Ready to hear the story of Fairy Godmother Tycoon? Once upon a time, there was a land known as Onceuponia and it had nine quirky villages. The Fairy Godmother managed potion stores in these villages, but competitors took over and almost ran her business into the ground.

Fairy Godmother has hired a new employee (you) to save her stores. The boss provides goals in each village to meet before moving on to the next one. The first to conquer is Tutorialville. This helps the player learn the business as Fairy Godmother doesn't want to throw the player to the wolves, dragons and bulls before moving up to the seriously competitive villages.

This YATG (yet another tycoon game) succeeds in challenging players to run a business. Players must decide the following before the start of each day:

• Study weather reports to determine what potions to stock up on
• How many supplies to buy
• What to charge
• What marketing tools to use
• What to upgrade (building, potion maker, entertainment for entertaining people waiting in line, spells, spies, etc.)
• How much, if any, to invest in research for a new potion
• Whether to hire contractors to help promote your product or stop the competition
• Whether to take out a loan or pay it back

On occassion, a celebrity or local resident will pop in to request something or ask for help. Celebrities include Jack and Jill, Cinderella's stepsisters, Red Riding Hood, Little Miss Muffet, Rapunzel and Pandora of Greek myth fame. Be careful with the pop-in events as they could gain or lose beans (currency of Onceuponia) and inventory.

The people of the nine villages - Sure Would Forest, Beantown (not Boston) and Pirates' Cove to name a few - need help dealing with big head, floating, fire, broken heart and swear curses. The goal for conquering each village typically requires earning a specific amount of beans or driving competitors out of business.

Fairy Godmother reports to players in between each village and the witty dialog makes even the grumpiest person laugh. One hilarious moment came when the people who needed the liquid clothing potion to cure their curse (figure it out?) walked around with black boxes over their ... ahem ... privates.

The only annoying experience with the game was the too-small screen (picture-in-picture style) displaying the store. Also the space where the villager's opinions appeared was too small. It was easy to spend too much time trying to scroll to read the opinion and it wasn't long before the day was over.

Truthfully, this was the best tycoon-style game of them all ... so far. The comical conversations, variety and challenges were neither too heavy, nor too light. They're just right as Goldilocks would say (and she's a competitor in the game). Beware: Game will hook players with magic. Play at your own risk. This is an addiction worth experiencing.

System Requirements

• Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
• 500MHz or faster Processor
• 128MB RAM
• DirectX 8.0 or higher

This game doesn't have an official rating, but it qualifies for E (Everyone) as explained by the ESRB.

Download and try Fairy Godmother Tycoon free.