Epyx Oil Barons

Oil Barons. If You're Smart, You'll get Filthy Rich.

From the April 1984 issue of Creative Computing magazine

The Company

You can read about the history of Epyx in this earlier article: Crush, Crumble, & Chomp!. Here is also an interview with the people behind Epyx.

The Game

Epyx released Oil Barons in 1983 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS systems. According to The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers (and the manual), Tom Glass designed the game.

This is how the manual explains the game:

OIL BARONS is a unique game for one to eight players, that combines the advantages of board play with the speed and ease of a computer game. The computer does all the work: housekeeping, bookkeeping, and running the game. The players have all the fun. Freed from work, they have the time to make decisions, develop strategies, and concentrate on winning.

OIL BARONS may be played in as short a time as a couple of hours; or, using the Game Save Feature, played out over weeks or even months. It can be enjoyed by the entire family, of all ages and expertise. OIL BARONS recreates in game form how the oil business operates ... exploration, drilling, and production. Each player forms a company, then starts out with a large amount of operating cash and four potential drilling parcels, to see who can win by making the most money.

OIL BARONS’ versatility offers you a variety of ways to play it. There are two basically different games: the CLASSIC GAME and the REALITY GAME. The CLASSIC GAME plays more like a real game. The REALITY GAME tries to simulate how the oil industry actually operates. In addition, you can play regular-length versions and quick game versions, select special game options, and customize the rules to give you, your friends, and family many years of challenging fun.

James Delson reviewed Oil Barons for the May 1984 issue of Family Computing:

If you've ever dreamed of wheeling and dealing in the marketplace, you'll enjoy this action-packed simulation of the petroleum industry. Buy land, survey your property, drill for black gold, and maybe even strike it rich, all in the comfort of your living room. The computer acts as your banker, secretary, and personal advisor while you struggle for supremacy in the world of big business.

Like other money and resource management games, such as Cartels and Cutthroats and President Elect. Oil Barons will take you several hours to learn. It requires careful reading of the lengthy instruction manual and several practice games. But once you get the hang of it. it's as easy, and as much fun as Monopoly or Careers, with all the features that computer games offer, as well. For instance, the computer helps keep track of resources and computations, and adds an element of surprise in such areas as political maneuverings and the size of each oil strike. Animated graphics depict the surveying and drilling process and enhance the game's appeal.

Play alone or against as many as seven other entrepreneurs, trying to accumulate money and land while outbidding and duping your rivals. Shady deals, powerful cartels, and high-risk business dealings are all allowed.

Playtesters over 12 found the game enjoyable, though some complained of it being too slow-moving. I can't recommend Oil Barons for all players. Though arcade fans and quickthrill seekers will be disappointed, it'll appeal to those who enjoy involved buying and selling strategies and offers insights into the business as well as years of challenging play.

The January/February 1985 issue of Computer Games gave Oil Barons a C rating. Here’s what they had to say:

This simulation of the oil business blends text and graphics. Plots of land are handed out or auctioned off by the computer, then marked with plastic counters on a big map-board that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. Up to eight players compete to reach a monetary goal that is set by the computer. You can survey sites, drill or pass. If you drill or survey, an animated scene shows the drill boring into the earth or ocean. Strike oil and you'll get royalty checks printed onscreen. Two types of games (Classic and Reality) and the option of saving games to disk contribute to the game's lifetime. C-64 version is incredibly slow during disk access, even more so than most games or this computer.

The June 1984 issue of Computer Entertainer gave the game 2 stars out of three for the graphics and 2 1/2 stars out of three for gameplay. Their biggest complaint was the game’s slowness on the C64:

Oil Barons has just been translated for C64 owners and it, unfortunately, has lost a good has lost a good deal in that translation. A good part of the problem is the inherent slowness of the C64 drive. Because of the nature of the game, there are vast amounts of information which must be accessed throughout the same, thus slowing progress considerably.

…

In this verison, we found the most disconcerting thing was that our board did not absolutely match the coordinates as we entered them. In other words, we would choose a square which was definitely "desert" and end up in the jungle. It appeared that the squares were off by one or two coordinates. When you're trying to play an exacting game, this is a serious drawback. It appears that Epyx has, understandably, used the Apple board, but it doesn't quite match the C64 program. In addition, the graphics are extremely dull compared to the Apple game. Obviously, this is due to the fact that there is not as much usable RAM in the C64 and vast amounts of that RAM is used up with all the information needed for gameplay (it does use both sides of the disk). We know that C64 owners are used to their slow disk; however, when we got a group of people gathered to play Oil Barons we found their attention wandering while the drive constantly spun away after virtually every move. After some plays, you'll have time to go to the kitchen for popcorn! We can't blame Epyx for this fault; however, it raises the question as to whether this particular game should have been translated to the C64. It's a shame because we loved the Apple version for both its gaming and educational value. (solo play; up to eight players; keyboard; also available for Apple) Not Recommended (MSR $54.00)

Both the Midnite Software Gazette and Creative Computing mentioned that the price of the game ($53) was high. Midnite said, “Because of the extensive economic simulation involved, this would be a very good game for a class setting, perhaps in a junior high or older economics or geology class, with students divided into 8 teams. Otherwise, $53 is a high enough price that you'd better first get your family's promise to play it regularly.” Creative Computing said, “Like the price of oil these days, however, the price of Oil Barons is high. It costs almost as much as a barrel of oil.”

Interested in checking out the game for yourself? Here is the Apple ][ version. Enjoy.

Have you ever played Oil Barons? Do you know anything about its history? Tell us about it in the comments below.