Folks, I landed on a new job!

The pay is decent. But the workload is quite a bit. I’ve got to turn a mall that’s in debt into the best one in town.

And it’s remote… since it’s a roll-and-write ;)

Cueing in: Midtown Mall.

I blogged about this game a few weeks ago and also interviewed its creator, Romin. That gave me a lovely peek into the story behind this economic roll-and-write about running and growing a shopping mall.

The base game already had plenty going on. Marketing, product development, research, customer flow, facilities, VIP stores, all feeding into each other like a proper little business system.

So I figured the career mode deserved its own newsletter issue.

Because this is where the game starts turning that system into a career path.

You begin with a struggling mall, a bit of inherited debt, and a very pressing question: Can I actually turn this place around?

So here I am, ready to find out.

My career as a mall manager begins now. Wish me luck!

First day at the mall, and apparently, I have inherited more than just a desk!

The mall is struggling. Empty storefronts. Low customer traffic. And thanks to the previous management, there’s also a $100 debt waiting for me. I didn’t even get to sit in the manager’s chair, and I already had -$100 over my head!

So my mission here is simple enough. Play the base game, survive the debt cut, and still reach $800 or more by the end of 15 rounds.

Except that I averaged around $600 to $700 in sales on my first few attempts of the game…

So I had to approach this a bit more carefully. Instead of spending too much time developing only a few stores, I tried to spread my attention around more. Customer satisfaction needed work. Marketing chains needed to start earlier. Quick sales helped, sure, but they could not be the only plan.

First attempt? Failed.

Second attempt? Failed. Time to pack my bags?

But on the third run, the mall finally started pulling itself together. The chains fed into each other better, sales kept building, and near the end, I finally crossed the target.

Whew. Debt cleared. Job secured.

Onto the next chapter!

Looks like head office noticed I did not completely ruin the mall.

Not enough for a raise, apparently. But enough to trust me with a team!

Chapter 2 introduces employees into Midtown Mall, and this felt like a natural progression after the first chapter. The mall is slowly stabilizing, things are getting busier, and now there are more hands helping keep the place running.

This chapter adds an extra die every round, dedicated entirely to employee actions. And these folks are GOOD at their jobs.

One employee helps improve products. Another doubles sales under certain conditions. One lets me manipulate customer dice. Another boosts marketing. Another works on facilities. So instead of just focusing on the mall itself, I now had little specialists helping different parts of the business grow faster.

It also made the game feel noticeably bigger. More combinations to set up. More chain reactions waiting to happen.

Thankfully, this chapter clicked for me much faster than the first one. After understanding how to make the employees work alongside my overall strategy, I managed to clear the chapter without nearly losing my job again.

Progress! 🤌

Business is booming, because now I have been trusted with a food court expansion.

Of course a growing mall would eventually end up with one of those loud little food corners packed with burgers, fried chicken, bubble tea, and people carrying trays around!

This chapter adds a separate Food Court section beside the mall itself. Certain customer dice can now be sent there instead of the main mall, opening up new rewards and another layer of decision-making every round.

The employees from Chapter 2 are still around too, so the extra die and all those little specialist abilities continue carrying over into the expansion.

I cut out the Food Court section from the sheet and placed it beside the mall. So this expansion made the game bigger, mechanically and literally.

It also brought back a lot of nostalgia from the malls I used to visit when I was younger. Back then, the food court always felt like the final destination after wandering around the stores for hours. Wholesome.

This chapter also pushed me around a little more than the previous one.

First attempt? Failed. Turns out throwing customers at burgers alone is not a sustainable business strategy.

But on the second run, things started balancing out properly. The Food Court rewards synced nicely with the rest of my mall engine, the sales started climbing again, and eventually, I cleared the chapter after crossing $1200 in sales!

The mall keeps growing. And so does my attachment to it.

Well then. Looks like my little mall manager career has finally led me to the big leagues!

Chapter 4 replaces the standard Midtown Mall sheet with the Hightown Mall, while also keeping the employees and Food Court from the previous chapters intact. So at this point, everything is happening at once.

More stores. More customers. More moving parts. More pressure.

This chapter felt like the ultimate test!

By now, Midtown Mall was asking me to properly understand everything it had slowly taught across the previous chapters. The marketing chains. Customer satisfaction. Product growth. Employee synergy. Food Court rewards. Trying to juggle all of them together without letting the whole mall collapse into chaos.

Needless to say, this one took me a few more attempts.

There were runs where the sales looked promising early on, only to completely flatten out later. Runs where I focused too hard on one side of the mall and ignored another. Runs where I stared at the sheet halfway through and quietly accepted my fate. But eventually, the engine came together.

$1500+ in sales. I did it!

The mall survived. I am now qualified to run the greatest mall in the country.

Career Complete!

And with that, my little mall manager career comes to an end. At least for now.

Because Midtown Mall still has a bunch of extra challenges and achievements waiting around. Debt Free. Hype Machine. Retail Mogul. Perfect Planning. I’ll save those side quests for another day.

For now, I’m just happy that I managed to clear the full career mode and turn this struggling little mall into the biggest one in the country.

I’m glad I gave this game a shot. A real-life management simulation about running a shopping mall is not exactly the route most print-and-play games take. But Midtown Mall commits to that idea fully, and that’s exactly what made this whole experience stand out for me.

So if you’re in the mood for something different, this crunchy little roll-and-write might be worth checking out.

Especially considering it’s currently available as a pay-what-you-want campaign on Kickstarter 👀

- Tas.

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