An idle tycoon game about American politics

Star-Spangled Tycoon is an idle tycoon game. You start with almost nothing and tap to earn your first dollars. Businesses then keep earning on their own, so you come back to more money than you left with. Each purchase makes the next one easier to afford, and the cycle of buying, waiting and upgrading repeats until you reach the next milestone. If you have played other idle games, the basic rhythm will feel familiar. The theme is what sets this one apart. Instead of running a corporate empire, you are a parody politician trying to win an election with fireworks, apple pie and a great many yard signs.

The full game has 5 worlds and 50 businesses spread across them. Each business can be upgraded and given a manager, and each world adds a new mechanic on top of the basic loop. Early on the choices are small: which business to buy next, and whether an upgrade is worth more than one more business. Later the decisions get bigger and the numbers grow large. The point of an idle game is to plan a little, wait a little and see the results, and that is the part this game is built around.

The game also has an election mechanic. When you hold an election you reset your progress in exchange for a lasting bonus, so the next run moves faster than the first. Along the way you will meet a Cabinet of parody politicians, collect achievements and follow a rotating calendar of 31 limited events. Every character is a fictional cartoon, and the jokes are aimed at politics in general rather than at real people or parties.

The browser version is free to play. You open the play page on a laptop, tablet or phone and the game starts, with nothing to install. Your progress is saved in the browser on that device, so use the settings menu to export a save before you clear your browser data or switch computers. The browser version is supported by ads, which appear at natural breaks such as after an election or when you collect offline earnings. Some rewards are unlocked by watching a short ad. The iPhone and iPad app is also free on the App Store.

Idle games reward patience, and the first ten minutes can feel slow. If you like checking in a few times a day to see what you earned and deciding what to buy next, you will probably enjoy it. If you want fast action or a long story, this kind of game may not suit you. Try it for a session, and if the buying-and-waiting rhythm clicks, the longer game opens up from there.