Designer: Glenn Drover (Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery, Empires: Age of Discovery, Railways of the World)

Artists: Jacoby O’Connor (Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery, Evolution, Evolution: Climate, Raccoon Tycoon, Say Anything, Wits & Wagers), Annie Stegg (Raccoon Tycoon)

Publisher: Forbidden Games (Raccoon Tycoon, Railroad Rivals)

Genre/Mechanisms: auction/bidding, card selection, commodity speculation, economic, hand management, resource management, set collection

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Raccoon Tycoon: The Fat Cat Expansion is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total more than 26x the initial funding goal.

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: Raccoon Tycoon is a resource management, bidding, economic, and set collection game with incredibly cute animals in period clothing featured on the cards. The Fat Cat Expansion adds in 6 new Railroad Cards, 4 new Town Cards, 13 new Building Tiles and 3 updated Building Tiles, 32 new Meeples, 6 new Player Boards (including support for a 6th player), and a Fat Cat Starting Player Marker.

How It Works: Each round, players take 1 of 5 actions. In Production, the player plays a Price & Production card, takes the corresponding commodities, and adjusts the commodities market upward for each number taken. For Sell a Commodity, the player sells up to all of one commodity and then adjusts the market downward for each number sold. In Start a Railroad Auction, the players chooses one of the Railroad cards on offer, and players bid in turn order. Bidding continues until all but one player passes. If the starting player loses the bidding, they can take another action, including initiating another auction. Purchase a Building Tile allows the player to take one of the four tiles on offer for the listed price. And finally, the player can Purchase a Town (card) using commodities. The game ends when either the last Town Card is purchased or the last Railroad is auctioned. Players score points for Town Cards and Railroad Cards, as well as 1 VP for each Building and 2 VP for each Town & Railroad pair. Ties are broken by the player with the most money.

Comparisons: Clans of Caledonia is another example of a game with a shifting commodity market that can be driven up and down. Although that game is more focused on network building on a board, whereas Raccoon Tycoon is more focused on cardplay and bidding. Stockpile and Arkwright are two more games focusing on commodity speculation.

What Should I Pledge?:
$29 Fat Cat 1: the new Fat Cat Expansion Limited Edition plus all unlocked stretch goals.
$69 The Furry Couple 1: a copy of Raccoon Tycoon Limited Edition, the new Fat Cat Expansion Limited Edition, plus all unlocked stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
$29 Metal Coins

KS Exclusives:
None.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $69 for The Furry Couple 1 plus $18 in shipping for a total of $87.

Raccoon Tycoon: The Fat Cat Expansion completes its Kickstarter on Friday, June 7th and tentatively ships in November 2019.