Published card games
For Sale
End the game with the most money, cheques and banknotes combined, after buying houses at auction and then selling them for the best price.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
- players
- 3–6
- minutes
- 30
- variants
- 2
You’ll need the game box. Marquoir sums up the rules and keeps score.
Setup
- The game has 30 House cards, from 1 to 30, 30 Cheque cards and 84 $1,000 banknotes.
- Cheques range from $2,000 to $15,000, two of each; two cheques marked "Refused" are worth $0.
- Shuffle the Houses into a face-down draw pile, and the Cheques into another.
- With 4 players, the top two cards of each pile are set aside unseen.
- Each player receives banknotes: 28 with 3 players, 21 with 4, 16 with 5, 14 with 6. You may keep your banknotes hidden.
- Choose the first player at random.
- 3 to 6 players, ages 10 and up.
How to play
- The game has two phases: buying the houses, then selling them. Each phase has several rounds.
- Buying: at the start of each round, reveal as many Houses in the middle as there are players.
- Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player bids or passes.
- To bid, place in front of you, in view of everyone, more banknotes than the last bid. The first bidder offers any amount. When their turn comes round again, a player who has already bid may add banknotes to raise, or pass.
- Whoever passes takes the lowest House still in the middle, gets back half of the banknotes they bid, rounded up, and removes the rest from the game. They take no further part in the round.
- A player with no banknotes must pass.
- When all the others have passed, the last player removes all the banknotes they bid from the game and takes the last House.
- The next round begins with the player who just won the highest House. The buying phase ends when the House pile is empty.
- Selling: at the start of each round, reveal as many Cheques in the middle as there are players.
- Each player secretly picks a House from their hand and places it face down; then everyone reveals at the same time.
- The highest House takes the biggest Cheque, the next one the biggest remaining Cheque, and so on.
- Houses that have been sold leave the game; each player keeps their Cheques face down in front of them.
Scoring
- The game ends once the last Cheque has been handed out, which means every House has been sold.
- Each player adds up the value of their Cheques and of the banknotes they did not spend, $1,000 each.
- In Marquoir, count in thousands of dollars: the Cheques box gets the sum of the cheques ($13,000 is entered as 13), the Banknotes left box the number of banknotes.
End of the game
- The richest player wins.
- If fortunes are equal, the number of banknotes left decides; if that is equal too, the tied players share the win.
House rules and pitfalls
- Each phase lasts 10 rounds with 3 players, 7 with 4, 6 with 5 and 5 with 6.
- Banknotes that are spent leave the game: they never pass from one player to another.
- Rulebook variant, "Not enough for everyone": with 3 players, ten random cards of each pile are set aside; with 5, three of each; with 4 and 6, every card stays in play.
- In this variant, each buying round reveals one House fewer than there are players: the first player to pass takes back their whole bid, but leaves without a House.
- Still in this variant, when selling, the number of Cheques revealed equals the number of players still holding at least one House; a player with no House left stops playing. When only one player still has Houses, they scoop up all the Cheques left in the pile at once.
Variants
Rulebook variant
Basic rules
As many houses and cheques as players each round; with four, the top two cards of each pile are set aside.
Not enough for everyone
One house fewer than players at each auction: the first to pass takes back their whole bid, with no house. When selling, one cheque per player who still has houses.
chosen when starting, the scorer follows
Frequently asked questions
How do you score in For Sale?
Add up the value of your cheques and the banknotes you have left, $1,000 per banknote. The richest player wins; on a tie, the most banknotes left decides.
How many banknotes do you get back when you pass?
Half of your bid, rounded up: with 5 banknotes bid, you get 3 back. The rest leaves the game.
What is a "Refused" cheque worth?
Nothing: it is worth $0. When it comes out, the lowest House of the round receives it, or the two lowest if both refused cheques come out together.
Who starts each buying round?
Whoever won the highest House in the round before.
The box
- Released
- 1997
- Age
- Ages 10+
- Designer
- Stefan Dorra
- Artwork
- Catell-Ruz, Émilien Rotival
- Publisher
- IELLO
- Mechanics
- AuctionSimultaneous Action SelectionHand Management
- Contents
- 30 House cards numbered 1 to 30
- 30 Cheque cards: two of each value from $2,000 to $15,000, and two refused cheques worth $0
- 84 $1,000 banknotes