Review: Raccoon Tycoon (Forbidden Games)

“Tycoon.” For players who know and love it, that one word instantly defines the key parts of a whole genre of world-building games.

You begin with limited resources, then you build an engine that makes more resources. Expand your engine until your empire runs like a clock. Keep expanding. Expand some more, and then, finally, you win.

Or at least that’s how it worked before Raccoon Tycoon from Forbidden Games.

Oh sure, this game may look cute and cuddly on the surface, but there’s enough depth and strategy (plus a few pointy teeth) to keep game lovers, casual players, and family groups happily engaged for a long time.

Here are the top five things you need to know about buying, selling, building, and trading your way through the game’s delightful world.

Goods and Economics

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When you look at the Raccoon Tycoon board, you first notice the commodity market, which takes up the board’s top half. That makes sense, because dealing with commodities represents about half of your game experience.

The market tracks the current prices of the game’s six goods. Prices constantly change as players produce or sell various items.

The rest of the board contains areas for the Railroads and Towns decks, plus a lineup of available building tiles. On the table around the board, you’ll make space for goods tokens, the bank, and the Price and Production deck.

One Turn, One Action

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Game turns move quickly, so players stay engaged. On most turns, you play a Price & Production card to increase the price of some goods and then add three or more goods to your stock.

As a commodity’s price rises, you can sell goods to the bank. The game uses a simple supply and demand model where the price goes down by the number of goods you sold, so you need to pay attention to what other players are stockpiling so you can sell before someone else drops the price.

Build More Than an Engine

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Being a tycoon-style game, money isn’t the ultimate goal. Instead, you use your funds to buy buildings, creating an engine that increases your production, boosts your sales, or offers extra victory points at the end of the game.

Here’s where Raccoon Tycoon adds one extra twist: You can also buy railroads and towns. These don’t affect the economic side of the game like buildings do, but they’re vital to winning at the end.

Picking up Towns

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Buying towns takes goods instead of money. On your turn, you can buy a town by paying a few specific goods (like a pair of luxury items) or by trading a bunch of random goods.

Only one town is available at a time, starting with the ones worth the least number of victory points (and with the lowest purchase prices), and then gradually increasing as the game goes on.

Towns give you victory points, plus bonus points if you pair them with railroads.

Getting into Railroads

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Railroads, on the other hand, take money to buy. Each railroad card gives a few victory points, but you get a lot more points by collecting multiple cards for the same line (like Big Bear, Sly Fox, or Top Dog).

Interestingly, you can’t buy a railroad card outright. Instead, you launch a railroad auction on your turn, giving every player a shot at buying the card.

In a fun twist, if you don’t win the auction, then you get another turn to do anything you want, including starting another auction if you wish. This mechanic created some very fun decisions in our games, as players balanced how badly they wanted a specific railroad card versus what else could happen in the game if they gave the auctioning player another turn.

The Verdict

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We enjoyed Raccoon Tycoon every time we played — and we see that trend continuing with this game for a long time to come. The game is easy to learn and fast enough to play that you can teach a new person and still get in two rounds of play in a couple of hours.

The game’s depth comes from its economic side, as well as player decisions and a little dollop of lucky timing. As a bonus, the game includes a free mini expansion that gives players a secret goal to earn more victory points.

Sumptuous artwork and attention to design details make the game’s physical experience a delight. It feels good in your hands as you play. We especially appreciated the thick building tiles and coated paper stock they used for the money.

No matter how many times you play, you’ll love bringing this one to the table (and love the comfort of knowing that it’ll survive another trip).