Player guide
Unlocks and the Playbook
CRE Tycoon doesn't hand you everything at once. The core opens as you play it, each promotion brings one big thing, and the rest you earn by doing.
Updated October 20, 2026
Three kinds of new
- The moment it happens. The core of the game opens as you reach it:
- Listings: Sellers want you to sell their buildings.
- The Market: Your first commission: buildings are for sale.
- Your Portfolio: Your first building: run it, upgrade it, collect.
- Career Paths: Reach Bronze in a sector
- One headline per promotion. Each rank brings one big new thing, shown on the promotion stage.
- Earned by doing. A new option on something you already do opens once you've done the thing before it.
Each promotion's headline
| Rank | Brings |
|---|---|
| Junior Broker | Skills |
| Associate | Stabilize plans |
| Senior Associate | A 4th action |
| Broker | Midtown |
| Senior Broker | Value-Add plans |
| VP | The Port District |
| Director | A 5th action |
| Managing Director | Big Lease-Up and Reposition |
| Principal | Uptown |
| Partner | Redevelop |
| Senior Partner | A 6th action |
| Mogul | The VIP Room |
| City Legend | The legend buildings |
Earned by doing
These open from what you do, at any rank unless it says otherwise. They're listed in the order they're released when several are due at once.
| Feature | What earns it |
|---|---|
| Lunch Meetings | Close 3 deals |
| Systems upgrades | Buy 3 upgrade levels |
| Hard Money Loans | Own a building for 6 months, or finish a plan |
| Standard Marketing | Sign 2 listings |
| Missions | Close 5 deals, from Associate |
| Rivals | A rival snipes a building while you shop |
| Your Team | Fill your 2 listings or 2 clients, from Associate |
| Direct Mailers | Make 20 calls |
| Networking Galas | Own 2 buildings |
| Amenities upgrades | Buy 6 upgrade levels |
| Buy the Listing | Sign 4 listings |
| Standing Orders | Sell 3 listings |
| The City Ledger | Own 3 buildings |
| Digital Ads | Run mailers for 3 months |
| Tenant upgrades | Buy 10 upgrade levels |
| The Private Lender | Refinance or sell a hard-money building |
| Full Campaign | Close a $5M deal |
| House Rules | Own 5 buildings |
| Tech upgrades | Buy 15 upgrade levels |
| Billboards | Run digital ads for 3 months |
| Elite Pitch | Sell 3 listings of $2M or more |
| Institutional Launch | Close a $25M deal |
| Social Media | Run billboards for 3 months |
Earned is earned: if you qualify and then stop (you pause a campaign, or sell a building), the feature still opens when its turn comes.
Unlock cards
Each new feature arrives as a card: 40 in all, 17 common, 17 rare and 6 epic. A bigger unlock gets a grander frame, light and sound. The card gives the feature in one line with a live number, a How it works side for the detail, and a button that takes you straight to it: Try it when there's something to do now, Show me when there's something to see.
Features earned by doing are released at the end of a month, at most one a month, and never in a month with a promotion or the month after one, so each new thing gets its own moment. The rest wait their turn, and the month-end reveal tells you what opens next month.
The Playbook
Every card you've been dealt is kept in the Playbook on You, beside the trophy case. A fan shows your newest cards; open it to see the whole deck as a grid, and tap any card to reread how it works. The cards still to come lie face down.
Coming up
Below the Playbook, the Coming up strip shows what's next: the headlines of your next two promotions with the XP to go, and the two features you're closest to earning, each with a progress bar ("2/3 deals"). A feature you've earned but that hasn't opened yet shows as earned, opening soon.
Try it on a real career
Free in your browser, on your phone or desktop. No download, no account.