Skill Review: My Pizzeria

PROS

CONS

VOGO Voice RATING                                3.8/5

Voice First                                                                  4/5
Display Friendly                                                        3/5
Performance/Ease of Use                                       3/5
Accuracy/Data Quality                                             5/5
Value Proposition                                                     4/5

Verdict

My Pizzeria by Web Ventures Ltd. is an attempt to deliver a business simulation gaming experience at its very basic level. Daunting it may seem to run an actual business and face the real repercussions that tag along. This Alexa skill brings an alternate risk-free way of launching a virtual business and honing your entrepreneurial skills through fun-packed gameplay. Ever wanted to be a manager at your own restaurant and evaluate the success of your strategies? Then this game is right up your alley. You get to adorn the role of a pizzeria owner weaving business plans to keep it functioning profitably against all odds.

The game lets you set up a business from the scratches but with a $4000 bank loan payment due every 6 weeks. The ultimate goal is to see how many turns it can last without being broke. A week’s business is considered a turn. Recreating an actual business environment, the skill helps you strut your decision-making skills by being an owner cum manager. When the game ensues, you are asked to interview and select a head chef for the pizzeria. The 4 interviewees will be a mixed bunch of novice and expert chefs from which you need to wisely choose one based on their work profile and pay scale. This gives a head-start to ensuring your active involvement and gauging your strategy planning quotient from the outset of the game.

It takes a format such that each turn will let you choose a pizza to promote that week. Having that said, the player’s interest is toned down with the menu not being prolific; only 4 pizza types are available causing redundancy. The promoted pizza will procure a bonus for that week. But it’s tied to the catch that promoting the same pizza consecutively for weeks will result in a major climb down in turnover. Simulating a real-world approach, players are given frequent market research updates to stay on top of the customers’ pulse. The skill offers a clear picture of the distinct food preferences of the groups dropping by to savor the pizzas. Further on utilize your analytical skills to facilitate a profitable business by serving exactly what your customers can happily gorge on.

Resembling actual contingencies in managing a business, the game tosses multiple mishaps like burglary, power outage, unexpected increase in rent, etc, that will mightily impact the revenue generation. To keep it running, the turnover after every 6 weeks needs to surpass $4000. Whatever you earn beyond the loan amount is mounted as profit which can be used to buy insurance to safeguard the pizzeria or give a pay rise to the head chef. It’s expected to intelligently allocate finance in ways to boost sales and mitigate risks.

To keep track of your progress, the game supports ample commands to check the expiry of the insurance, total profit, which turn you are in, high score, and much more. But these cues showcasing the features are available only on the Skill Store page and not anywhere within the skill. Tainting its positives is the monotonous gameplay where repetitive updates and limited options make it purely predictable. It could have been more challenging provided varied risk factors and income-expenditure calculations were presented to the user. Another major downfall is the inability to resume from where left off if choosing to quit the game in between.

The VOGO Voice team scores this skill 3.8 out of 5 stars based on our rating system.
My Pizzeria is definitely a family fun time game to test how long you can sustain a startup with maximum profit. Beyond that, it helps you brainstorm simple strategies to build a competitive business with its limited resources. Of course, rendering more versatile gameplay can foster complex analytical skills. So why not try the skill and see if it delivers the exciting experience you anticipate?

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