First Impression of FOOD CHAIN MAGNATE from Splotter
by jack208

EXCERPT
This year Splotter’s back with a new title FOOD CHAIN MAGNATE. We’ve yet to get our first session started but here’s a first impression of the game from CK.

THE GAMES OF SPLOTTER

On our first Essen trip back in 2012, Splotter released THE GREAT ZIMBABWE. It was another vintage Splotter albeit one game that’s done using an African theme artwork. The Great Zimbabwe (TGZ) is also where we find a more streamlined Splotter game – compared with their earlier games like Roads & Boats and Antiquity.

TGZ is still a long game by normal Euro standards. It’s rated 2-3 hours and in one of our BGC Retreat session, I think the game overflowed into 4+ hours. But it is the more streamlined of Splotters. I like it a lot and if you wish to find out more / why, feel free to read our sessrep here.

Then Splotter went quiet for two years without releasing any new title. They did have a Roads & Boats reprint in 2013 but nothing in 2014. This year they are back with a new title! You can bet everyone was waiting with bated breath to find out more about the new release this year FOOD CHAIN MAGNATE.

Fast Food & Splotter?

“Orange juice? They want orange juice? What is the world coming to? I want commercials for burgers on all channels, every 15 minutes. We are the Home of the Original Burger, not a hippie health haven. And place a billboard next to that new house on the corner. I want them craving beer every second they sit in their posh new garden.”

The new management trainee trembles in front of the CEO and tries to politely point out that… “How do you mean, we don’t have enough staff? The HR director reports to you. Hire more people! Train them! But whatever you do, don’t pay them any real wages. I did not go into business to become poor. And fire that discount manager, she is only costing me money. From now on, we’ll sell gourmet burgers. Same crap, double the price. Get my marketing director in here!”

Tell me, does the above sound like a Splotter game? Not at all. Maybe the “fast food” theme thrashed it a little but the game description above sounded… “light”.

Splotter? Nah…. Splotter, the fine dining of boardgames stepping into the Mcdonald’s market?

Yet you know Splotter always deliver (well, almost always if you dun trade ducks with turkeys hehe).

Joris teaching Food Chain Magnate in Essen.

Food Chain Magnate has very limited previews pre-Essen, no PDF rulebook was posted online not even in Boardgamegeek (that’s simply Jeroen’s preference of not uploading any rules until the games hit Essen), and likely going to sell-out in Essen in spite of its hefty price point (EU75 retail).

So do you buy blind or do you wait till you’d the chance to play or read the rules? It’s not cheap you know, going for over RM400+

If you are still thinking, you can stop now as the stocks all sold out on the 2nd day of Essen. 🙂

Boardgamecafe.net did pull in a small batch and when we opened it for preorders, before we can even complete the sentence “Food Chain…” all the preorder stocks were taken! Now we understand why they call it “fast food“. 😛

Picture of a FCM session from Singapore from Colin Lim. He rated it as “deliciously cutthroat”.

We hope to get some sessions of this game thru our Friday meetups and would drop a sessrep into here when that happened. I’ve read the rulebook for this game and inline with the “fast food” theme, it has the simplest of all Splotter rulebooks (among their heavy titles).

Everyone I knew who had seen the game box  or components simply love the retro-50s artwork, which is another departure from Splotter norms. If you had seen the gamebox, you would also like the humourus taglines – that’s still keeping inline with the restaurant / food business theme – sprinkled by Splotter thru out the box cover.

Served with your choice of strategies!

The modern way to old fashioned good gaming

100% Dice Free

I love this blurb (below) which describes the game as well as Splotter themselves.

Producing high quality, well-tested, original burgers is one of our main jobs here at Gluttony, Inc. There’s no such thing as luck. Skill wins every time. Hold your future in your hand with our burger and soda special, as advertised on radio and in well-known magazines. We at Gluttony, Inc welcome groups of 2-5 diners. Available only in limited quantities, our good old-fashioned meals are served with your choice of strategies and take 2-4 hours to digest.

Now THIS does sound like Splotter!

Even baby Rachel approves of the fast food choice of meals that’s 100% MSG Dice Free. 🙂

p/s If you missed our preorder and is looking for a copy of this game, do get into our waitlist. We hope to bring in another batch if possible.

To check out what Boardgamecafe.net brought back from Essen Spiel, look at our Loot GeekList
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/198462/boardgamecafenet-essen-spiel-2015-loot-list

Follow BoardgameCafe.net’s Essen Spiel reports here
https://boardgamecafe.net/category/essen-spiel-2/

To buy these Essen titles on preorders, check out our marketplace preorder threads (look for “Spiel15” tags)
http://community.boardgamecafe.net/index.php?/forum/72-boardgamecafe-marketplace/

Some of these Essen releases are already in our webstore and available for immediate purchase
http://boardgamecafe.biz/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=97&cat=_Essen+2015