If you’re anything like me, you find something compelling about an “endless clicker” game. There’s not a lot of gameplay or strategy in one of these time-wasters, but they’re fulfilling in some odd way.
Take my latest obsession: AdVenture Capitalist! Starting with a lemonade stand, you can work your way up to an oil magnate on Earth and then bust out of the atmosphere to take your industrious money gathering to Mars and the Moon.
It’s kind of ridiculous to just tap buttons to buy various industries like newspapers, pizza parlors, donut shops, and banks, but oddly soothing all the same. Here’s a quick video to give you a sense of the gameplay.
See? There’s nothing difficult about it. You tap to buy as many instances of each ever-increasingly profitable industry as you can, buy some upgrades to make things make money even faster, and hire managers to take care of the constant tapping for each business you own when you’re not running the game itself. Everything gets more expensive as you go along, but also earns you more money. It’s the endless rat-race made digital, complete with charming Monopoly-esque artwork and sounds.
You can also buy gold with real money (or watch an ad to earn a bit), which allows you to boost your earning potential even higher, but gold isn’t essential: I’ve been playing for days without even feeling a need to purchase anything specific, though I probably will just to tip the developers.
It’s not quite as subversively funny as my original favorite in this genre, Cookie Clicker, but set up on my iPad while I work, AdVenture Capitalist! is a delightful little diversion that gives me some pretend feelings of accomplishment every time I hire a new manager or buy a new business type. If you’re in the mood for something similar, grab it for your Mac on Steam or your iOS device on iTunes.
