Bulls and Bears

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Speakeasy Software Ltd

No, Bulls and Bears is not a reference to Chicago sports teams. It's a reference to the stock market. In the ol' zoo known as the stock market, bulls represent rising prices, optimism, and growth. Bears, on the other hand, represent falling prices, fear, and recession. The terms reflect how the animals attack - bulls thrust their horns upward, while bears swipe their paws down. That symbolizes the trends in the market. So, just remember how one of the two animals is going to kill you when trying to remember what each one means. Anyway, Bulls and Bears, if you couldn't already guess from my rambling above, is a stock market strategy game. Your goal is to invest in companies, then eventually sell your shares to make a profit. You're able to take out loans, if needed, and with interest attached, so if you fall onto hard times, it's not necessarily game over. Likewise, if you have money, but want to put more funds into something than you currently have available, you're able to do that as well, and have a dollar amount slapping you in the face each time you get a market report, reminding you that you owe the bank money. Ideally, your risk will result in a big payoff, allowing you to pay your bank balance off, but there's always the chance that it fails, resulting in you digging a financial pit that you'll struggle to get out of. For a text-based strategy game, Bulls and Bears isn't awful, but it's not quite up to par with some of the other games of the time, in my opinion. Still, though, if you want to play the stock market without actually running the risk of losing any of your money, then Bulls and Bears isn't an awful choice to play.

Review added: 03/05/2025