Jones in the Fast Lane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jones in the Fast Lane is a life simulation game developed and published by Sierra in 1991. The objective of the game is to attain as much money, happiness, status and education as necessary to win. These would be set up by the players before the game began. The game's name and goals are a play on the concept of keeping up with the Joneses.
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[edit] Gameplay
The game world is represented by a board game-like ring of buildings in squares, resembling a cross between Monopoly and The Game of Life. The player, represented by a coloured marble on the board, is free to move around, only limited by the time remaining per turn. Time is used up by moving to a new location and performing actions like working, attending class, or resting.
Each turn would represent a week of the player's life (more like a year of real life). The player would only get to decide what their character would do during the week. On the weekends, the character would experience some random "Oh What a Weekend" event and spend a random amount of money (usually less than $150). Some of these are pretty humorous such as, "You went to Las Vegas in a $20,000 car and came back in a $200,000 Greyhound bus."
[edit] Buildings
Several of the buildings in the game were parodies of real life companies or drawn from other Sierra games. In most buildings the player would be greeted by an employee who might say silly things. Going clockwise from the "12 o'clock" position of the board, the buildings are:
- Low-Cost Housing - This is the initial home of the player. The inside resembles the apartment of an alcoholic student complete with broken lounge chair and "Home Sweet Home" sign. If the player owns any home appliances or entertainment devices such as a colour TV or refrigerator, they are at risk of having their stuff ripped off by the local burglar, Wild Willy (though it's unclear how he could steal a player's hot tub).
- Pawn Shop - Here the player could sell their entertainment devices or appliances for badly needed cash. They could later buy back their merchandise at a heightened price just like a real pawn shop.
- Z-Mart - This place is most likely a parody of Kmart. Here the player could purchase merchandise at lower prices than those available at QT Clothing or Socket City. There were also goods unique to Z-mart such as: the atlas, the dictionary, and the encyclopedia, each of which would raise the character's education rating slightly; concert and theatre tickets, which would raise the character's happiness rating; and items such as dog food or the Works of Capote which lower the character's happiness rating.
- Monolith Burger - This location is a parody of McDonalds and a direct cross-over from the Space Quest series. Here the player can buy fast food (each player must eat at least once a week). A variety of fast food items are on offer, though a weekly dose of fries is adequate. The clerk would say silly things when serving the player such as, "Would you like thousand-isla... I mean secret sauce, with that?" This location is also home to the job that anyone can get regardless of education, work history or experience (also one can never get a no openings response for this job at the Employment Office): Cook.
- QT Clothing - Here the player could buy clothing necessary to work at certain higher paying jobs.
- Socket City - This place is most likely a parody of Circuit City. This location sells entertainment devices and appliances at top end prices. Unlike Z-Mart though, the inventory doesn't change. The computer available here randomly generates income for the player.
- Hi-Tech U - Here the player could take courses to satisfy the education requirements for the various jobs and for the game's education goal requirement. Each course would take 10 of the game's time units. Having a computer from Socket City reduces the time required by one. Owning an encyclopedia, dictionary and atlas together (buyable from Z-Mart) reduces the time by an extra time unit.
- Employment Office - Here the player can apply for the various jobs in the game or apply for a raise (economic conditions permitting). The player may or may not land the position for a variety of reasons such as: no openings, not enough experience, not enough education, or poor work history.
- Factory - The only purpose of this building is to work. The highest paying job in the game, General Manager, is at this location. One thing the greeter would say is (paraphrasing), "Welcome to the factory. We pay top dollar for blue collar."
- Bank - Like a normal bank, this place takes deposits. Though a random event, "Savings Lost - S&L fails" would wipe out the player's bank account. If the player makes enough money, he or she can apply for a loan. Furthermore, the player can buy or sell securities by consulting a broker about a list of investments: T-Bills, Gold, Silver, Pork Bellies, Blue Chip stocks and Penny Stocks. Unlike real life, each of these randomly fluctuates between game-determined fixed values. Also at this location the player will be at high risk of being mugged by Wild Willy. He steals the player's wallet, which wipes out the player's cash balance.
- Black's Market - This location sells food that must be stored in a refrigerator (maximum 6 weeks worth, with freezer 12 weeks), lottery tickets (costing $10 each and ranging from $200 to $5000 in prize value) and a weekly newspaper. The clerk says humorous things such as, "Don't dent the cans and expect a discount." Like the bank, the player is at heightened risk of being mugged at this location.
- Le Securité - This is the alternative to Low-Cost Housing. If the player buys a TV, Stereo, VCR or Encyclopedia, they can be seen on the shelves in the apartment. Here the player is at no risk of having their merchandise stolen. Also, the happiness rating is increased slightly.
- Rent Office - The player must come here on every week divisible by 4 to pay their rent. Another option is to beg for more time. The player can also switch from Low-Cost Housing to Le Securité and vice versa. If the player doesn't pay their rent, the rent office garnishes their salary until the rent is paid. One humorous line elicited when switching from Low-Cost Housing to Le Securité is (paraphrasing), "A wise choice. Our other building has just been condemned.." A player may also pay any number of months rent ahead of time so that the player doesn't need to waste in game time returning to this office every 4 weeks. Amusing responses occur upon repeated clicking of "Ask for more time" after the initial request has been denied due to previous bad payment history. Sometimes, it is possible that the player's rent for Low-Cost Housing is higher than the current rent for Le Securité. Thus, it would be advantageous to switch to the high-security Le Securité at this time.
[edit] Similarities to The Sims
One could say this is a precursor to the famous The Sims game. Like The Sims, one might derive some entertainment value from seeing their character crash and burn by forgetting to buy clothing, which results in the character appearing naked (save a barrel, a newspaper or a blackened bar). Compared with the aforementioned Maxis release, this game lacks social interaction, although unlike The Sims, it offers the possibility of playing against other humans in hot seat fashion or an AI opponent known as Jones. The AI is playable on three levels. On the easiest level, Jones may sometimes make very poor decisions. On the hardest setting, Jones has a slight handicap in his favour, but this handicap is easily overcome by experienced players.
[edit] External link
- http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=578 - has additional game information and screenshots
