| Luck Be a Landlord | |
|---|---|
 Luck Be a Landlord's cover art on Steam | |
| Developer(s) | TrampolineTales |
| Publisher(s) | TrampolineTales |
| Designer(s) | Dan DiIorio |
| Composer(s) | Vincent Colavita [1] |
| Engine | Godot [2] |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Roguelike deck-building |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Luck Be a Landlord is a roguelike deck-building video game developed and published by TrampolineTales. Players attempt to pay their rent by using a customizable slot machine.
Players attempt to pay their landlord using a slot machine. The mechanics are similar to roguelike deck-building games. [3] Players must accumulate increasing amounts of money to pay their rent within a limited number of spins. After each spin, players can add another symbol. Symbols can interact with each other for extra money, such as cats drinking milk and bees pollinating flowers. [4] Some symbols can also destroy unwanted ones. [3] Players win by successfully paying 12 rounds of rent, thereby defeating their landlord.
Dan DiIorio developed Luck Be a Landlord after being inspired by Slay the Spire and freeware for Windows 98. He described himself as a "recently radicalized leftist" and, after moving into a new apartment, had been pondering why rent was necessary. The concept came from wanting to make a slot machine game that did not depend on predatory microtransations. It entered early access in January 2021. At the time, DiIorio had difficulty buying medication and had to delay development. This changed when Luck Be a Landlord suddenly became popular among streamers. [5] It was released for Linux, macOS, and Windows on January 6, 2023. [6] Ports to iOS and Android followed on July 21, 2023. [7]
Rock Paper Shotgun said it is a "compulsive celebration of silliness, and a successful parody" of capitalism. [4] Commenting on the mix of genres, Eurogamer called it "a surprisingly compelling mix" [8] and TouchArcade said it is a perfect blend of deck-building and gambling despite initially seemingly like it might be a momentary distraction. [9] Pocket Gamer said it is "simple on the surface but full of depth" and "insanely addicting". [10]
The game was banned in thirteen countries on Google Play for violating its policies on simulated gambling. DiIorio disputes the claim's inconsistency by comparing Luck Be a Landlord with similar microtransaction-based video games that are nonetheless available in those countries. [11] After a series of appeals, the game was later unbanned in South Korea. [12]
Games available in most casinos are commonly called casino games. In a casino game, the players gamble cash or casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes. Casino games are also available in online casinos, where permitted by law. Casino games can also be played outside of casinos for entertainment purposes, like in parties or in school competitions, on machines that simulate gambling.
A slot machine, fruit machine, poker machine or pokies is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers.
Roguelike is a style of role-playing game traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Most roguelikes are based on a high fantasy narrative, reflecting their influence from tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.
Pachinko (パチンコ) is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-strategy gambling.
Payazzo is a traditional Finnish gambling arcade game, dating back to the 1920s, when it was introduced into Finland from Germany. The object of payazzo is to flick a coin into one of the winning slots. When the attempt is successful, the machine rewards the player with a couple of coins. If the attempt is unsuccessful, the player loses the flicked coin.
Backflip Studios was a mobile game developer and publisher based in Boulder, Colorado, United States. It was founded by Julian Farrior, Dale Thoms and Tom Blind in April 2009. In August 2009, it was announced that the company had raised US$145,000 in funding to continue developing for the iPhone OS. Backflip Studios was best known for their free mobile game Paper Toss, which has been downloaded over 50 million times. They are also widely known for Dragonvale, with over 10 million downloads. In 2013, Backflip Studios sold a 70% stake in the company to Hasbro for $112 million in cash.
Slot machine terminology, characteristics and regulations vary around the world.
Reigns is a 2016 strategy game developed by Nerial and published by Devolver Digital. Set in a fictional medieval world, players control a monarch who the player must help rule for as long as possible. The monarch receives petitions and questions from advisers, which are represented by cards. The player can choose between two responses to the adviser, which has an effect on one of the kingdom's four aspects. If one of the aspects becomes too unbalanced, the game ends and the player starts another reign with a new monarch. To win the game, the player must break a curse created by the Devil, who visits the player across several reigns.
868-HACK is a 2013 roguelike video game developed and published by Michael Brough. The player controls a hacking program in a computer system and must grab as much computer data as possible before a defence program destroys it.
Rivals of Aether is a platform fighter game created by Dan Fornace, and released for Microsoft Windows in March 2017, for Xbox One in August 2017, and for Nintendo Switch in September 2020. It received positive reception from critics, who commended its deep gameplay.
The Legend of Bum-bo is a 2019 indie roguelike deck-building puzzle video game developed by designer Edmund McMillen and programmer James Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam in November 2019 and Android by The Label in December 2020, and for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S by Nicalis in June 2022. The game is a prequel to McMillen's previous roguelike video game The Binding of Isaac.
Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-building game developed by the American indie studio Mega Crit and published by Humble Bundle. The game was released in early access for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in late 2017, with an official release in January 2019. It was released for PlayStation 4 in May 2019, for Nintendo Switch in June 2019 and for Xbox One in August 2019. An iOS version was released in June 2020, with an Android version released in February 2021.
Dicey Dungeons is a roguelike deck-building game developed by Irish game designer Terry Cavanagh. It was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in August 2019, for Nintendo Switch in December 2020, for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in November 2021, and for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in February 2023. Ports for iOS and Android were released in July 2022.
A roguelike deck-building game is a hybrid genre of video games that combines the nature of deck-building card games with procedural-generated randomness from roguelike games.
Cursed to Golf is a 2022 roguelike video game developed by Chuhai Labs and published by Thunderful Publishing. Based on an itch.io demo created two years earlier, it was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. The player plays as a golfer in Golf Purgatory, which they have to escape by completing eighteen randomly-selected holes in a specific number of strokes, with the aid of statues that grant extra shots when broken and powerups known as Ace Cards. Cursed to Golf received praise for its mechanics and art, though reviews were mixed on the game's difficulty.
Pixel Dungeon is a 2012 roguelike indie game created by Oleg Dolya. Through turn-based gameplay, the player must descend and battle through dungeon floors to obtain the Amulet of Yendor. Initially developed for Android, it expanded to iOS and PC platforms. Dolya stopped updating the game in 2015. Since it is open source, the game's small community have created mods and games based on Pixel Dungeon's code, the most notable of which is Shattered Pixel Dungeon. While it received little attention from game critics, the few who reviewed it found the gameplay addictive, striking a balance between approachability and roguelikes's defining difficulty.
Brotato is a 2023 top-down arena shooter roguelite video game created by French independent developer Thomas Gervraud under the studio name Blobfish. It was first released via Steam early access in 2022, during which it sold over one million copies. Brotato received positive reviews from critics and players, and it was later ported to multiple platforms.
Caveblazers is a 2017 video game developed by Deadpan Games and published by Yogscast Games. Described as an "action-focused roguelike platformer", players in Caveblazers defeat enemies across runs of procedurally-generated dungeons to accumulate items, weapons, and potions with random effects. The developers described the design of the game as aiming to "move away from the simplistic combat systems" of other roguelike games to focus on "fast-paced combat". Upon release, the game received generally favorable reviews, with praise directed to the game's roguelike mechanics, customisation and challenging difficulty, and criticism for its lack of variety of environments and enemies. A port of the game for the Nintendo Switch was released in 2019.
Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate is a 2022 roguelike turn-based tactics video game developed by French studio Punkcake Delicieux and published by Headbang Club for Microsoft Windows. The game puts the player in the role of a tyrant black king chess piece whose workers have left him for the popular, nicer white king piece. To reclaim their pieces, the king piece carries and uses a shotgun, which is used against the pieces. As the game continues, the player will also randomly receive cards which will allow the player to upgrade their shotgun or gain special abilities.
Balatro is a poker-themed roguelike deck-building video game developed by LocalThunk and published by Playstack. It was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on February 20, 2024, with a port to macOS on March 1. Ports for Android and iOS are planned. In the game, players play poker hands to score points and defeat "blinds", while improving their deck and purchasing joker cards with a variety of effects.