Previous Next

A little number for aspiring capitalists. You're the managing director of a company whose assets you have to make grow with all the greed you can muster. It's called Oligopoly, partly to rhyme with 'Monopoly' and partly because you're unlikely to get the market all to yourself.

Certainly not with six people playing as is permitted by the program. (But you can also settle down alone with your Spectrum for a little private profit-taking.)

At the start of the game you are given a set of statistics about your firm. You are also given a forecast on expected demand in the coming year.

On this meagre basis you have to make a series of decisions: the price you'll charge for your product this year, how many you'll produce (too many and you incur overtime bills), how much to allocate to research, marketing and dividend payouts.

After the other players have done the same for their firms, the program shows what's happened to each firm's assets. This is followed by more detailed statistics revealing your gross and net profits and other titbits.

The big test of business simulations is: how realistic are they? A hard question to answer in this case, but I certainly didn't discover too many idiocies.

Put your price up, your marketing allocation down and your sales are likely to plummet. Undercut the other firms, and your product will sell well, but you may not cover your costs.

So if you want to run the rat race in the comfort of your own front room, here's your chance.