Food Chain Magnate

craniac wrote:
Unless it's another Duck Dealer.

Yep, that'd be the worry.

Sagrilarus wrote:

JonJacob wrote: but 2-4 hours?

"The game can be played by 2-5 serious gamers in 2-4 hours."

That "serious" part is what caught my attention.

I play with a bunch of fast food management guys, so this may be a good fit for them. I'd just like to know if being non-serious makes the game run longer or shorter.

I suspect that "played by serious gamers in 2-4 hours" is code for "this game takes 4-6 hours to play." Sounds like a heavy, dull Euro that won't have broad appeal.

We should encourage an Ameritrash tactical miniature warfare spin-off with this same theme.

It sounds pretty knives out, at the very least. That fits with a lot Splotter's work.

So, anyone play this yet? Every part of my being is interested in this damned game but the prices are really scaring me away. The reviews have been positive though and I really like the political bent (all the CEO's are white dudes and the servers are ladies... if that's not meant to be critical instead of blatantly sexist as some on BGG have labeled it I don't know what is) If anyone wants to buy a copy and sell it to me later when I have more money I'm down with that. In fact I'm trying to find a way to save now. It's probably the only game that really interests me at this point.

I haven't played my copy, but then I buy Splotter games without being sure I'll play them. It's a weakness. I'll let you know if it hits the table.

Michael Barnes wrote: Holy crap I want this.

boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175914/food-chain-magnate

it won't even be that expensive after you sell off Cthulhu Wars, either

On the Swamp Castle email list, Frank was saying it was really good and it seemed like the others agreed. I didn't get to play it, wasn't there. In kid jail that night.

On a practical level, there are a million reasons for it. But I cannot fucking BELIEVE that I have this game but have not been able to play it. It looks so awesome. Did you ever play this, Barnes?

www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/review-food-chain-magnate/

I thought it was missing something in implementation to be honest. The physical design is a mess with all those cards, they should have made some kind of part player board solution. The map tiles look horrendous and dont fit the awesome art of the rest of it. The early turns are brutally slow and feel a bit ho hum since you start out with so few slots for hiring. Its extremely "calculating" and gets bogged down in that, at the end, in many ways its very like The Great Zimbabwe (which looks lots nicer by the way). It didnt wow me and I've always been a splotter fan boy. I only played a couple of times though and a lot of people I know who are also into this kind of game rave about it, it just didnt feel that exciting to me. Its competitive and cut throat but the manifestation of that, just so you are prepared, will literally be cycling through arithmetic working out network topologies and the economics of the odd dollar here or there based on advertising and location, and then modified with your employee bonusses, work hierarchy, pricing and the like. It seems like you can also be fucked very early on but probably wont realise it. Or maybe you will, but it will be too late. Theres lots of room for royally screwing with each other by modifying the "topological and economical balance point" of your food chain compared to others, but a lot of that will feel as dull as it sounds. I can see it appealing to a certain kind of fun murderer but I think its missing something - its not another Duck Dealer but its not Indonesia. I think TGZ is a good comparison not only in the potential to get bogged down at the end in iterating out loads of boring calculations.

For those interested, you can also play it online:

play.boardgamecore.net/

Chapel wrote: For those interested, you can also play it online:
play.boardgamecore.net/

Anyone want to join in a beginners' game on Boardgamecore? I liked the look of this a lot but managed to resist buying so far because of its obvious toad-like features.

Just saw Scott Morris's announcement over on the SU&SD thread that Passport Game Studios plans to print more copies. So unless you're really itching to play it now, it looks like it'll be ok to wait for this one to get into a slightly larger (or at least less distant) production line.

dontbecruel wrote:

Chapel wrote: For those interested, you can also play it online:
play.boardgamecore.net/

Anyone want to join in a beginners' game on Boardgamecore? I liked the look of this a lot but managed to resist buying so far because of its obvious toad-like features.

I'd be pretty interested. Is it live play? I need to read the rules but we could set something up sometime.

Rules are surprisingly light in this. Consumerism theme is, as usual, comically cynical: fast food creates its own demand through marketing, makes them want larger and larger meals largely to differentiate themselves from competitors and make them pay more for their meals. Final turns=Texas, essentially.