Intrigue and secrecy abound in this realistic and skilled game of big business.

Have you got what it takes to outwit your competitors and make millions or will you go bankrupt?

For 2-6 players aged 8 and upwards.

This exciting game for 2-6 players gives you all the thrill of running your own chocolate factory and pitting your wits against your competitors in order to outsell them and own the company that makes the most profit.

All the ingredients of real business are there: manufacturing, running a transport fleet, hiring and sacking staff, expanding your factory, advertising your product, insurance and working out the most profitable and competitive price to sell your goods. You encounter such hazards as your staff going on strike, cocoa supplies running out, heatwaves, high inflation and interest rates. Profit and loss accounts and balance sheets are shown together with comments on your company's performance.

The Chocolate Factory is an original, totally absorbing, and educational, game, skilled enough to interest adults for hours and yet appealing to the younger members of the family who love to try to beat Mum and Dad.

The game is for 2-6 players. Each chooses a company name and is given a net worth of $50,000 made up of a chocolate factory worth $20,000 and cash of $30,000.

The players choose the length of the game by deciding for how many periods they wish to compete.

The objective is to increase your initial $50,000 net worth by making as much profit as you can from manufacturing and selling cases of chocolates in competition with each other.

To help you with your strategy, a prediction of the total market size and the total chocolate making capacity of all the companies is given each period.

The game ends after the selected number of periods and the winner is the company with the largest net worth. The game will finish earlier if:

1. Any company reaches a net worth of $10 million, or
2. If all the companies but one go bankrupt.

Each company is given a colour and when the screen with your colour appears, ensure that your competitors do not look as you key in your decisions. The ENTER key must be pressed after each decision.

Your factory is initially large enough to manufacture 1,000 cases per period. You may increase its capacity in any period by building an extension. Building costs are at the rate of $10,000 for each increase in capacity of 500 caes but *be careful not to incur penal interest rates by overborrowing!*

The cost of production of a case of chocolates varies and is given each period.

Initially the overhead cost of running your chocolate business is $2,000 per period. This increases proportionally as you extend your manufacturing capacity.

The cost of warehousing stocks of unsold chocolates is $1 per case.

Vans costing $5,000 each have to be purchased to carry your chocolates. A van carries 500 cases and is worn out after 4 periods. The cost for each van per period is:

You must employ staff at a salary of $1,000 each per period to sell your chocolates. You require one member of staff to sell 100 cases of chocolates. You can sack staff by keying in a minus sign before the number you wish to sack, at a redundancy cost of $1,000 for each person.

Advertising is optional and can be for any amount. It has a varied effect on the saleability of your goods, but provided that you do not pitch your selling price too high, the amount you spend will normally be more than recouped in your selling price.

Fire and accident insurance is optional. The premium is calcualted at 10% of the cost of your chocolates and $500 per van per period.

This is calculated after paying for your chocolates, extension, vans, advertising and insurance for the period. Interest is charged at the rate of 15% on borrowings and 10% is credited on cash balances. If borrowings exceed your net worth a penal rate of 50% is charged on the excess. Avoid this! Do not overspend!

A grat deal of skill is required on deciding on your selling price. Your thought processes will be very complex, taking into account, your own costs and strategy and the level of competition you are encountering. However, as a guide-line we would suggest a selling price in Period 1 would be in the region of $33-$45. This is only a guide and depends on many factors and the skill of you and your competitors.

Eight options are included which can be combined in any way to give hundreds of variations to the game. It is recommended that you familiarise yourself with the basic game before moving on to the variations.

CLOAD (ENTER)
RUN (ENTER)