To play a game of Acquire, someone must initiate a new game. This is done by using the Start New Game menu function. Any user may initiate a new game. The initiator is put in the game room for the game and a position tile is drawn and placed on the board. The initiator then waits for the desired number of other players to join the game. Game-related options are determined by the initiator's preferences.
Each player who wishes to join the game then selects the Join Game menu function. They are prompted for the number of the game they wish to join. The user is then put in the game's room and as long as the maximum number of player's has not been reached, a position tile is drawn for the user and the user is added to the game as a player. The maximum number of players is based on the game initiator's user preference (set via the Options function). If the maximum has been reached, the user is put into spectator-mode for the game.
Once the desired players have joined, the game initiator selects the Start Game Play function to start the game.
NetAcquire then takes care of everything for the game. It will prompt players when it is their turn do some action. These actions include: playing a tile, selecting chains to form, making purchases, selecting the merger survivor (when chains are equal length), and selecting the order of merger (again when chains are equal length), and prompting for disposition of shares for people who have shares.
In the event that a player loses their network connection with the host or leave's the game room for any other reason, game play continues. When that player's turn to do something comes up, the game waits for the player to reconnect to the host and/or rejoin the game.
If a player cannot or will not return, any user can connect to the host using the player's Nickname and join the game to take over the play of that player.
Game play proceeds until someone ends the game. The game will only end when 1) a player chooses to end it and 2) it is valid for the game to be ended. At this point, final cash positions are calculated and displayed.
After a game has ended, users may enter and leave the game room as they desire. A player typically leaves the room and joins another room or starts a new game. Note that a game is not dropped until all users have left the game room.