Pyramid Review
Burn Rate: The dot-com card game
Published by Cool Studio, LLC
Written by Rich Koehler
Illustrated by Jim Massey
156-card deck; $15.95
Games with a business theme usually require the players to make the most money in order to win, like the classic Monopoly. Others focus on corporate culture, such as the Hip Pocket title Cube Farm or the Origins Award nominated Management Material: General Office Edition from Zipwhaa, Inc. Certainly, Burn Rate: The dot-com card game differs from Monopoly in that the aim is not to make the most money, but be the company that loses the least and survives with any money after all of the other companies have gone bankrupt. The reason for this is that Burn Rate is a card game about the dot-com boom, and more particularly, the dot-com crash. Either way, both Monopoly and Burn Rate are inspired by financial crashes . . .
Designed for two to four players aged 13 and over, each takes the role of a CEO, with a staff of overworked employees, the most incompetent vice-presidents imaginable, and a bundle of start-up capital all tied into one or more really, really bad ideas. In fact, Burn Rate includes 20 of the worst ideas that have brought dot-com start-ups to their knees, flat on their back, and finally six feet under! These range from "Make Postage Stamps Online" and "Free Music" to "Online Pet Store" and "Dot-Com Card Game." This all adds up to one big, bad thing -- your dot-com start-up is hemorrhaging money like there is no tomorrow. And actually, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: September 19, 2003
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