Gamblers unite! Luck be a Landlord is a quirky little game where you must play slot machines to pay your rent. With a catchy soundtrack and nice art there’s plenty of enjoyment to be had, especially if you’re a fan of hit games like Balatro. Luck be a Landlord may not hit the same quality and depth of a Balatro, but it is fun in its own right.
Get Lucky or Get Evicted
it’s a simple premise in Luck be a Landlord. You’re a tenant, they’re a landlord, and they assume you enjoy having a roof over your head and would do anything to keep it that way. What is the logical solution to said problem? Easy, to gamble and hope you don’t go broke of course! Obviously not ideal or recommended in real life, but in Luck be a Landlord, it’s status quo.
A quirky concept sure, but in an age of hit games such as Balatro becoming an indie darling overnight, there’s a serious market for these gambler sim-like games.
Luck, Gambling, Gameplay
The Gameplay in Luck be a Landlord is very simple. Your landlord emails you letting you know your rent is due in 5 days with a cost of 25 gold coins. He then informs you there is a slot machine in your apartment that you can use to pay your rent. Oh that sly devil.
The slot machine is where the gameplay happens. Five columns, four spots each column. As you start out you have one symbol in each column giving you one gold coin per spin. After each spin you will have a choice of three different items to add. Whether it be a symbol or a perk which is auto-equipped outside of the slot machine, giving various buffs.
It’s a simple concept but you’ll have to keep adding to your slot machine and racking up those coins if you prefer not getting evicted. I do appreciate that there is some complexity here. There’s enough strategy with the way symbols interact with each other to give you hours of play time.
For instance, if you have a kitten symbol and a milk bottle symbol and those two line up adjacent to each other, the milk will be destroyed and you’ll be given 20 coins. But with the milk being destroyed you’ll have to hope you can find another. Otherwise the kitten will usually just give a few coins per spin. Little things like that.
Lucky Conclusion
Luck be a Landlord is exactly what it is trying to be. It knows the style of game it’s mimicking and it does a good job at that. No, it probably won’t find its way onto your game of the year list, but it’s not trying to.
Luck be a Landlord is trying to be a fun game you can sit back and enjoy. There’s complexities to make it deeper, there’s a groovy soundtrack, and there’s cute sprite art.
I didn’t experience many problems during my time with the game although I believe the menus are a real problem. Felt like most of the time it wasn’t responsive when navigating which symbol I wanted to choose after every round. It was a consistent issue that possibly only affects console which is where I played the game.
Nevertheless, whenever I’m bored and looking to pass the time, I’ll probably turn on Luck be a Landlord and kick back. In an age where every game is trying to get thousand of hours out of you, I find myself appreciating experiences like this even more.
