Pyramid Review
Gamer Tycoon
Published by Agents of Gaming
Rules and Editing by Bruce Graw
Card Design and Layout by Pamela Mosby and Rob Glass
Art by Mitch Foust
Developed by Pamela Mosby
100 cards, 1 six-sided die; $14.95
Gamer Tycoon is a card game from Agents of Gaming that allows two to seven players to enjoy the thrill of running a game company, and the ecstasy of crashing and burning as your lines dry up, one after the other, leaving you with nothing. So long as you've got less nothing than anyone else, you'll live to publish another day.
The object of the game is to be the richest player (relatively speaking -- this is based on the game industry, after all) by game's end. Everyone starts with one card from each of the three decks. You get an Industry Classic, which represents one of the gaming mainstays of the business simliar to Dungeons & Dragons or Traveller; a Market card, representing the many forces at work on the industry; and a Games card with the new and shiny releases from your company. All players start with $50,000 to run their company ($100k in a two-player game) or run it into the ground. Then the players (they recommend whoever has the most pennies in his pocket goes first) take turns putting out games and trying to create the biggest hits in the biz.
At the start of each turn, you Pay Maintenance: Each game has a cost to bring it to the table and most have a cost to keep it up; if you can't maintain it, fans lose interest . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: November 8, 2002
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