Board Gaming - Food Chain Magnate

Food Chain Magnate

I sat down to play this game with 3 others a while ago now and just haven't gotten to writing about it because I'm still not really sure how I feel about it.

It's a game from 2015, but it's components look like they're from the 50's. If the boards and cards were any thinner, I'd suspect it was a print and play game, they really are that simple. And the components are the most basic things possible. little blocks of wood that vaguely resemble the shape of things they're representing. Pizza is a triangle. Burgers are kind of burger shaped. the various drinks are different coloured bottle shapes (The lemonade looks like it's in cups). It very much is a matter of all expenses were spared and everything looks as cheap as possible while still being production level rather than play-testing level of quality.

^{I hope you can see what I mean by 'looks like it's from the 50s'}

So with all that said, and the warning that it would take 3 hours to play, and a couple of other gamers that had played it previously and were actively not interested in playing it again, I joined a game.

The board setup is a matter of arranging a certain number of board tiles depending on the number of players. Each tile is a 5x5 grid with some road and some blank spaces, as well as some drink locations and properties. Each of the drink locations supply you with that type of drink, and the properties demand certain set of food(s) and/or drink(s), up to 3 things at any time.

^{Another example of just how much space this game takes up, and this looks like just a 3 player game!}

During the play of the game everyone decides on which staff they are using this turn and then in turn order, you do what each of them allow you to do. Early in the game, everyone starts with the same employee and so there isn't much variation, but as you go along, some people employ more staff, and some just improve the ones they have. The entire theme of growing your business works for me, as you train staff to higher levels, or employ new staff. In the game I was in, the 'chain' part didn't really work though, as it was very late in the game when we had anyone build their second restaurant.

^{With so many cards that need to be accessible easily, these homemade display cases are quite a good solution to the table spread you otherwise have}

You will advertises to change the demands certain properties have, and you will change the supplies that you generate and store (if you got the freezer!), You will push hard for certain achievements so that you're better in those areas (like generating more pizza because you were the first to supply pizza), and in the end, you will earn money for the goods you sold, and pay some of your staff, and you might even have fun doing it.

^{There's quite a few paint jobs that have been done to make the food and drink components look better as well}

Despite all the warnings I had, and the length of the game, and the quality of the components, this was actually quite a fun game. I wouldn't want to play it too often, but I'm certainly not adverse to playing it again. Especially after going through a game of it so I now understand a few more things about how it actually works that I didn't really get until they came up in play. It really is a game that you have to play to understand how it works, and with a long play time, that makes it tough to get new players into.

All photos in this post are from boardgamegeek's photo stream for Food Chain Magnate because it seems I didn't take any of my own when we played it.

Last 10 Board Gaming Posts

Flamme Rouge
Unstable Unicorns
Outlive
Race for the Galaxy
Russian Railroads
Tramways
Tigris & Euphrates
Innovation
El Grande
Century: Spice Road

^{Upgoats made by the talented @ryivhnn}