I’m generally not one for video games, but this one could be interesting. According to GameShout, an online resource focused on computer gaming, the British company Virtual Playground has just released a new game called Beer Tycoon. According to the company’s website the game is described like this:
In Beer Tycoon you build, staff and manage your very own brewery. Invent new beer recipes from dozens of available ingredients, set them into production, create market leading brands and distribute them to your customers.
Starting with limited funds, build a micro-brewery and learn the craft of the brewer from the ground up in one of three European countries; Germany, the UK or Belgium. Eventually you’ll be confident enough to run a high tech industrial scale brewery on a truly massive scale.
As GameShout describes it, “the game offers the opportunity to enter the beer business as head of a micro brewery or a medium sized suburban brewery, or even enter the global competition managing a full-blown big brewery. These companies can consist of up to 21 different brewery building types. There are 50 ingredients one can brew the beer from, including various kinds of hops and malts, and even specialities like chili and chocolate.”
Now that could be a game I might enjoy playing. Unfortunately it appears to be only for Windows users right now, so us Macheads are left wanting, as usual.
A screen capture of one of the types of breweries you could build for your virtual brewing company.
OMFG! Is that a Pugsley system in that brewhouse pic? Why on Earth anyone would replicate one of those, again, is beyond me.
😮
Cheers!
I was invited to play a game simulation of building a brewery, then distributing and advertising the product. This was held at the Siebel Institute of Technology as a shakedown of a course they now offer.
Interestingly, out of 8 teams, our team came in second. The team consisted of 2 beer writers (myself included) and 2 people who worked for independent distributors. We lost to a team headed up by John Hall of Goose Island and Ray Daniels of the Brewers Association and 2 other brewery owners. We did, however, beat 6 other teams of professional brewers and brewery owners.
Our biggest mistake? We grew too fast and used our initial profits to expand the operation while cutting way back on our advertising budget. On the next cycle, our sales fell dramatically as a result of too little advertising, causing us to brew undercapacity after spending too much in our expansion.
An interesting experience with real world implications, minus financial disaster.