Businesses: Buying and Managing Properties

In BELLOCCO, a business (or property) is a money machine that keeps working while you are offline. Where individual crimes demand constant attention, businesses give you a stream of passive to semi-passive income. Every business runs on the same basic principle: customers use your service, pay you, and the money piles up in the business's vault. You collect that vault whenever it suits you through the central hub My properties. That makes businesses the backbone of a serious criminal empire and the logical next step once your first capital has come in through making money.

Which businesses are there?

Every country has exactly one of each business type. That makes ownership scarce and strategically valuable. The four main types are:

• Hospital: earns from the treatment fees injured players pay to recover.
• Bullet factory: earns from selling bullets, essential for anyone who wants to fight.
• Red light district: pays you a 10% commission on the earnings of every hooker working there.
• Casino tables: six separate tables per country (number game, slot machine, roulette, blackjack, rock-paper-scissors and lottery), each with its own owner who pockets the house edge.

How do you buy a business?

A business without an owner simply keeps running under the management of The State, but you normally cannot just buy such a state business on the spot by traveling there. There are two real routes to ownership: the marketplace, where players put their own businesses up for sale, and the state auction, where The State periodically and automatically auctions off one ownerless business to the highest bidder. Because there is only one of each type per country, a sought-after business can get very expensive, so always check the prices and valuation before you strike.

Important: you can own only 1 of each business type, no matter which country it is in (so never 2 bullet factories, not even across different countries). There is no overall limit on the number of properties you own. This rule forces you to choose per type: do you go for the hospital in this country or that one, and which business type do you skip?

Earning, stock and collecting

With service businesses, every customer pays straight into your vault. A hospital collects the treatment fee, a bullet factory the bullet price and the red light district your 10% commission. A casino works a little differently: there your bankroll grows with the house edge you win from players. Some businesses need active management (bullets have to be produced, windows built in the red light district), while others pretty much run themselves. You collect the profit through My properties; with a casino you withdraw profit above your starting bankroll, with tax skimming off a share as a money sink.

Setting prices and selling

On each business's detail page you set the price of your service yourself, within the limits of the valuation (between -20% and +20% of the country base). Charge too much and customers go to a cheaper country or a state business; charge too little and you leave profit on the table. This is also where you carry out type-specific actions and, if you like, put the business up for sale on the marketplace. You can always sell, so a property is never a trap: if you see a better opportunity elsewhere, cash out and reinvest.

Strategy

A well-run business is also a target. Other players can empty your vault by robbing businesses, so do not let money pile up endlessly: collect regularly and protect your cash. Spread your risk by owning businesses in different countries, and match your prices to the competition. Players who exploit the scarcity smartly build an income stream that keeps flowing day and night.

Frequently asked questions

How many businesses can I own?

As many as you like, with one restriction: you can only have 1 of each business type (hospital, bullet factory, red light district, each casino table), regardless of the country. If you want a second one of a type you already own, you first have to sell the one you have.

Where do I buy a business?

On the marketplace, where players put their businesses up for sale, or at the state auction, where The State periodically auctions an ownerless business to the highest bidder.

How do I make money with a business?

Customers pay for your service and that money collects in the vault. You collect the profit whenever you want through My properties. With a casino, you earn the house edge.

Can someone steal my business profit?

Yes. Players can loot your vault by robbing your business. So collect regularly and do not let large amounts pile up.

What happens if a business has no owner?

Then The State runs it at the standard country price, so the service is always available. You can take over these state businesses through the marketplace or the state auction.

Can I sell my business again?

Always. Put it on the marketplace and cash out.

Play free and build your first business in the BELLOCCO underworld.