Mega Mall Story
by Kairosoft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Considering that the last time I was laid up for any length of time, I ended up writing a FAQ for Cafe Nippon, it shouldn't come as any surprise to me that I was seized with the same urge to break Mega Mall Story into tiny little pieces for min-maxing purposes when my desktop and laptop both stopped working in the same week. If you're just tuning into this series, Kairosoft makes "spreadsheet games" (or so Husband calls them as he sniffs over his Diablo-clones, heh.) for Android and Apple and oh my I love them so.
Mega Mall Story has you creating... wait for it... your own mall. With butchers and cinemas and bookstores and cafeterias and helicopter pads. I would live in this mall, were I not a renowned introvert who hates ambient noise. Which makes it all the more awesome that I can play this game without leaving the comfort of my home or, indeed, without needing any internet at all. (Minus the internet it took to install the game in the first place.)
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@ Google Play |
And now let's break this game open. The base game itself is pretty self-explanatory, like most Kairosoft games. The devil is always in the details. So here's a quick breakdown and then we'll talk more in depth:
1. Hold Sales often and effectively.
2. Prioritize getting new customers with investments over early expansion.
3. Create regulars as quickly as you can.
4. Spend money like it's going out of style (ads, investments, new stores, expansion).
5. Conserve hearts like a miser.
Hold Sales
It took me awhile to realize this, but the Hold Sales action is your most powerful tool in this game, once you acquire it at Store Rank 3. Holding a sale might seem wasteful because it costs 10 hearts, but it's almost the only way to earn hearts, and it's the only way to herd customers to their stores so that they can become regulars. The hardest regular in the game to earn is Bearington (I haven't been able to earn him) because he is only satisfied by a facility (the Fountain) and you can't hold sales at facilities. Everyone else? Easy peasy once you know the trick.
Earning Hearts: Month 8 and Month 12 are "sales months". When you hold a sale in a "sale month", your popularity goes up a variable amount (depending largely on the economy). On the first day of those months, you should use as many hearts as it takes to build your popularity up to a frenzy. The frenzy will last most of the month, but there will be a few short days near the end of the month when the frenzy will be over -- use those days to trigger a second frenzy with all the hearts you just earned. This pattern of four guaranteed frenzies a year (two per sales month, and with hopefully one or two more frenzies by using all available advertisements and being wise about when you accrue popularity through Story Events) should have you rolling in all the hearts you need.
Popularity: Note that popularity is one of the most important things in the game, since it ultimately earns hearts via frenzies. Always buy (with money) as many advertisements as you have available. Hire good people as they come available through expansions, rather than leaving a floor empty. Do not place any buildings during a frenzy nor earn popularity through other means during a frenzy (if you can avoid it), since that popularity will be wasted. Several game events such as ranking up the mall and/or building unique buildings (cinema, planetarium, bus stop, etc.) may end up being featured in the mall news with a corresponding boost in popularity; plan these events to your advantage.
Herding Customers: Each customer has an ideal Specific Shop + Quality baseline that they need to visit to become a regular, but the customers won't knowingly beeline to their preferred shop. But you can use the Hold Sales action to herd the customer to their favorite store so that they can become a regular. Ideally, you want to do this as soon as they arrive because (a) regulars walk faster and spend more, (b) the bigger the mall, the less likely your customer is to bump into your store, and (c) the bigger the crowds of people, the more likely the store is to sell out during a sale before your slower-walking customer gets there. When holding sales during the "sales month", you shouldn't be choosing stores at random; you should be picking the stores that correspond to non-regular customers.
Rival Malls: Every so often a Rival Mall will open and suck your customers away. (Beat them over time by holding frenzies.) Which customers are using the Rival Mall will change from month to month -- use this to your advantage. On the first day of every month, check the Info → Customers dialogue and identify which non-regular customers are coming for the day. Then hold sales for their shops and hope that the smaller crowds will prevent an early sell-out.
Maximizing Sales: At the end of the year, there's a contest to see which store made the most profit -- you get a cash prize and (when you hit #1 for the country) a Casino for winning. A good way to achieve this early is to use the Hold Sales every month for a high quality / high price store like the Planetarium. After selling out for 12 months in a row, you should be a shoo-in for the prize. (If not, use hearts to increase the stock and quality of the store.)
Leveling Stores: Each store levels up naturally after a certain number of customers has been reached. (Customer numbers accrue even while a store is waiting to level up; it is possible to level up a store twice in a row -- one right after the other -- if you wait long enough. I have verified this on high speed play.) If a store is just barely under the quality necessary to satisfy a customer, you can boost that quality temporarily with a same-floor facility, or you can use the Hold Sales option to herd customers to the store and level it up faster. It is often cheaper in hearts to use sales to level up a store than to use hearts to gamble on the difficult-to-get power ups. A note on leveling stores: Do not use a one-size-fits-all approach to dividing the points between quality and quantity. If a store is at the needed quality for a non-regular, but keeps selling out, then it needs a quantity boost; if the store is below the required quality, then boost the quality as needed.
Hearts
Let's talk about hearts. Hearts are so important. You use them to buy new stores. You use them to hold sales. You use them to power up stores. Hearts are your friend. You will basically never have enough hearts (although by the end game you'll have quite a few if you follow this guide).
For the first several years, you'll want to be miserly with hearts. Spend them as needed in order to trigger your four sales-month-frenzies. Then in Month 1 you can spend the resulting surplus on stores, but only ones that you need to build right away in order to make regulars. From Month 1 to Month 8, your job is to accrue enough hearts to get you through your four frenzies all over again.
Do not power up stores willy-nilly. The only stores you want to power up are stores that aid your goals, either the one store (Planetarium, Supermarket, etc.) that is getting you the year-end bonus or the stores needed to make regulars. Check the chart or your notes -- if the Plaza doesn't earn any regulars, then it doesn't need to be powered up until you're in an actual near-end-game surplus. Stores that cater to non-regulars will probably need a minor Stock Up (usually 5 points) and may need a minor Quality Up (usually 5 points). If you stack bonuses correctly with floor placement and combos, you usually won't need to pay for the expensive and difficult-to-get power ups.
Customers
Customers are very easy to figure out, once you understand the lingo. Each customer in the Info → Customers list has a dialogue. Here's an example:
What this means is that for this customer to be a regular, she has to visit a specific shop (in this case a Pet Shop) and that specific shop needs to have a store quality of 40 (or more) in order to be satisfied. Nothing else in your mall matters to this customer, except in so much as the other things affect the quality of the store. Things that affect store quality include compatibility with the floor number, possible combos with surrounding stores, and the employee who manages that floor and hir compatibility with the floor type.
Spreadsheets
Now we come to the spreadsheet part of the min-maxed spreadsheet game. You can find a full shared version of all this data at Google Docs here.
Perfect Mall Layout: Here is a semi-perfect mall layout (or so I believe) that I put together with help from d_senti at GameFaqs and Virtual Alex at DeviantArt. (I really very strongly recommend accessing the layout from the Google Docs link above, which also contains an explanation of the floor/combo bonuses and why the layout is what it is.
Customers: Here is a list of customers who visit the mall, what number they are, where they live, what investment brings them to the mall, what trigger (if any) makes them available, what store can satisfy them, and what reward they give when they become a regular.
People | Number | Location | Job | Trigger | Satisfied | Reward |
Amy Jones | 1 | Residential | – | – | Supermarket | Lenny Ling |
Ken Hayes | 2 | Office | – | – | Rest Area | $100,000 |
Cletus Mann | 3 | Park | – | – | Supermarket | Toy Display |
May Gomez | 4 | Residential | [Waiter] | arrives with Jim Maxwell | Toy Store | Duke Higgs |
Jim Maxwell | 5 | Residential | [Waiter] | Cafe | Cafe | $100,000 |
Kent Dellan | 6 | Office | [Executive] | Rest Area | Payphones | Seafood St. |
Ryu Honda | 7 | Office | [Executive] | arrives with Kent Dellan | Cafeteria / Fast Food | $200,000 |
Pablo P | 8 | Park | [Waitress] | arrives with Blondie Cay | Vending M./Rest Area | Leafy Plant |
Serena Lam | 9 | Residential | [Osteopath] | arrives with Ben Donner | Clothing St. | Butcher |
Ben Donner | 10 | Residential | [Osteopath] | – | Rest Area | $200,000 |
Mabel Smith | 11 | Office | [Secretary] | Home Goods | Home Goods | Keith Wardon {Hire} |
Gordon G | 12 | Office | [Secretary] | arrives with Mabel Smith | Fountain | CD Store |
Blondie Cay | 13 | Park | [Waitress] | Supermarket | Supermarket | $100,000 |
Dan Green | 14 | Residential | [Designer] | arrives with Max Clay | Cafeteria | Ticket Outlet |
Max Clay | 15 | Residential | [Designer] | – | Clothing St. | $100,000 |
Jeeves | 16 | Office | [Butler] | – | Arcade | Gil Bates |
Hana Burger | 17 | Office | [Butler] | arrives with Jeeves | Observation / Arcade | $100,000 |
Bunny Ford | 18 | Park | [Maid] | arrives with Pam Daily | Seafood St. | Jen Collins |
Scoop Dodd | 19 | Residential | [Journalist] | Greengrocer | Bookstore | $300,000 |
Jack Hayes | 20 | Office | [Musician] | arrives with Yoyo Ha | Ticket Outlet | Indy Smith |
Yoyo Ha | 21 | Office | [Musician] | Cafe | Cafe | Toy Store |
Pam Daily | 22 | Park | [Maid] | – | Bakery | $100,000 |
Sneezy Hays | 23 | Residential | [Cameraman] | – | Florist | Shoe Store |
Tam Bruise | 24 | Residential | [Cameraman] | arrives with Sneezy Hays | Boutique / Clothing St. | $100,000 |
Dave Kato | 25 | Office | [Programmer] | – | Toy Store | Karen Heller |
Jay Hooks | 26 | Park | [Fisherman] | – | CD Store | Arnie Swan |
Soupy Dorn | 27 | Residential | [Soccer Plyr] | arrives with Dave Beck | Chinese Bfft. | $100,000 |
Dave Beck | 28 | Residential | [Soccer Plyr] | – | Cinema | $100,000 |
Ray Coffer | 29 | Office | [Gentleman] | – | Butcher | Robin Froe |
Alice Bee | 30 | Office | [Gentleman] | arrives with Ray Coffer | Candy Store | $100,000 |
Ann Yuill | 31 | Park | [Fisherman] | arrives with Jay Hooks | Art Store | Mark Sans |
Clementine | 32 | Residential | [Comic Artist] | – | Bookstore | $100,000 |
Shay Crock | 33 | Office | [Singer] | arrives with Mic Jackson | Cake Store | Hair Salon |
Mic Jackson | 34 | Office | [Singer] | – | Shoe Store | Claire Lune |
Jamie Lee | 35 | Park | [Nurse] | Clothing St. | Clothing St. | Art Store |
Ronald Day | 36 | Residential | [Student] | arrives with Tiger Hoods | Fast Food | $100,000 |
Tiger Hoods | 37 | Residential | [Student] | – | Game Store | Stationary |
Caesar Murn | 38 | Office | [Celebrity] | – | Supermarket | Lottery Shop |
Betsy Fay | 39 | Park | [Cheerleader] | – | Cafeteria | Fortune Teller |
Jim Franks | 40 | Park | [Cheerleader] | – | Dollar Store | Drugstore |
Mick Roony | 41 | Residential | [Doctor] | arrives with Andy Mays | Stationary | Ginny Love |
Andy Mays | 42 | Residential | [Doctor] | Clinic | Clinic | Stereo Shop |
Cat Kidman | 43 | Office | [Chef] | arrives with Poppy Smith | Clothing St. | Karaoke |
Poppy Smith | 44 | Office | [Chef] | – | PC Store | Mobile Shop |
Festus Kay | 45 | Park | [Swimmer] | arrives with Jenny Sein | Steakhouse | Locksmith |
Jenny Sein | 46 | Park | [Swimmer] | – | Conv. Store | Gourmet Deli |
Crystal Mann | 47 | Residential | [Teacher] | – | Boutique | Camera Store |
Sarah Hong | 48 | Office | [Astronaut] | – | Appliances | Plaza |
Sister Mary | 49 | Park | [Nun] | – | Fancy Bistro | Cosmetics |
Toby Pots | 50 | Park | [Nun] | arrives with Sister Mary | Sushi Bar | Nail Salon |
Dick Bando | 51 | Residential | [Consultant] | – | Hair Salon | Lucy Naiman |
Miso Hisoda | 52 | Office | [Critic] | – | Video Rental | Glasses |
Clem Danes | 53 | Park | [Folk Singer] | arrives with Mary Moon | Lottery Shop | Ray Keys |
Butch Pitt | 54 | Residential | [Stuntman] | – | Jeweler | Watch Store |
Venus Winn | 55 | Office | [Debugger] | Fortune Teller | Fortune Teller | Pumpkin 1 |
Mary Moon | 56 | Park | [Folk Singer] | – | Sushi Bar | Japanese Food |
King Ackbar | 57 | Park | [Young CEO] | Game Store | Game Store | $1,500,000 |
Porky Feeny | 58 | Residential | [Farmer] | – | Bowling Alley | Exhibit Area |
Mary Cats | 59 | Office | [Saleswoman] | arrives with May Bee | Spa | Chandelier |
May Bee | 60 | Office | [Saleswoman] | – | Gourmet Deli | Chipman Z |
Mocha Latte | 61 | Park | [Young CEO] | arrives with King Ackbar | Fancy Bistro | ATM |
Hen Penny | 62 | Residential | [Ninja] | arrives with Nekomaru | Casino | 20 Popularity |
Nekomaru | 63 | Residential | [Ninja] | Pet Store | Pet Store | Bar |
Hulk Grogan | 64 | Office | [Wrestler] | Video Rental | Video Rental | Chairman |
Cindy Gray | 65 | Park | [Housewife] | Jeweler | Jeweler | Real Estate |
Ducky Bills | 66 | Residential | [Osteopath] | Furniture | Furniture | Lingerie Shop |
Jed Quacks | 67 | Residential | [Osteopath] | arrives with Ducky Bills | Pet Store | $500,000 |
Kettler UFO | 68 | Office | [Negotiator] | Bowling Alley | Bowling Alley | Betting Shop |
Kairobot | 69 | Park | [Myst. Robot] | Lingerie Shop | Lingerie Shop | Sally Prin |
Manny Cave | 70 | Park | [Myst. Robot] | arrives with Kairobot | Real Estate | 30 Popularity |
Jen Collins | 71 | Park | – | Bunny Ford | Clothing St. | 30 Popularity |
Mark Sans | 72 | Park | – | Ann Yuill | Cafeteria | $500,000 |
Karen Heller | 73 | Park | – | Dave Kato | Dollar Store | Bearington |
Claire Lune | 74 | Park | – | Mic Jackson | Boutique | $500,000 |
Ray Keys | 75 | Park | – | Clem Danes | PC Store | $500,000 |
Bearington | 76 | Park | – | Karen Heller | Fountain | Concert Hall (??) |
Duke Higgs | 77 | Residential | – | May Gomez | Steakhouse | $500,000 |
Indy Smith | 78 | Residential | – | Jack Hayes | Conv. Store | $500,000 |
Gil Bates | 79 | Residential | – | Jeeves | Arcade | $500,000 |
Lucy Naiman | 80 | Residential | – | Dick Bando | Appliances | 50 Hearts |
Arnie Swan | 81 | Residential | – | Jay Hooks | Fancy Bistro | 30 Popularity |
Lenny Ling | 82 | Office | – | Amy Jones | Pet Store | 50 Hearts |
Sally Prin | 83 | Office | – | Kairobot | Exhibit Area | Museum |
Chipman Z | 84 | Office | – | May Bee | Greengrocer | $5,000,000 |
Robin Froe | 85 | Office | – | Ray Coffer | Sushi Bar | 30 Popularity |
Ginny Love | 86 | Office | – | Mick Roony | Furniture | 30 Popularity |
Pumpkin 1 | 87 | Office | – | Venus Winn | Bowling Alley | 30 Popularity |
Chairman | 88 | Office | – | Hulk Grogan | Spa | 30 Popularity |
Shops: Here is a list of shops available to build at the mall, how many hearts they cost to purchase from the in-game store (if any), the star ranking your mall needs in order to be available at the store, the size of the shop, the cost to place the shop, and what satisfied customer gives the shop to you (if applicable).
Name | Heart Cost | Stars | Size | Cost | Given By...? |
Appliance | 100 | 4 | 4 | $400,000 | – |
Aquarium | 200 | 3 | 4 | $1,200,000 | – |
Arcade | 80 | 3 | 3 | $300,000 | – |
Art Store | – | – | 2 | $60,000 | Jamie Lee |
ATM | – | – | 1 | $500,000 | Mocha Latte |
Bakery | 0 | 0 | 2 | $25,000 | – |
Betting Shop | – | – | 4 | $500,000 | Kettler UFO |
Bookstore | 60 | 0 | 4 | $120,000 | – |
Boutique | 60 | 2 | 2 | $250,000 | – |
Bowling Alley | 160 | 5 | 3 | $400,000 | – |
Butcher | – | – | 2 | $40,000 | Serena Lam |
Cafe | 0 | 0 | 2 | $25,000 | – |
Cafeteria | 40 | 2 | 3 | $80,000 | – |
Cake Store | 20 | 1 | 2 | $40,000 | – |
Camera Store | – | – | 3 | $150,000 | Crystal Mann |
Candy Store | 20 | 0 | 2 | $10,000 | – |
Casino | – | – | 4 | $2,000,000 | #1 Sales |
CD Store | – | – | 3 | $60,000 | Gordon G |
Chandelier | – | – | 1 | $450,000 | Mary Cats |
Chinese Bfft | 40 | 0 | 3 | $50,000 | – |
Cinema | 0 | 0 | 4 | $300,000 | – |
Clinic | 120 | 2 | 3 | $500,000 | – |
Clothing St. | 50 | 1 | 3 | $90,000 | – |
Conv. Store | 80 | 3 | 2 | $180,000 | – |
Cosmetics | – | – | 3 | $100,000 | Sister Mary |
Dollar Store | 50 | 2 | 3 | $50,000 | – |
Drugstore | – | – | 3 | $100,000 | Jim Franks |
Exhibit Area | – | – | 4 | $300,000 | Porky Feeny |
Fancy Bistro | 80 | 5 | 3 | $250,000 | – |
Fast Food | 40 | 1 | 3 | $80,000 | – |
Florist | 0 | 0 | 2 | $35,000 | – |
Fortune Teller | – | – | 1 | $60,000 | Betsy Fay |
Fountain | 40 | 3 | 1 | $50,000 | – |
Furniture St. | 120 | 5 | 4 | $300,000 | – |
Game Store | 40 | 1 | 2 | $80,000 | – |
Glasses | – | – | 2 | $180,000 | Miso Hisoda |
Gourmet Deli | – | – | 2 | $120,000 | Jenny Sein |
Greengrocer | 0 | 0 | 2 | $10,000 | – |
Hair Salon | – | – | 3 | $80,000 | Shay Crock |
Home Goods | 0 | 0 | 2 | $75,000 | – |
Japanese Food | – | – | 3 | $180,000 | Mary Moon |
Jeweler | 120 | 4 | 2 | $500,000 | – |
Karaoke | – | – | 3 | $100,000 | Cat Kidman |
Leafy Plant | – | – | 1 | $20,000 | Pablo P |
Lingerie Shop | – | – | 3 | $250,000 | Ducky Bills |
Lockers | 15 | 1 | 1 | $15,000 | – |
Locksmith | – | – | 1 | $150,000 | Festus Kay |
Lottery Shop | – | – | 1 | $50,000 | Caesar Murn |
Mobile Shop | – | – | 2 | $120,000 | Poppy Smith |
Museum | – | – | 4 | $900,000 | Sally Prin |
Nail Salon | – | – | 2 | $120,000 | Toby Potts |
Payphones | 0 | 0 | 1 | $10,000 | – |
PC Store | 90 | 2 | 3 | $350,000 | – |
Pet Store | 60 | 4 | 3 | $150,000 | – |
Plaza | – | – | 3 | $300,000 | Sarah Hong |
Real Estate | – | – | 3 | $600,000 | Cindy Gray |
Rest Area | 10 | 0 | 1 | $15,000 | – |
Restroom | 10 | 0 | 1 | $20,000 | – |
Seafood St. | – | – | 2 | $30,000 | Kent Dellan |
Service Counter | 120 | 1 | 2 | $350,000 | – |
Shoe Store | – | – | 2 | $80,000 | Sneezy Hays |
Spa | 160 | 5 | 3 | $400,000 | – |
Stationary | – | – | 3 | $80,000 | Tiger Hoods |
Steakhouse | 60 | 3 | 3 | $90,000 | – |
Stereo Shop | – | – | 2 | $80,000 | Andy Mays |
Supermarket | 0 | 0 | 4 | $150,000 | – |
Sushi Bar | 100 | 5 | 2 | $250,000 | – |
Ticket Outlet | – | – | 1 | $30,000 | Dan Gree |
Toy Display | – | – | 1 | $20,000 | Cletus Mann |
Toy Store | – | – | 3 | $80,000 | Yoyo Ha |
Vending M. | 0 | 0 | 1 | $10,000 | – |
Video Rental | 80 | 4 | 3 | $150,000 | – |
Watch Store | – | – | 2 | $200,000 | Butch Pitt |
Combos: Here is a list of combos available to build at the mall, and which stores make up the combo.
Name | Store 1 | Store 2 | Store 3 |
Breakfast | Bakery | Leafy Plant | Cafe |
Celebrity | Jewelry | Casino | Chandelier |
Convenience | Conv. Store | Dollar Store | Drug Store |
Crowd | Chinese Buffet | Rest Area | Bookstore |
Date | Rest Area | Aquarium | Cinema |
Dreams | Lottery Shop | Fortune Tllr | Ticket Outlet |
Electronics | PC Store | Appliances | Mobile Shop |
Entertainment | Bowling Alley | Arcade | Lockers |
Fashion | Shoe Store | Clothing Store | Boutique |
Fun | Arcade | Game Store | Video Rental |
Gentlemen | Shoe Store | Watch Store | Glasses |
Girls | Florist | Cake Shop | Clothing St. |
Grocery | Gourmet Deli | Cake Shop | Supermarket |
Holiday | Planetarium | Museum | Aquarium |
Jewelry | Home Goods | Furniture Store | Jeweler |
Kids | Toy Display | Candy Store | Vending Machine |
Laid Back | Payphones | Vending Machine | Rest Area |
Living | Supermarket | Service C | Payphones |
Luxury | Casino | Aquarium | Cinema |
Model | Hair Salon | Nail Salon | Cosmetics |
Neighbors | Butcher | Greengrocer | Seafood Store |
Pleasure | Bowling Alley | Karaoke Club | Steakhouse |
Relaxation | Rest Area | Fountain | Vending Machine |
Scenery | Bar | Fancy Bistro | Observation Deck |
Seniors | Sushi Bar | Camera Store | Spa |
Snacks | Fast Food | Chinese Buffet | Cafeteria |
Sound | CD Store | Stereo Shop | Video Rental |
Theater | Stereo Shop | Video Rental | Cinema |
Toys | Toy Display | Toy Store | Game Store |
Wisdom | Bookstore | Service C | ATM |
Pictures
Pictures of most of the customers, the index of customers, and the store combos can be viewed on my Picasa album here.
Scoring
The final game score breaks down as the sum of the following factors:
• Money at End Game divided by 1,000. A final end game balance of $269,351,400 will result in 269,351 points. Note that this counts only the money balance at the end, and not a sum of all money accrued.
• Number of Regular Customers multiplied by 1,000. A final end game number of 87 regulars will result in 87,000 points.
• Total Visitors Accrued Over Game multiplied by 10. A final end game sum of 10,693 visitors will result in 106,930 points. Note that the sooner you acquire a guest, the more times they can visit.
• Total Hearts Accrued Over Game multiplied by 10. A final end game sum of 11,756 hearts will result in 117,560 points. Note that this counts all hearts accrued, regardless of whether they were spent.
• Number of Stores Unlocked multiplied by 1,000. A final end game number of 79 stores will result in 79,000 points.
...And I think that's about it for this review-slash-FAQ. Enjoy!
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