RACCOON TYCOON (2018)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
2-5	60-90 mins	Glenn Drover	Forbidden Games

In this game of forest animals doing business, players are auctioning Railroads and purchasing buildings.

The top section of the board is the market, where players can manipulate the prices of the game’s eight commodities. The lower half is where the cards and tiles sit. Buildings to be purchased to give players abilities, Railroad companies to be bid on for set collection points, and towns to be purchased for more points.

RACCOON TYCOON moves fast with players carrying out one of five actions on their turns. And what you choose and when you do it is very important. If you wait too long to sell, someone could get in there first, lowering the prices of what you wanted to sell by the time it’s your turn again.

My favourite thing to do is purchase a building. Some can be costly, but their benefits can be useful if you get them early enough. After all, spend money to make money.

But you also want to make sure you’ve got enough money to be competitive in the auctions. The bidding can get crazy in 4 or 5 player games, with some players only bidding to bump the prices up. If you’ve got 3 cards from a set, and need that last one, players will throw money at the bid just to stop you.

Of course, if you fail to win the bid on your turn, you do get to take another turn, but this usually just leads into auction after auction as the active player doesn’t want to change their plans. And this then bogs down the pace of the game.

Worse still, in 2-player you can’t counterbid. The first player sets the amount, meaning the second player only needs to raise by $1 and it’s theirs. We’ve house ruled this to match the higher player counts as that is zero fun for the active player.

RACCOON TYCOON is a fun game that is easy to teach and has some beautiful art. Commodity market manipulation is fun and thinky, while the auction mechanic is a little less fun. Overall, this is an enjoyable game to play, working best at 4 or 5.