Tycoon - Review
Written by wangmin on January 18, 2010 14:36
Tycoon is the eagerly awaited game from Wolfgang Kramer, the designer of the highly acclaimed El Grande, a Spiel das Jahres winner from a few years agoKramer has made a bit of a departure in theme, as Tycoon has a decidedly business flavor to it as opposed to a colonization theme
However, one of the main objectives remains the same -- that of acquiring a majority in as many territories as possibleSo, in spite of the change of theme, Kramer has kept some of the mechanics similarUnfortunately, this game pales in comparison to El Grande
The idea of the game is to establish hotels and factories in as many of the nine cities represented on the board (New York, Mexico City, Rio De Janeiro, Monaco, Cairo, Cape Town, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney) as possibleIn order to accomplish this, one must carefully manage his money and make optimum use of the flight tickets which are availableEach turn, there are six charter flights available and two scheduled flightsOn a player's turn, he can purchase flight tickets (which give routes he can travel) and fly from city to cityHe is allowed one build at the end of his turn, which he can use to either construct a hotel or a factory
Construction, however, can only take place in the city where he is currently locatedHotels generate money at the end of a round based on whether the player has the majority or secondary position in a particular city (based on number of hotels there)Factories will pay an additional secondary position to its owner
The value of the payoff usually increases with each hotel built in a city, regardless of who the owning player isEventually, however, the market becomes over-built, and the value of the hotels begin to declineFurther, there are spaces on each city's hotel track which require the oldest hotel, which has served its usefulness, to be removedThis, of course, can alter the majority and/or secondary status quickly and must constantly be watched forEach city has a limited number of hotels which can be built there, and can only hold two factories total
The price for constructing a hotel varies from city-to-cityEach city has two airportsThe first player to land at that city occupies the first airport, which allows construction of hotels at a lower priceIf the first airport is currently occupied, a player must land at the second airport if he wishes to land at that city, and, thus, pay a higher price to construct thereThe same principle is applied to factory construction -- the first factory is cheaper to build than the second one
A round ends when a player constructs six hotelsAll other players then get one more turnThree rounds are played in total
At the conclusion of each round, players earn incomeCities pay revenue to players who have the majority or secondary position in each city, while players who have factories in a city receive an additional secondary bonusIn addition, the city which has the largest number of hotels (called the longest chain) pays any player who has a factory there a majority bonusFinally, players earn income based on how many cities in which they have constructed at least one hotel -- the more cities they're present in, the better
In the early going, money is very scarceEach player begins with only $15 million and it is highly unlikely that a player will be able to make it through the first round without finding it necessary to take out a loanLoans can be taken out in either $16 million (which must be paid back at the end of a round at $20 million) or $10 million (requiring a $12 million pay back)However, in order to take out a loan, a player must spend a turn flying back to his home (off board) and pay to fly back on his next turn.
Sources : Hot Games To Your Taste