Fortune Builder
Fortune Builder is a 1984 simulation video game developed by Circuits and Systems and published by Coleco Industries for the ColecoVision. One of the only simulation titles available for the ColecoVision at the time, the game is an economic simulation in which the player builds a property empire through acquiring, developing and selling real estate. Publications have identified Fortune Builder as an early iteration of a simulation video game similar to the later Maxis title SimCity.
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wikidata · Q107452201 · wikipedia · Fortune Builder
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Fortune Builder • Developer — Circuits and Systems • Publisher — Coleco Industries • Released — 1983 • Genre — Simulation • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — ColecoVision, Coleco Adam
Gameplay
Gameplay
• Illustration — The gameplay design of Fortune Builder has been identified as a precursor to SimCity. Fortune Builder is a simulation of a real estate business. Players acquire land to develop into valuable properties by constructing buildings, including accommodation, restaurants, and resorts, represented by icons on a two-dimensional map. The value of constructed properties is modified by the terrain buildings are constructed on, with effects differing across beachfront, lakefront, grass and snow-capped land. The player also builds utilities to service their properties, such as power stations to fuel industries, and roads and gas stations to maintain traffic. Players must consider several factors that modify business success, including proximity to undesirable buildings, the preferences of consumers, and seasonal patterns. The game features a yearly calendar, with information about financial performance displayed at the end of the year. The game's single-player mode lasts five calendar years. The game also features a split-screen two-player mode, which lasts until one player wins.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
Fortune Builder is associated with United States.
Country
Reception
Electronic Games praised the game as a "quality" title, noting its graphics were "colourful, well-drawn and easy to understand", with "pretty" music, although found the one-player mode to be "little more than a basic economics lesson". Computer Entertainer nominated the game as the 1984 'Program of the Year' for the ColecoVision. Retrospective reception of Fortune Builder has identified the game as an early precursor to the later Maxis simulation series Sim City. Retro Gamer listed the game as one of the "perfect" titles for the system, writing "predating SimCity by a good five years, Fortune Builder is an extremely polished sim", highlighting the game's "staggering range of items" and "insanely polished" two-player mode. Considering the game to have inspired SimCity, Digital Press described the title as "very advanced for its time", although noted that the game "isn't visually appealing and would probably impress only the diehard strategiests because of its lumbering pace".
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Fortune Builder, revision 1331759008 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Coleco Family Learning Software. Fortune Builder: Strategy Guide. 1984.
- 2.Forman, Tracie. Fortune Builder. Electronic Games. Reese Communications. 3. 2. 36. February 1985.
- 3.Computer Entertainer Awards of Excellence 1984. Computer Entertainer. 3. 10. 147. January 1985.
- 4.Imagine Publishing. Perfect Ten: Colecovision. Retro Gamer. 73. 74. February 2010.
- 5.Closet Classics. Digital Press. 7. 21. September 1992.
- 6.Santulli, Joe. Psychophile. Digital Press. 23. 21. January 1995.
- 7.Digital Press Presents: Our 99 Favorite Classics. Digital Press. 33. 11. September 1997.
- 8.Oleniacz, Kevin. Classic Sleepers. Digital Press. 29. 17. March 1996.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
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