Ponzi Inc

Ever wanted to break away from the slavery of working for others? Ever think of being your own boss? Now you can! In Ponzi Inc which is developed by Challenge Games, players will be put into the shoes of a business tycoon and make their dream comes true, well in Facebook anyway, as for me, it still work in progress.

Gameplay
Unlike any other games I have come across, Ponzi Inc is one of those games in Facebook that really catch my attention. It is not about building a city or a theme park nor even an island resort. The game is about building a business. Does it sound strange? Not really! The game is about you as a player drop in as a freelance businessman/woman trying your luck to run a business of your own by doing all sorts of odd job.



At first when I played this game, I thought that this will be one of those complex games that will have dozens of rules and regulations to follow, not true. The game is very well implemented into Facebook and it is very easy to play with by just about everyone.



You first start the game by naming your company. From there the game will tell you what to do step by step just like a little baby tycoon. You will first start your small business in your home and from there you will slowly expend your business out into a mega corporate like Microsoft or Dell…. (I am hearing Evil Laughter in the background all of a sudden)



You will then be taking odd jobs at first like arranging meetings, doing accounting and so on. Some of the jobs provided in the game may sound a bit odd and some is actually in real life jobs. I guess the developers wanted us to feel the same feeling of the things they went through when they first started their own business. If players are at lost of what to do, the game does provide a small agenda windows that will guide players what to do next. Thanks to your personal secretary that keep tracks your business for you. Once an agenda has been completed, players will be rewarded with money or special boost item for later use.



The game does not just stop there; players will have a chance to hire staff to work for them. Players will have a choice to either just hire staff from the game menu or hire a friend for free, of course hiring the ready staff is a lot easier, but it will cost a lot more too. As you level up in the game, so does the price of hiring your workers. Something I do notice is that most of the ready staffs actually have their own attitude like preference to drink coffee, afraid of the light and so on, but I have yet to see this attitude put in use. Maybe this will be for the future updates.

Once players hired enough staff they will then have to then have to do a little resource management and work out how many people they have and how to coordinate them out on the job they take. Players can take up to 5 jobs at one time and with careful management, players can really fully utilize all the headcounts they have. I do notice that there is no penalty in this game for late respond in collecting your job contracts once it is done, unlike the other games in Facebook. Players can just leave it overnight and collect them the next day.



Something I do notice in this game is that having more friends in this game also helps as the developers actually incorporate a pyramid system. Meaning that the more players playing the game with you, you will be able to squeeze… I mean share their profit a little…



Other than running the business, as the good boss, players will also have the options to upgrade their office to suit yourself and also your staff working environment. Each upgrade takes time and thanks to the boost that it provided by the game, players can sometimes be able to speed things up.

Special boost does not always come free, but will provide players the taste of how it works and trying to tempt players into buying it directly from Challenge Games directly with real money. So be warned! However, once in awhile if players do feel like getting the boost or extra stuff from the game, they can also head to the shop and get it. Some items can be purchase with the game currency but it may be a bit expensive.

Graphic
Ponzi Inc has a very nice animation type of graphic that has been implemented into this game. The cute and funny animation takes out the stress of the real life freelance work. It also allows players to really enjoy the game. Furthermore the game itself has a few extra features which allow animation look to really stand out as you play on further into the game.

Sound
The music in the game is a bit… annoying after a few minutes into the game. Playing the sort of tune that you usually hear when you are inside an elevator. You might like to turn the music off. As for the sound effect, if you like hearing the sound of money register machine clicking all the time, then good for you!

Conclusion
This is really one of the few games I enjoyed playing. With the gameplay that needs your attention every few minutes and also building up your own dream company, it is recommended for those who is tired of sitting in office and facing their boss the whole time and wanted to have a little dream of their own.

I give this game a 4 out of 5 rating.

Ponzi Inc Links

1) Facebook- You must have a Facebook account to play Ponzi Inc

2) Ponzi Inc Application at Facebook- http://apps.facebook.com/ponzi_inc/