Money
You start every tower with $2,000,000. That sounds like a lot until you price an elevator. The trick of the early game is to spend it on things that pay it back quickly, and the trick of the late game is to keep the upkeep of a great big tower covered.
Money coming in
Section titled “Money coming in”| Source | When it arrives | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|
| Office rent | Every quarter | Offices |
| Condo sales | Once, when a family buys | Homes |
| Studio and apartment rent Modern | Every month | Homes |
| Hotel rooms | Every morning at checkout | Hotels |
| Shops, restaurants and venues | Every hour they’re open and busy | Food and shops, Venues |
| Fitness clubs and clinics Modern | Every quarter, like an office | Venues |
| Buried treasure | Now and then, when you dig a new basement room | Events |
A tenant pays only while their floor has an elevator, stairs or escalator. An office on a floor you cut off pays nothing that quarter.
Money going out
Section titled “Money going out”Building. Every room, floor and shaft costs its price up front. If you can’t afford something, the game won’t build it.
Upkeep. Some rooms cost money every month:
| Each month | |
|---|---|
| Each elevator car | $600 |
| Security | $2,000 |
| Housekeeping | $1,000 |
| Medical Center | $5,000 |
| Recycling Center | $4,000 |
| Metro Station | $8,000 |
| Nightclub DJ Modern | $40,000 |
| Overhead per office, home, hotel room or shop Modern | $700 |
| Holding tax on an unsold condo Modern | 1.5% of its price |
Buy-backs. When a condo’s owners leave, you buy the condo back for what they paid.
Films. A cinema’s films cost money when you book them. See Venues.
Events. A fire rescue, a ransom, a thief or a bomb fine can all cost you. See Events.
The quarter and the month
Section titled “The quarter and the month”How often rent and bills arrive depends on your tower’s calendar (see Calendar and clock).
Classic The 1994 calendar is short: a quarter is just three days. Offices pay their full rent every three days, and the monthly bills come every three days too, at a tenth of the monthly price. This is why Classic offices make money so fast.
Modern On the real-world calendar a month is 30 days and a quarter 90, and bills and rents arrive at full size. On the short 1994 calendar, Modern scales the office rent down to match the short quarter, so the same tower earns the same each day whichever calendar it runs. An office priced at $10,000 pays $333 every three days (a thirtieth of its rate), and an apartment’s monthly rent arrives every three days at a tenth. The room’s card shows what actually lands each time, with the rate you set beside it.
Keeping an eye on it
Section titled “Keeping an eye on it”The money at the top of the screen is your treasury. The game’s message log tells you each time rent, a sale or a hotel night comes in, and the statistics window breaks the tower’s income and spending down by kind. See Map and windows.
Making more of it
Section titled “Making more of it”- Fill your offices first; they pay back fastest.
- Keep shops near lobbies and busy floors, or they earn half.
- Don’t build services before you need them; their upkeep starts the day they open.
- Check the Map’s Pricing view now and then. Rents set too high cost you tenants; rents set too low leave money on the table.
- In Classic, a condo that may lose its owners is a debt waiting to happen. Make sure condos are somewhere people want to stay.