Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Ride a volatile stock market, convert paper gains into gold, and escape the crash with more lasting wealth than every rival investor.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Commodity Speculation
Buy or influence goods whose values change before they are sold or scored.
Stock Holding
Acquire shares whose value depends on companies, assets, or player actions.
Investment
Commit resources now to improve income, control, or value later.
Market
Buy and sell through a shared supply whose availability or prices can change.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Read the full game description
Black Friday is Friedemann Friese’s commodity-speculation game in a revised 2023 edition. Players buy and sell shares in five companies while an automated market system—the minimally intelligent broker service, or M.I.B.S.—adds its own pressure to every transaction. Each purchase or sale changes supply, and periodic price adjustments send stocks rising or falling through an unpredictable but traceable market. The goal is not simply to hold the most valuable portfolio: players must turn temporary gains into gold before the crash ends the game. Market levels, action limits, player-order bonuses, and the escalating price of gold create a sharp timing problem. Successful investors read the available supply, anticipate how other trades will move prices, and leave the market before paper wealth disappears.
