Help Index
Oil Baron Game Information

The objective of Oil Baron is to amass the largest possible amount of wealth by creating companies and trading their stock.  You may compete against another human player or play against the computer.

For help on playing Oil Baron, select from the topics below:

Basic Rules for Play

The Game Menu

The Options Menu

The Window Menu

The Button Bar

The Mouse Commands

The Keyboard Commands

Notes on Oil Baron

Registration Blank

Oil Baron v1.2, Copyr. 1992 Al Funk (member, Association of Shareware Professionals).  This is a shareware program; unregistered usage of this game is permitted for evaluation purposes only.  See Notes for more information.


Registration Blank

To register Oil Baron, print this help page and

send the following form to the address listed

at the end:

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     Oil Baron Registration, Version 1.2

Name : _______________________________________

Cmpy.: _______________________________________

Addr1: _______________________________________

Addr2: _______________________________________

City : _________________ State: ___ Zip:______

Phone No. (optional) (    ) - _____ - ________

Computer Make: ________________ Model :_______

Processor    : ________________ Memory:_______

DOS version  : ________________

Name, as will appear in registration box:

Name: ________________________________________

Address, as will appear in registration box:

Adr.: ________________________________________

Other Comments : _____________________________

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

CIS ID, if any : _____________________________

How did you come across Oil Baron? ___________

______________________________________________

# copies     : _______  @ $10-- ea. = $ ___.__

On disk copy, S&H       @ $ 2.50    = $ ___.__

total =                               $ ___.__

To be paid by check, certified check to:

Al Funk

42 Parkwyn Dr.

Delmar, NY 12054


Rules for Play

Game action in each player's turn is broken down into two segments.  In the first segment, the player has the option to place a piece or discard one.  If a piece is played, it appears on the board either as an independent company (i.e., it has no insignia) or as a piece of a larger company.

If a piece is placed next to another independent piece, a new company is created.  The creating player has the option to choose any of the listed companies, and will receive 10 free shares for creating the company.  A company may not be created if it is already on the board.  In addition, no more than eight companies may coexist.  Therefore, pieces which create a 9th company will be darkened.  These darkened pieces may be discarded but not played; if it is possible in the future to create a new company, the pieces will no longer be darkened.

If the piece placed is adjacent (horizontally or vertically) to a company, the piece will take on that company's insignia and add to the size and value of the company.

If the piece played links two companies (not along the diagonal, however) a merger is said to take place.  When a merger occurs, the larger of the two companies (by share price) will remain and the smaller will disappear from the board and its chits will be  incorporated into the larger.  The individuals with the largest number of shares in the company will be paid a merger bonus in cash (some companies will give larger bonuses than others, however).  All shareholders will have the choice to sell, trade, or hold their shares in the company.  Trades are made 2 blocks of the dead chain's stock for 1 block of the new chain.  If a player chooses to hold his shares, he will own however many he decided to keep if that company is re-created (you will see a dialog and have a choice of how many you wish to keep).  Shares in an inactive company are not sellable and do not give dividends until that company is re-created.  See the help section on game options for more details on share limits and trading.

After placing, players may buy or sell shares in the companies existing on the board.  There may or may not be limits on the number of shares which may be purchased in a given company according to the game options chosen.  See the help section on game options for more details.

The game ends when either: a) one company dominates the board and no new companies can be created or b) all pieces have been drawn for a number of rounds equal to half the number of chits allotted to each player.  The player with the largest worth at the end of the game is the winner.

Game Play Options

Comparison of Companies

Strategy For Playing Oil Baron


The Game Menu

The Game Menu allows you to start a new game, save the current game, or load a previously begun game.

If you wish to customize your play options, choose New Game New Options.  If you wish to play with the currently selected options, select New Game Same Options.  Options you can change with the new options selection include the size of the playing board, share limits, and starting cash.  If you choose to keep the same options you will still have the chance to customize the player list.

To save a game, choose Save Game from the Game Menu.  The Game will be saved at the current point in play.  Saving the game is a useful method for evaluating strategies.

To load a previous game, choose Open Game.  The current game will be lost and your previous game will be restored and you may begin playing at the point you saved it.  Note that games from a later version cannot be played on an earlier version of the software.

Choosing Game Play Options

Customize Players