Raccoon Tycoon – Gateway Strategy Board Game Review

It’s immediately evident from the outset, but Raccoon Tycoon has a ton of character, thanks to the visual design. The illustrations are beautiful, and humorously realistic, given the whimsical subject matter. In essence, this is an economics game where you acquire resources, produce goods, sell said goods, and try to buy as much property in the land of Astoria as possible with your profits. This game is pretty complicated, but just remember that everything is in service to these key goals!

Inside, you get a game board, Bank of Astoria bills, Resource tokens, Building tokens, the Player token (which you exchange based on turn order), and three types of cards: Town, Railroad, and Price & Production. As with most complicated games, set up is going to intimidate you, but the best way to learn is to just jump in.

The basics are as follows: On a players turn they can play a production card and get the resources pictured. For every token acquired, the price will go up on the game board. Alternatively, you can sell resource tokens for money. Every token sold lowers the price on the game board. Once you have enough money and resources, you can elect to buy a building, which adds modifiers to your gameplay, such as being able to collect more resources than normal. Buying towns involves giving up resources in exchange, whereas a railroad auction has you pony up money. Try to complete a railroad set for the best advantage at the end. Speaking of, whoever has the most Victory Points once the last railroad is auctioned, or the last town is purchased, wins the game. Victory points are tallied based on towns, buildings and railroads owned, and also how many pairs of towns and railroads you have.

If this sounds complicated, it is! We had to read the manual several times before feeling comfortable enough to jump in. What we like about this game is how many different way there are to win. Will you focus on money, to clinch every railroad auction, or will you bide your time, collecting factories and towns to build your power over time? It’s up to you and your entrepreneurial know-how!