be had for next to nothing. My brother's old copy is still in my parents' house, and my nephews still demand that we play it whenever they visit grandma.

Some individuals on this site would have you believe that the greatest Kurt Russell Ameritrash movie is ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK or BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. It's been scientifically proven, though, that USED CARS is better than either of those two, and DEALER'S CHOICE captures all the things that made USED CARS great. For one thing, you can torch the cars on your opponents' lots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwH5KEbAipY

And the game is about making deals! Sharpen your salesmanship skills. But remember, you need to believe in your product to sell it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REa2DDzChGM

Build the best lot and sell, sell, sell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTvwwDnrQL8

Finally (and perhaps more importantly), the game includes a tank.

YOU MEAN THEY MADE BOARD GAMES BEFORE 1996?!?

This sounds fun...it may be the only way I can live out my fantasy of buying a Dodge Challenger new off the lot.

I was looking at a recent review on BGG and the reviewer said that Cons to the game were:

High screwage factor and possible player elimination

What more needs to be said!

the*mad*gamer wrote:

C'mon - I want a game that is an escape from my normal life !

You sell cars?

[/i]

...The game allows you to set fire to other players cars, force the sale of one of your cars that is a piece of junk, you can lie , cheat and steal your way to making the most money...

I need to fight Orcs and battle Clone Troopers to clear my mind


OK OK OK ! I want to play.

Yeah, the review is essentially saying "this game is great fun, but it's not a Euro."

I think that the game is *almost* one of the all-time greats, and needs only a few slight adjustments to get there. I wish there were more variety in the deck of purple-backed "Dealer's Choice" cards. Some cards are obviously weaker than others, and some are just plain boring. These tend to stay in your hand turn after turn, and the powerful cards tend to get played immediately. I'd like the decision around which cards to play to be a little more challenging.

Further, I'm not sure that it ever makes sense to buy insurance.

The BlueBook problem would be easy to fix in the modern day; just sell an expansion set with more BlueBooks.

I agree. The game does seem to need some minor adjustments. I agree about the insurance. I needed insurance badly but I didn't want to waste a turn buying it.

Yes, you could actually make the Blue Book cards on your PC these days.

If you can have strippers on the cars and do illegal commercial taps into the superbowl I'm sold.