Every commercial real estate game, compared

CRE Tycoon

Commercial real estate game · Browser: phone and desktop · Free, no ads or purchases

Our game, listed first because it's the only one here built entirely around commercial real estate. You start as a broker with $100,000, earn commissions, then buy office, retail, industrial and multifamily buildings with a down payment and a loan. Lease them up, upgrade them, refinance for tax-free cash or sell, over a 10-year career scored on net worth.

Good at: Income-based values and cap rates, the bank's coverage test, escrow trouble, refinancing, a market that cycles, rival brokers. Plays in five-minute sessions. Leaves out: No city building, no multiplayer table, and individual leases are abstracted. There is luck in prospecting and building events.

Play CRE Tycoon free

Capitalism Lab

Business simulation · PC (Steam) · Paid

Enlight Software's deep business sim, the successor to Capitalism II. Alongside factories, retail and stock markets, you can buy land and develop residential, commercial and mixed-use buildings, and rents respond to the facilities around them.

Good at: Scale and depth: real estate as one part of a full economy, with land you can buy cheap and sell into a bubble. Leaves out: Real estate is one system among many, so brokerage, financing a single deal and the cap rate math are not the focus. A steep learning curve.

Baron: The Real Estate Simulation

Classic computer game (1983) · Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Mac · Out of print

Published by Blue Chip Software in 1983. Sixty months of real estate speculation are played in about an hour, with interest rates and the property market moving underneath you.

Good at: Proof that the genre is old: buying, financing and selling property over a fixed span of months. Leaves out: Hard to play today without an emulator, and its markets reflect early-1980s rates.

Donald Trump's Real Estate Tycoon

PC tycoon game (2002) · Windows (later mobile) · Out of print

Developed by RedCap and published by Activision Value. Four kinds of real estate in three sizes each, across five cities from Los Angeles to Paris, with Trump reviewing your progress every six months.

Good at: Named, owned buildings of different types, and competing against rival developers. Leaves out: Dated, and the finance is light: it is a construction and rent tycoon more than an investing sim.

REAL ESTATE Simulator: From Bum to Millionaire

Property flipping sim (2024) · PC (Steam), also on consoles · Paid (often discounted)

Developed by Geekon. You start in a tent, negotiate with clients, and buy, renovate and sell properties across a city, with market crashes along the way.

Good at: Negotiation with buyers and the rags-to-riches arc. Leaves out: Mostly homes, and the store page doesn't mention loans or rent. User reviews on Steam are mixed.

Landlord Tycoon (Landlord GO)

Location-based mobile game · iPhone and Android · Free, with ads and in-app purchases

Made by Reality Games. You buy virtual shares of real places near you, from shops to landmarks, earn in-game rent and climb leaderboards.

Good at: Short sessions and the fun of "owning" places you walk past. Very popular, with tens of thousands of App Store ratings. Leaves out: The economics are collecting rather than investing: no cap rates, loans or market cycles to speak of.

RealtySimulator

Browser game · Browser · Free

A browser real estate game with a global leaderboard. You build up from homes to multiplexes, mixed-use, hotels and high-rises, with permits and a bank.

Good at: Free, in the browser, competitive. Leaves out: Focused on building and trading rather than commercial investing and brokerage; some systems (jail, robbery) are pure game.

AssetCraft

CRE strategy game (in development) · Not yet released · Funded on Patreon

An independent project describing itself as a commercial real estate strategy game about judgement under uncertainty: rate cycles, refinancing risk, tenant defaults and lease expiries.

Good at: Aims squarely at how CRE risk works, for learners and analysts. Leaves out: Not playable yet at the time of writing.

Finsimco Commercial Real Estate Simulation

Training simulation · Run by an instructor · Priced on request

Built for business schools and corporate training. Teams run a fund across office, retail, industrial and multifamily, underwrite deals, structure debt and decide when to hold, renovate or sell.

Good at: Professional depth and a structured debrief, built for a course. Leaves out: Not something you can pick up and play on your own, and not free.

CBRE commercial real estate job simulation (Forage)

Virtual work experience · Browser · Free

A self-paced program of a couple of hours, with example tasks in prospecting, account management and lease administration.

Good at: A realistic look at entry-level brokerage work before you apply for a job. Leaves out: Tasks, not a game: there is no portfolio to build or market to play.

Small Commercial Real Estate Lending Game

Board game · Table · Promotional

A board game created by a commercial lender, Interbay Funding, in which players race to become the wealthiest mortgage broker by closing loans on the properties on the board.

Good at: A rare board game about commercial lending, made to teach loan originators. Leaves out: Hard to find, and narrow: it is about the loan, not owning the building.