What is this?

StalksStalksStalks is a game of, well, Stalks! It's a ripoff of the old board game Stocks and Bonds. Players compete with one another by buying and selling "stalks." After the end of the last year, the player with the highest net worth (cash on hand + total value of all stalks) wins!

How to Play

After launching the game, you can choose to either Create a Game, or find a lobby to join.

Creating a Game

When creating a game, you have the option to set the

• name of the lobby. Default's to your steam profile name
• the number of years for the game to play (minimum of 2 years, max of 99)
• the number of players allowed to play (minimum of 1, max of 10)
• Enable Loans - starting at year 2, players are allowed to take out loans. Remember to pay your loan back or you will go bankrupt!
• Make the lobby invite only. This means it will not show up in the lobby list and you will need to invite people through steam to play

Joining a Game

In the "Find a Game" tab, you can search for lobbies by name or just view all available lobbies. Click on Join Lobby to join that lobby. If you can't see your friend's lobby, try and refresh the list.

Starting the game

After you join a lobby, you will need to ready up.

After all players in the lobby are ready, the host (player who created the game) can start the game.

Note: As soon as all players in the lobby are ready, the host can start the game. You do not need to wait until the number of players in the lobby matches the max number of players you set when you created the lobby.

In the Game

The game starts on Year 0.

At this point all stalks have a price of 100. Players cannot buy or sell stalks yet.

After all players hit Ready for New Year, the game will advance to Year 1.

Now players can buy stalks from the "Available Stalks" board. When you buy stalks, they will show up under "your Stalks"

The number of stalks you can buy is limited by the amount of "Cash on Hand" that you have. If the value of the number of stalks you buy is greater than your cash, the purchase will fail.

Your net worth is calculated by the amount of cash you have + the total value of all your stalks. The player with the highest net worth after the last year wins the game.

It is from the "Your Stalks" panel that you can sell stalks you own. When you sell a stalk, you will receive back cash equal to the number of stalks you sold and the price per share of that stalk.

The Stalk Board

The above image is what you see under Available Stalks. The information includes:

• The name of the stalk
• the price per share of the stalk
• The dividend paid in BULL years
• the dividend paid in BEAR years
• The yearly change of the stalk price (does not include special event effects)
• Buy area

End of Year Operations

After a year ends and a new year begins, the following happens:

• Game determines if it is a bear or bull year
• Special events and effects are chosen
• Stalk prices change based on bear/bull and special events
• Stalks split if price is above 150
• Stalks bankrupt if price goes to 0
• Dividends paid to players
• Net worth for all players is calculated

Bear and Bull years

Each new year has a BEAR or BULL modifier. Generally speaking, BEAR years mean stalk prices go down, and BULL years mean stalk prices go up.

After the bear or bull modifier is selected by the game, all stalk prices will be adjusted either up or down (or stay at 0). The amount a stalk price changes from a bear or bull year will be shown under the stalk's "Yearly Change."

Special Events and Effects

Every year a "special event" is selected, assuming that stalks other than "BERRY BONDS" exist.

The red text of a special event is just a little description of what the event was. It may or may not be funny.

The below white text says what stalk is affected by the event, and how much it changed the stalk price. The example above means that Springfield Nuclear Power increased by 5 due to the event. The event effect is not reflected in the stalk's yearly change. It happens in addition to the yearly change.

Stalk Splits

When a stalk's price is increased above 150 after the yearly change and special events take place, the stalk will "split." This means that the stalk price will be divided by two, and anyone who owns shares in the stalk will have their shares doubled. If the stalk price increased to 152, the new price after split will be 76. If a player owned 10 stalks before a split, they will own 20 after the split.

In the below example, a player owns 100 shares of strYker!!

During the end of year, strYker!!! increases above 150 and splits.

The player now owns 200 shares of strYker!!!

Bankrupt Stalks

If the price of a stalk falls to 0 or lower, the stalk will become bankrupt.

In the above image, the stalk My Pillows, Your Pillows, We're All Pillows! went bankrupt. If any player in the game owned any of that stalk, the number of shares they owned would go to 0. Sorry!

Loans

If the game was created with "Enable Loans" checked, players will be able to purchase loans starting in Year 2.

The terms for the loans are as follows:

You can take out a loan up 25% of your net worth. The minimum loan is $100. Terms are 10 years and 6% interest. If you take out a loan this year, your first payment is NEXT year. Penalties for missed payments: 1st missed payment: 10% added to loan balance. 2nd: 15% added. 3rd: All assets seized and you are bankrupt

So, if you have a net worth of 10,000, you can take out a loan of 2,500. The game should calculate what your max loan amount and minimum payment would be for a max loan when you click on "Tell me more"

Note: You can take out a loan for less than the max amount if you want to. The loan needs to be between $100 and the max amount.

If you decide to take out a loan, you will immediately receive cash equal to the loan amount to spend on stalks. The next year your first payment will be due.

If you don't pay a loan, your loan balance will increase, as well as your minimum payment. Below shows the loan min payment increasing after missing a payment.

You have the option of over paying your loan if you have enough cash. You cannot, however, make a partial payment. It must be at least equal to the minimum payment. If you over pay, the loan minimum payment will be recalculated and be lower. The above loan has a minimum payment of 657. After over paying the loan, the minimum payment drops to 631 as shown below.

Note: The minimum payment is calculate every year. Because everything int he game is done in integers but the loan interest and stuff is done in percentages like 6%, sometimes the minimum payment will fluctuate +/- 1 per year when you make the minimum payment.

Last Year

In the last year of the game (if you set the max years to 10, the last year is 10), players have 1 more chance to buy and sell stalks. The year will change once more, going through the same end of year operations, and then the game ends.

The player with the highest net worth wins. If there is a tie, then highest cash on hand will be a tie breaker. If there is still a tie, well then it's a tie and multiple players win.

Yeehaw

At any point in the game, player's can request for a "Yeehaw"

After a yeehaw is requested, any other player can give a yeehaw.

You cannot give a yeehaw to yourself. Only a player other than the one who requested the yeehaw can give a yeehaw. Unfortunately, this means you cannot give or receive yeehaws in 1 player games. You will need to find some friends to enjoy the yeehaws.