Minotaur China Shop

I’ve been hearing some buzz on the internet about a new web game called “Minotaur China Shop”. The name alone made me want to play the game, sight unseen – and was probably the sole inspiration for the gameplay.

You play a Minotaur on probation, forced to run a china shop. During the duration of the game, you’ll find yourself unable to keep up your facade of domestication, and that’s when the destruction begins. If you think this game sounds fun, it is fun.

Customers enter your shop looking for specific items. Your customers consist entirely of humanoid animals, which can get weird at times. Your half-man, half-bull must help camel people, Pegasus people, and more.

Minotaur's First Customer

Items your customers desire will glow green. Your clumsy avatar will wobble toward the item, and will probably knock a few other items down on his way. Once you have the item, make your way back to the customer and finish the sale. You’ll get more money from the sale if you’re quick, but you’ll lose business if you take too long to finish an order.

Playing through with the idea that “I’m going to run a successful business” will become more and more difficult. Your minotaur can move faster with upgrades, and you can fill your store with more items, but these two factors will only make it easier to knock things over and cost you your hard-earned money.

Minotaur - That's Not My Item...

Your minotaur is equipped with a few attacks from the start. Swinging your fists around will build up your rage, and this is when your “rage insurance” kicks in. Seems like your legendary creature had the foresight to purchase insurance to fall back on. Once your minotaur falls into a blind rage, you actually make money when you break items in your store.

Minotaur - Now I'm Mad!

At the end of each business day (which comes when security is able to kill your minotaur with a stream of arrows), you can buy upgrades to make your minotaur stronger and faster. As you can imagine, this will make breaking things (and making money) a lot easier.

Regardless of the numerous attacks you can learn, there is only one ability you’ll need in this game: Bristle. Strength and speed are nice, but it doesn’t matter if you’ve got too many arrows in your back to go on. And, you’ll find yourself running out of items to break in the last few business days.

Minotaur - Earning Money

Minotaur China Shop is an incredibly original game, and the graphics are amazing (as you can see from the screenshots). You’ll get a kick out of smashing everything in your store, and it’s got a good amount of replay value. The given objective may be to earn as much money in the five business days as possible, but the real point of the game is to wreak havoc.