I was not expecting greatness from this unassuming slot machine simulator, but greatness is what I was given. Luck be a Landlord subverts all expectations and then puts everything in a spin as you gamble for the fake money to pay the rent in this strange examination of late capitalism.
TrampolineTales released this roguelike deckbuilder at the dawn of 2023 and at the time it flew under my radar. It’s a damn shame that it did because the peaceful pacing of Luck be a Landlord would have been a perfect game to relax with when I needed it. Fast forward to early 2024 and I’ve been dipping in and out of it fairly regularly since I picked it up earlier this month – I just wish I’d found it earlier.
What is Luck be a Landlord, then?
As mentioned, the game is a deckbuilder with roguish tendencies. In this strange vision of society, which is viewed through the lens of a slot machine, you must pay your landlord money that you win from your incessant gambling. Failure to supply said landlord with the required payment on the designated date means eviction and the end of the game.
Each symbol has a monetary value, with some higher than others. Each time you pull the lever your symbols will appear, and you’ll be paid the amount shown. There are 20 spaces on your slot machine, and your symbols will eventually fill up the screen. Thus, the aim of the game is to pick the best symbols that are going to pay out the most money. It’s a simple as that.
Except it’s not simple. Not at all. Scratch under the surface and Luck be a Landlord reveals a deep reservoir of nuance. Your symbols not only provide you with gold, but they also interact and synergise with each other. A monkey, for example, will pay out some gold on its own, but it might also eat an adjacent coconut, and in doing so create two new symbols (two half-coconuts). All of these actions and the new symbols on the board deliver more gold than these symbols would have done on their own.
Finding synergies to pay the rent
Monkeys eating bananas and coconuts doesn’t sound particularly exciting in itself, I’ll give you that. However, these kind of moves are the foundation of your early run, so you’ll need to make sure you’re paying attention to what’s in front of you at all times because every coin counts. What’s more, things will escalate quickly, with the stakes rising in parallel with the game’s potential complexity.
After each pull on the one-armed bandit, once you’ve been given your handful of gold, you are then offered a choice of one of three new symbols. You must always choose wisely and with the greatest care, reacting to what’s in front of you already, as well as using your own pre-existing understanding of the game. The more you play, the greater your understanding of what’s in play, and the more effective your decision making will become.
It’s not long before the common-as-muck symbols from the first few spins are joined by an array of increasingly rare ones. At the same time, each time you successfully pay the rent (which, of course, goes up every single time) you’re given a new item. Not to be confused with symbols, these powerful items sit outside of the playing area and either passively impact your run with additional gold, or you can interact with them and get a one-time boon that will give you new symbols or deliver more gold.
Lucky for some, unlucky for others
Some of the late game synergies are brutal and/or hilarious. Luck be a Landlord incentivises the killing of billionaires for gold, just as much as it wants you to mine ore and uncover diamonds. You can lean your strategy towards people, animals, plants, rocks, and so much more.
Of course, there’s an element of luck once you’ve got more symbols than slots on the board, but at no point did I feel the game was unfair. You’re given the option to streamline your hand and thus increase the odds of better synergies appearing; hoarding cards only serves to dilute the efficacy of your strategy.
There are so many different approaches to explore, and in my opinion you’ll more than get your money’s worth out of this one (unless you’re one of those miserable gits who plays a game for 600 hundred hours and then writes a bad Steam review because they’re bored). I’ve been playing for several hours, I’ve beaten the game and now I’m working my way up the floors and replaying it on harder difficulty settings.
I wasn’t expecting all that much from Luck be a Landlord, to begin with at least. In fact, even after my first couple of attempts, it hadn’t sunk its proverbial teeth into me. However, with a little perseverance I was pushed out of my indifference and into the realisation that I was playing something truly unique. This is a game with a fine sense of humour and one of the most satisfying gameplay loops I’ve encountered in the genre. Against all the odds, TrampolineTales has only gone and hit the jackpot.
Luck be a Landlord is available on PC, iOS and Android.
