M.U.L.E.

M.U.L.E. is a participatory economic strategy video game for 1 to 4 players. It is a game with very few turns, only twelve, which occur relatively quickly, but very quickly and deeply introduce economic theories and dirty strategies of monopolistic domination. More than playing with the computer, you play with the rest of the people in the room, being very important to watch the nods and predict the intentions of others in order to make the right decisions.

Synopsis

In Irata, a new planet full of riches to be extracted, the colonists arrive and begin to place their mules, some finicky artifacts, remains of a military project gone wrong. You can extract Smithore, a very common kind of metal, especially from the mountains, with which the mules are made in the colony, you can obtain energy by placing solar panels (better on the plain), you can put cultivated fields, preferably in the river or near it, and finally, you can create cristite mines, a very valuable and scarce mineral.

In a first move, sections of land are chosen and each player places his mule, specializing it in what he thinks is most interesting to him, then production is carried out, strictly based on economic, horizontal and vertical rules, such as concentration. Later a phase of buying and selling of these items appears, with some being necessary for survival (such as food and energy) while others are only needed by the colony (such as the smithore) or are bought for space (the christ).. It is here where the most disgusting and dirty tricks are born, even in 11-year-old children, to gain control of a basic raw material... and since there are four players and there are four raw materials... it is never possible to control everything; and the turns and events give a lot of play. In short, after the purchase and sale, everything starts again. Again to choose another territory to expand your empire.

It's simple, it's fast, and in a very short game time its complexity grows to create truly chaotic situations.

Versions

The game was released on the Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, IBM PCjr, MSX-1, Nintendo Entertainment System, and PC-8801 MKII.