Saloon Tycoon Review

Saloon Tycoon from Van Ryder Games has players going head to head to build the best saloon in town in order to attract the most desirable guests. The caveat to this however is that you're also going to bring in some riff raff but we can deal with them later. Each turn, players will gain income and then they can the play cards, pick up new cards, build rooms for their saloons, or bribe people to go away. You also have the option to spend some money to build foundations in your saloon. This allows you to add in two or even three different floors. Players all have their own secret objectives which can involve attracting certain people to their saloons or just to have a certain amount of rooms. There are also 4 public objectives that players can race to complete as well. Doing these will net them points. The game ends when all of the supply cubes have been depleted and the player with the highest score will win the game and be the best saloon owner in the west.

The Good: I absolutely love the verticality of the game. It's not often that you get games that will let you build upwards. It's really unique and it brings a lot of table presence. Turns seem simple at first but you can play some pretty big combos that can get you a lot of money or complete a few rooms at once. There's a lot of really nice concepts at play as well. Don't like someone at your saloon, pay them off to go to another players and let them be their problem. The outlaws all do things that hinder progress for you so you don't want them around. Fill a tile with supplies, get a free action. It's really nice.

The Okay: The cards really fluctuate in power. Some cards will let you do a ton of things and get money quickly while others it seemed like were widely useless or just not really worth playing. This can make the game feel somewhat imbalanced. Especially if you're on the wrong side of luck.

The Not So Good: For me, the game was a slow starter. There was a lot of set up time involved in organizing the tiles and counting out supplies. It took a while to actually feel like any true progress was being made. Because most of the outlaws prevent you from getting more money or doing certain things, it just made it even slower which is why you want to get rid of them of course.

Final Thoughts: Overall, I really liked Saloon Tycoon. It's definitely a slower game than I had anticipated but it's general aesthetics and gameplay bridge that gap. It gives that feel of truly seeing the growth as you play which is one of the most rewarding feelings in gaming. It's not without its flaws but it's absolutely a game that's worth checking out.

Thanks to Van Ryder Games for sending me a review copy.