The Great
Wall Street Fortune Hunt

This stock market simulation is your chance to buy low and sell high! Events in the news affect the prices of stocks, and you must end the year with more money than any of your opponents (up to three). Electronic Games magazine named this Most Innovative Game of 1982. The contents of the complete set are as follows:

7 Green Margin/Share Tokens — 2 sets of dual-sided Margin/Share Tokens
(7 green and 7 gold tokens total)

7 Gold Margin/Share Tokens — 2 sets of dual-sided Margin/Share Tokens
(7 green and 7 gold tokens total)

1 Gold Prime Rate Token — 2 Prime Rate Tokens
1 Time Frame Token

1 Silver Prime Rate Token — 2 Prime Rate Tokens
1 Time Frame Token

Europe

Philips was apparently unwilling to spend the money to localize The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt when the company released Videopac 46 in Europe. Wall Street sets were imported as-is from the U.S. and released with almost no changes. The only difference was the inclusion of a small color pamphlet with ""Videopac 46" on the cover. Each of this booklet's 10 pages contained a list of terms translated into a different language. This enabled Philips to avoid making costly translations to the in-game text. The German release of Wall Street contains an even cheaper, black-and-white translation insert.

Brazil

The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt was released in Brazil as simply Wall Street. The contents of the set are similar to the American version, except that the manual is in Portuguese, the token compartment lid doesn't have a gold emblem, and the record pad covers say "Carteira de Investimentos" instead of "Investment Record." The set also includes a small slip of paper outlining a guarantee (Garantia) of quality. Like the other Brazilian Master Strategy games, Wall Street originally came packaged in a corrugated shipping box.

The Stocks

In 1982, the designers of The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt identified 27 of the globe's leading companies (along with commodities such as Real Estate, Gold and Bonds) to represent the world of financial investment at that time. Decades later, it's interesting to see how these once-great businesses are doing now. Are they still the top companies in the world?

Ticker Symbol	Description	Current Status
ABC	American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., most famous for its TV network.	Merged with The Walt Disney Company in 1996.
AET	Aetna Life & Casualty Company, insurance.	Became a subsidiary of CVS Health Corporation in 2018.
BDG	Bandag, Inc., manufacturer of pre-cured rubber for retreading tires. Almost always the last stock to go bankrupt.	Sold to Bridgestone Corporation in 2007.
BND	Corporate Bond.	Bonds are still common investments.
GLD	Gold. One of the five stocks which almost never go bankrupt.	Still a classic investment – who doesn't want a little gold?
GPT	General Portland, Inc., manufacturer of cement and construction materials.	Lafarge Corporation became its majority shareholder in 1980.
IBM	International Business Machines, Inc., manufacturer of computer and other data processing devices.	While perhaps no longer the world's pre-eminent tech company, IBM is still one of the globe's largest employers.
JWL	Jewel Companies, Inc., owns food, drug, and convenience stores. One of the five stocks which almost never go bankrupt.	Acquired by Albertsons Companies LLC in 1999.
LOK	Lockheed Corporation, manufacturer of weapons systems and aircraft.	Merged with Martin Marietta Corporation in 1995, becoming the Lockheed Martin Corporation.
MCD	McDonald's Corporation, world's largest fast-food franchise.	Still the world's largest restaurant chain.
MER	Merrill Lynch & Co., very large securities broker.	Became a division of Bank of America in 2009. In 2019 it was rebranded simply "Merrill".
MTC	Monsanto Company, chemicals and synthetic fibers.	Acquired by Bayer AG in 2018 for $66 billion!
MYG	The Maytag Company, maker of home laundry appliances.	Acquired by Whirlpool Corporation in 2006.
NEE	New England Electric System, provides electricity to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.	Acquired by National Grid plc, a British multinational electricity and gas utility company, in 2000.
NME	National Medical Enterprises, Inc., owns, operates, and offers services to health care facilities.	After acquiring American Medical Holdings in 1994, NME changed its name to Tenet Healthcare Corporation.
PAG	Proctor & Gamble Company, huge manufacturer of soap, detergent, and paper products.	Still a multi-billion-dollar industry leader.
RES	Real Estate.	Still a common investment. People will always need land!
SLZ	Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company, brews different brands of beer, including Old Milwaukee.	Sold to Pabst Brewing Company in 1999, which was acquired by Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings, LLC in 2014.
SMC	A.O. Smith Corporation, produces automobile frames, plastic pipe, electric motors, etc.	Still a leading manufacturer of water heaters and boilers.
SOI	Standard Oil Company (Indiana), purchases and transports crude oil, chemicals, natural gas, etc.	Officially renamed Amoco Corporation in 1985, it merged with British Petroleum in 1998, forming BP Amoco.
SRS	Sears, Roebuck & Company, large retail-mail order chain.	Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018. Assets acquired by Transform Holdco LLC. Its future is uncertain.
TEX	Texas Instruments, Incorporated, develops, manufactures and sells products in the electrical and electronics industry.	Still one of the top semiconductor companies in the world.
TOY	Toyota Motor, large Japanese automobile manufacturer. One of the five stocks which almost never go bankrupt.	Still one of the very largest corporations in the world.
TWA	Trans World Corporation, parent company of Trans World Airlines.	Suffered several bankruptcies through the 1990s. Acquired by American Airlines in 2001.
USH	U.S. Home Corporation, produces houses of all kinds.	Acquired by Lennar Corporation in 2000.
USS	United States Steel Corporation, large American steel company.	Although downsized during the 1980s, U.S. Steel still exists, but was removed from the S&P 500 Index in 2014.
WHL	Western Holdings Limited, owner of a large South African gold mine. One of the five stocks which almost never go bankrupt.	Still a going concern.
WFB	Wells Fargo & Company, large holding corporation.	Still one of the largest banks in the world.
WOW	Wildcat Oil Western, natural resource exploration and production.	It's unclear if this was a real company or created for the game. It may have been meant to represent the Western Corporation of North America, which was sold to BJ Services in 1995.
XON	Exxon Corporation, extremely huge oil company.	Still one of largest companies on the planet!

The GreatWall Street Fortune Hunt

Europe

Brazil

The Stocks

Further Reading

The Great
Wall Street Fortune Hunt