Tykoon simulates a business firm. Your goal is find a combination of labor, capital, and price which results in a profit. Understanding a bit of economic theory helps a lot in achieving this goal, which is probably inevitable because the program was originally developed as an instructional tool.
Tykoon is a simulation of the sort of firm which exists in economics textbooks, which means that many of the real-world decisions a real firm must make do not exist.
The firm in the simulation is a monopoly with fixed production function and demand curve. You make three main decisions: hire labor, hire capital, and set price. Output is determined by your hiring, and the amount you sell by your price. You can also purchase information about productivity which will help you if you know what to do with it. The information you purchase contains marginal productivity data.
When you have done as well as you can with a firm, you can sell it. If you are making a profit, your score will be increased by an amount which depends on how close you come to the solution. You can then start with a new firm with new parameters. As the score increases, the difficulty in finding a profit also increases. A score of 100 should indicate either incredible luck or an understanding of the fundamentals of the economic theory of the firm.
It is always possible to make a profit. When the program sets up a firm, it randomly generates the production function and demand curve, and then checks to see if a profit is possible. If it is not, it adjusts its parameters until one is possible. You can discover the best solution by selling out or by going bankrupt.
Some History
The ancestor to this program was developed in the late 1970s on an old HP 2000 minicomputer with some funding from a NSF LOCI grant. It was part of a larger package of instructional material developed for use in introductory economics courses; most of the rest is long gone. In 1983 an instructional version of this program (called BIZNES) was published by CONDUIT of Iowa City, originally for the Apple II and later for DOS machines. It is still available, but does not sell much. If you want a complete description of the theory in Tykoon, I recommend the manual that went with the program. I think it costs about $10.00. (An address which I think is still valid is CONDUIT, PO Box 388, Iowa City, Iowa 52244.
In the early 1980s, for reasons I no longer remember, I rewrote this instructional program as a game for the TI-4A home computer right before it went out of production and the market for its software dried up faster than water on Mercury. A few years later I tried to learn to program on DOS machines by converting it to GW-BASIC, and in the process I decided that I did not want to work in that environment. That version never left my office. A couple of years ago, after beginning to program on the Mac, I contacted CONDUIT and asked if they would be interested in a Macintosh version of Biznes. They said, "No," and gave me permission to do whatever I wanted with the program on the Mac.
This past summer I purchased a copy of PG-PRO by Staz Software and needed something to practice on. I found my old source code mentioned above, and converted it to FutureBASIC. I had intended to add more features to this program, but opportunity knocked and the value of mine time rose unexpectly a few weeks ago. That rise priced this program off my schedule.
This version works, but is lean. Its user-friendliness leaves a lot to be desired. Is it worth spending more time on it? I do not know. If you see any value to it, I would like to hear from you. I only work on things where there is some interest.
Distribution
Tykoon is copyright 1993 by Robert Schenk. This version may be distributed freely as long as no charge is made for it and no changes of any kind are made to it. No one may distribute it on disk or CD-ROM for which payment is received without my written permission (please include a SASE).
For an explanation of the economic theory, see the Manual mentioned above. Alternatively, you can receive an almost free copy of an economics textbook which contains a detailed description of the theory in the way the simulation implements it. To receive this almost free copy, send $7.00 to cover shipping and handling to:
Robert Schenk
P.O. Box 901
Rensselaer, IN 47978
(Please include a note about what the payment is for. I have too many things out in shareware-land to read minds. If you would like the macroeconomic volume as well, send $10.00.)
(This offer is not available to anyone in Jasper County Indiana.)
If you teach economics, this book would make a good supplementary workbook because it contains lots of problems. I have many copies and will negotiate on price with anyone interested.
If you have any comments or suggestions, I can be reached at
bobs@saintjoe.edu. (This is an internet address.)
The above offer is good only until I run out, which I currently estimate will be on March 18, 2031.
