Looking for a fun, meaty, economic game to replace Monopoly? Look no further than Raccoon Tycoon, these are no trash pandas.
Raccoon Tycoon is a two to five player game designed by Glenn Drover and published by Forbidden Games. More on the medium weight, a typical game takes sixty to ninety minutes to play.
Raccoon Tycoon: $49.99
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Astoria is a land bustling with productivity and growth! New towns, factories, and railroads are springing up across the land. A few savvy business tycoons (you and your opponents) are determined to make your fortunes on the crest of this wave. These tycoons start out as the producers of the key commodities: wheat to feed the growing towns and factories, wood and iron to build them, coal to fuel the trains and factories, and manufactured goods and luxuries to fill the insatiable demand of the animals of Astoria.
Cornering the market for the most valuable commodities can create small fortunes that can be invested in the new businesses, turning them into huge fortunes. The sky is the limit during this Gilded Age!
In Raccoon Tycoon, players try to produce the most valuable commodities in an ever-changing marketplace. They then use those commodities to build towns or sell them at the best price to secure great profits that can be used to win auctions for the all-important railroads. The profits may also be used to buy powerful buildings that give the players power-ups or bonuses in production. Owning the best towns and railroads determines victory. There can be only one “top dog” in Astoria. Is it you?
In Raccoon Tycoon each player is a business tycoon trying to make it big in an ever-changing market. And that’s the coolest part about this game. The market fluctuates based on what you do and how you play. By building towns, producing commodities, and winning railroad auctions, you can be the best tycoon.
Each turn consists of a single action per player. You can produce commodities which will also raise the market value on certain goods. Another action is to build towns by spending certain commodities. These will score an increasing amount of points plus two extra when connected to a railroad. You can also build buildings that allow you powerful abilities and bonuses. Each building also increases the number of commodities you can store.
You can sell any single commodity in the amount of the current market value. This will decrease the value by one for each commodity sold simulating the maker being flooded. The final action available to take is holding a railroad auction. Players will bid higher and higher until only one bidder remains to secure that railroad. Railroads have a set collection point system so you definitely want all of a particular brand.
One of my favorite aspects of Raccoon Tycoon is learning the timing of selling when the market is hot. Multiple players affecting the values of the various commodities makes for a dynamic experience and cutthroat nature of auctions is also exciting. There’s nothing like bidding up a railroad another player wants. The player interaction is fantastic and fun.
I really enjoy and recommend Racoon Tycoon. This game has effectively replaced monopoly. It truly is a superior version of the famed economic game.
Some players may be put off by the cutesy anthropomorphic animal theme. Honestly, that’s one of the things that caught my eye about the game. That and the sheer amount of good buzz it’s received.
The artwork is simply beautiful and there is a huge adorable raccoon first player marker. The game uses paper money which isn’t super common in modern board games. You can obtain metal coins, but these were a Kickstarter add on.
If you want a fun, meaty, economic game then I can’t really think of anything better than Raccoon Tycoon. Give this one a try you won’t regret it.
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About the Author: Christopher Guyton
When not driving forklifts for a living Chris can be found pushing cubes and chucking dice at Gamer’s Guild in Spring Lake, NC
