Big Boss Strategy Board Game

We are board game players, and had high expectations for this game, especially since it was a Syd Sackson game and a sequel to our long time favorite Acquire. The board, pieces, and cards all look nice. We like the money chips and bank trays much more than paper money. Unfortunately, we all quickly concluded that there is only one simple viable strategy to win the game, and it's a boring strategy. It quickly devolved into luck of the draw to win. We all quickly became bored with this game... even the 2 players who don't like strategic thinking. The rules are simple; we definitely did not play the game wrong. We played 5 times and have now put the game away. If we ever play again, we will increase the cost of the level up cards and that might help. However, we still much prefer the 2D grid layout of Acquire, and multiple possible merger chips compared to the Big Boss alternative... a 1D long snake with only 1 possible merger chip between chains. Our last game didn't even have 1 merger. We are sticking with Acquire; it's much more fun.