Previous Next

"You are the sole proprietor of a small print works, and your objective is to make a net profit of over £4000 in the first three months of trading". That's the challenge set by 'Print shop', a business simulation game from CCS.

You control your business by regularly deciding on numbers of staff, stock levels, production loading, and giving customers quotes on potential orders.

The computer gives you weekly Trading Accounts, and monthly profit/loss and cash flow sheets.

It also presents you with orders and acts as your competitor (quote too high a price and you lose the order). Friendly messages at the end of each week tell you how you may improve your performance.

Full game instructions, with some hints, come with the program. These do not, however, include loading instructions. As the program recording level was low on the review tape, there were problems in loading the program.

Business simulation games are not only meant to be fun, but educational too. This tape was both; I found very soon that despite having profitable dealings, you can still get cash flow problems.

There are some annoying features of the program. Some messages flash on and off the screen before you have the chance to read them carefully.

There are many facts to bear in mind (such as stock levels) while playing the game. It would have been useful to be able to look up these facts and ask 'what if'?' questions in making decisions, demonstrating the power of the micro in real business situations.

But worst of all, at the end of a successful game; when fully expected to be congratulated and have my healthy profit figure confirmed, the screen just went blank!

Nevertheless, if you are a business student, or simply enjoy business games, Print Shop is well worth a try.

D.N.