Lemonade Tycoon 2: New York Edition

Do you have what it takes to create a thriving refreshment business in the big city? That’s the question behind Lemonade Tycoon 2: New York Edition, a business-simulation game by MacPlay. The game’s graphics engine certainly won’t set the world on fire. But the game itself is a satisfying challenge that will appeal to casual gamers.

In Lemonade Tycoon 2 (the first Mac version of the game), you start out small, with only a bit of seed money and limited prospects. You choose the location and the size of your stand: permits for spots in Brooklyn and the Bronx cost less, but those locations generate less revenue. Busy spots in trendy Greenwich Village or Central Park cost much more, so a bigger stand that can generate more revenue may be in order.

You control your marketing budget, stock levels, recipes, and prices. You can also upgrade your stand with items that speed transactions, draw more patrons, or keep people in line longer. If things get tedious, you can speed up the game play by fast-forwarding, or you can skip straight to the evening to check receipts, track your company’s profits and losses, order stock for the following day, and more.

Lemonade Tycoon has three game-play modes: Time Challenge, where you have to make as much money as you can within the time allotted; Money Challenge, where you have to reach a specific revenue target; and my personal favorite, Career, an open-ended game focused on building a thriving and sustainable business. If you’re looking for a deep tycoon game with lots of twists and turns, this one probably isn’t for you. But it’s certainly enough to keep many folks busy for a while. The Lemonade Stock Exchange even lets you share your scores with other Lemonade Tycoon 2 players online.

Printed documentation is nonexistent, though the HTML guide and in-game tutorial will walk you through the basics. The game’s graphics are decent but unexceptional. And the music was so annoying that I turned it off almost immediately.

The Bottom Line

If you’ve ever dreamed of turning your curbside lemonade stand into a business empire that would make Donald Trump tremble, Lemonade Tycoon 2: New York Edition is worth checking out.