Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game
The Great Art Race
Developer Ascaron Entertainment ltd.
The famous art collection of your family was stolen. By investing the profits of your coffee or tobacco plantations you might have the chance to save the heritage of your ancestors – but only if you manage your colonial enterprise wisely. From the Steam store page
96 reactions from 1 source (Steam reviews) · newest Jun 28, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
70
Fresh
67 positive · 29 negative
95% range 60–78%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 67 | 29 | 0 |
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
141 of 188 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 96 · most liked firstA remake of the classic C64 game Vermeer. So not a board game and should not be confused for one.... By building plantations with different crops you're trying to create enough wealth to get the best art collection. To make things intresting there's stock trading, an auction where you try to buy the paintings and scripted events from the historic timeline(early 20th century) that affect markets. For the paintings you also have the option of studying art directions so you can spot fakes. Or to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What an interesting little gem of a game this is. I had my eyes on Patrician III, as it was well reviewed was on sale for less then a dollar. Then I see it comes in a bundle with two other games. This one, The Great Art Race, perked my interest a bit. Only in a bundle? Not for sale on it's own? It can't be that good then. My mistake completely. What we have here is an extremely solid resource management/board game. Essentially you play as one of five nephews/nieces to a rich uncle, who is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a resource management game where you have to meet certain goals by deadlines whilst carefully watching your and your opponents' money and assets. If you enjoy gameplay similar to East India Company (minus the warfare aspect), then you will probably enjoy this game. Personally, not for me, but don't let my opinion spoil it for you. **
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a resource management game in which you try to inherit your rich Uncle's fortune by retrieving his stolen art collection. Along the way you'll build up a global plantation empire, invest in stocks and hotels, participate in art auctions, and (of course!) sabotage your rivals. For a game that was released in 2009 the graphics are very underwhelming. But graphics aren't everything, and I'll play anything as long as it has an interesting premise. This game's premise of being one of the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun, interesting, a mix of developing plantations in different parts of the world with saving to buy paintings, while gambling stocks or betting on horses. It has short to long games, so you can choose what you want and get an end game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A completely unknown game that me and my mate decided to play one evening, which ended up being an entire weekend. It's a confused game that is part whodunnit, part resource / trading sim, part art lesson, but it's handled well and if you're willing to take it on with an open mind you can get some genuine fun out of it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Great Art Race is a light, simple, short, and casual strategy game. Once you develop a system for creating cash and being punctual to the auctions, it will be an almost effortless win even on the more advanced difficulty setting. There are some randomized events, but they will not effect the outcome very much. The graphics and presentation are not impressive at all, to say the least. There is very little animation, and minimal sound. It is fun for about two hours or so, keeping in mind…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Compatibility First of all, I ran this remake on a Win10 PC with a NVIDIA GTX 745, and neither did I have problems starting the game nor did it crash once during my 2 hours (short) playthrough. Remake nostalgia I enjoyed it very much. During the late 80s, I played the original Vermeer on my Schneider CPC6128. I was pleasantly surprised about this rejuvenated version, its neat graphics, the nicely executed intro and the stylish background music (one for each city you can travel to). Everyone…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun little strategy/sim game. not your default strategy or sim tho, it's casual mix. there's manual in game folder, read it before blaming the game for not holding your hand. it's old fashioned game with paper tutorial :) there's only couple of pages, don't expect anything complicated. you play against multiple AIs (or people, local) in attempt to impress your uncle. to do so you will have to raise your reputation by betting on horses or by visiting uncle, or you can take art courses in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game of economic management. You are competing (racing) against your 4 cousins, which can be either human or A.I. players, travelling the world repeatedly to buy the most paintings before your Uncle Walter dies in two years. My first game, 2 years of game time was equal to about 6 hours of real time. There is a catch, in that some of these paintings are forgeries, so you have to take art classes in order to have the knowledge to pick out the real paintings at the auctions. You also…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Great Art Race is an old game that is only available in a package. While flawed in some aspects, it is well worth grabbing if you are into management games. Specifically for this one, time management. The players are the family of the wealthy art collector, explorer, and general high society member Uncle Walter. There are two problems, however. Firstly, your uncle is old. He is nearing the end of his life and is looking for an heir to his fortune. Secondly, his prized art collection has…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A near perfect game. If you're looking for something to game at 2 a.m. and you're ready to go into debt than this is the game for you. I have learned so much in the form of money management, art, culture, horse racing, and plantation ownership. While I have never won in my entire time I have played this game, due to the fact that Heather snipes me in the back when I'm not looking, I still enjoy the quality time I have with this game. The horse races are definitely the best feature in the game.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Effectively "Colonial Exploitation" the PC Boardgame Gameplay is fairly straight forward. Travel to a location where you can grown crops. Purchase a plantation or two to grow crops, wait a week (only time this is needed re crops), ship the crops to New York or London for best prices, travel there, sell crops, rollover money into new plantations or upgrading existing ones, carry on expanding. The money is then used to finance the repurchase of your uncle's art collection at auctions,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know how this got into my library, but it's not what I call a "welcome suprise". Edit: It was in some three game "Patricians and Merchants" bundle I bought a while back, for just 89p (85% off - it should have been £5.99)..... so ok, this "TGAT" cost me just 30p then, but it's still not worth even that! Normal price is £3.99! You do the maths! This is a business strategy game, set in 1918 into the 1920's, where you are in competition with your cousins / siblings to win your dying…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This Game would have been better if it had a tutorial. i does not have tutorial, no tips, no advice, and no basic description of everything. this game is one of those old games, that you play, but don't know what your doing. it would give this game 5/10
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decent game. It can help you pass a few hours. Not worth a repeat play.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Great Art Race (originally Vermeer 2) is the final entry in the Vermeer resource management/simulation series. While it might seem dated and unremarkable at first glance, the game has its own charm and is surprisingly fun. I remember playing Vermeer 1 and Die Hanse on the Amiga, both from the same developer. In this installment, you compete to inherit your dying uncle’s fortune by recovering his lost artwork, scattered across museums post-WWI. Starting with limited funds, you build…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this on a discount sale, but it was still a waste of money. The game is a remake of a very old game and it shows, the clunky AI and watching the game play itself... just spare yourself, don't get this game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is awesome, it bring me back memories from old original game released for commodore 64
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't usually review games, but I'm reviewing this as a warning - DO NOT BUY It doesn't even have any keymapping. It has no guide. The first time I got to auction, I couldn't bid because, try as I might, I could NOT find any instructions or keymapping. Too much effort, too much disappointment. Can't even play the damn thing...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a good game, a great combination of goals and activities, but it needs some serious modification. It's a great idea. It completely lacks any sort of tutorial or guide, or pop-up hints, and some of the b.s. you have to deal with is just lamely frustrating, but that doesn't make the game bad. It's fun to try, I'd like to try the multi-player. If you're looking for a game to rip-off or plagerixe, this game would be a great starting point. Re-theme it and tweak some things to make it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recommendation: a fun game with a classic feel and some pace issues that may have you lose track of time. Review: The Great Art Race is a modern game from 2009 that often feels like a game from 1985...which is OK for me, as I enjoyed many games of that era. In the game, you have five siblings; each is a player (live person or AI bot) competing for the favor of their fabulously wealthy and elderly uncle. He made his wealth through various nefarious but socially-acceptable-in-the-19th-century…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was a great game, back in the day, somewhat Carmen San Diego-esque. However, it has not aged well. There are much better options available for similar styles now. 7 hours to beat the AI on the highest difficulty, and not really a fun co-op experience.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simple, old-skool game that's surprisingly enjoyable! I've played this game twice already in two sittings. It's a "schedule-management" game with a relatively forgiving resource management as well. One fair warning: There is no in-game tutorial. A thorough reading of the (included) manual is *necessary*. 10/10 would buy Vico Vermeer's high-quality forgeries again :-)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Da ich das Spiel nicht mal starten kann ist es absolut nutzlos. Ich habe es auf eine Fat32 formatierte Partition installiert, ohne Erfolg. Ich habe jeden erdenklichenKompatibilitätsmodus ausprobiert, ohne Erfolg. Mein Betriebssystem ins Win8.1 64b, ich empfehle keinem mit gleichen Vorraussetzungen das Spiel zu kaufen. Meine Vermutung ist das es einfach nicht unter 64b läuft, es war auch niemals dafür gedacht. (Als das Spiel Programmiert wurde gabs einfach noch kein 64b....)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like the basic version of the game for Commodore C64 Vermeer from which the game is based on. The Great art Race (original German game Vermeer 2) is the latest version of this kind of game. But, I can't recommend it for all bussiness/strategy players. This game is great fun as the hotseat play with friends (2-5), or only for one player. The game is easy, that there are not more options like in the previous version of the Vermeer-Die Kunst zu Erben, but the game still fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like that game rly much. Played it for ages with friends on hotseat. Its an economic simulation and strategy game. The first game comes in 1987 and is named Vermeer. This is a technically modernized new version which cames on the market in 2004 named Vermeer 2: The Great Art Race. Its up to 5 players and can be finished i some hours. There is no online version actually so its only multiplayer in hotseat sessions. Thats the only bad thing here. But u can play it via remote like Teamviewer in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a player who enjoys classic games such as The Great Art Race, I have had an incredibly positive gaming experience with the game. From the charming visuals to the engaging gameplay, The Great Art Race delivers a fun and rewarding experience that keeps me coming back for more. One of the standout aspects of the game is its simple, yet addictive gameplay. The objective of the game is to collect as many treasures as possible while avoiding obstacles and enemies. This straightforward gameplay…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bad gameplay, bugs, and doesn't support modern hardware well.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's fun, proof games don't need shiny graphics, or complex mechanics to be enjoyable or replayable.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I will recommend it for $1. It simply isn’t worth more. The game offers very fun mechanics of economy and management. And even though it lacks depth, the pitfall is that while offering solid mechanisms in plantation management and trading, it for some reason concentrates on getting paintings. I would welcome this game more warmly if it did the reverse and offered masterpiece-hunting as a secondary mechanic – not the main focus of the game. Also, the game lacks a tutorial and tooltips /…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boring and repetitive. 3/10
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →tried it... removed it...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Doesn't work in Win10 x64. Also not in compatibility mode WinXp Sp3
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You travel among the world to buy and manage small operations, it's more of like a simulation game broken up to a small, very small, casual arcade game for simulation? It's really weird and hard to explain.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice little game, probably old but funny and no too complicated. Trade game are so complicated these days that it is fun sometime to return to fun basic game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game changed my life. The developers really went all out. I can only describe the quality of this game as organic. I really connected with the art work. The uncle character's personality is sublime. ************/10 The best game evar. THUG FO LIFE!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its like an awesome board game, only its a video game. Totally surprised at how much fun it is. Recommended for all ages.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Great Art Race, developed by Ascaron Entertainment Ltd. and published by Assemble Entertainment, is a strategy-driven management game that revolves around an unusual but intriguing premise: competing to reclaim a scattered collection of valuable paintings across the globe. Set in the early 20th century, the game frames its objective through a light narrative involving inheritance and rivalry, but its real focus lies in how it blends economic planning with movement-based strategy. Rather…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is more resource management than anything to do with art. Though you do go on expeditions and find stuff that increases your reputation.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh goody, a game about art collecting I was thinking. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a) there's no tutorial at all, and that b) rather than being about collecting and learning about art... it's actually about managing labor and wagering on commodities and stocks. How did I find this out? Well, I tried playing for a while just to see and the incredibly counter intuitive game a) allows one to cheat rng by exiting to menu and reentering the game, b) allows new players to squander huge…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's an interesting numbers game. It feels a little like playing stocks but also managing and growing your business, dealing with the financial district and the rise and fall of prices and stocks. It's a neat distraction but I'm not entirely sure about replay value. It does get more interesting/frustrating with AI on higher difficulties but then you're just causing work strikes and stealing contract trades from each other.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →UPDATE: The game stopped working for me in Windows10, but works great in Windows11. I enjoy this game. Many years ago there was something similar that involved going to different parts of the map to run a chocolate company called "Chocolatier" 1 and 2. The basic economics are not so obvious, which is probably why the game isn't rated better than it is. It also makes little effort to explain itself to the player - other than an introductory (dramatic) video that says "buy plantations, yadda…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's kinda old game, but I still recommend it just for the fact that it has hot-seat multiplayer and it's really good, I enjoyed it in the past a lot :D, playing this game alone is bad to be honest.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What is it like to build and run a trading empire in the 1920s? How can first class travel and best hotels make business sense? You must be able to handle old school user interface and read the thin manual after your first try. I find the experience very satisfying.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a VERY CASUAL game from 2005. I played this game a lot with my brother over the years and it was always fun. it doesn't have any action of warfare but that wouldn't fit in here anyway
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got this in a pack with some other games and it seemed like it would be interesting and fun, but it wound up letting me down. It's difficult to navigate and doesn't really live up to what it could be, at least as far as I was concerned. People that are very into this style of game might enjoy it a lot more than I did, but I file this one under 'interesting in concept but not practice.'
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This should be a browser game, and free. There's hardly enoguh content to justify putting a price tag on it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boring gameplay, predictable advancements of NPC's.. Considering my combined playtime, I think improvements are warrented..
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This feel like an old bad cardboard game that was ported to PC.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I expected this game to be about art. Instead, it turned out to be a resource management game. In this game, you compete against your counsins to be the top buyer of legitimate paintings. You start off in 1918 and set off to invest the cash you've been given in stocks and plantations around the world. The many things you do: - Sign forward contracts to sell goods from your plantations - Educate yourself in the arts - Bet on horses (sadly limited to just $10,000 per race) - Bid on art auctions…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is lot of strategy involved in this game. Controlling plantations, betting on horses, buying/selling stocks, goingon exeditions, etc. are some of the options available. This is not evn include attempting to buy paintings, which may or may not be authentic. Acguired this game as an addon part of a bundle deal. The play this more than the primary and seondary games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love this game - wish there were more like it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recover the stolen paintings of your rich, eccentric uncle in order to inherit his fortune. Bid on auctions. Buy plantations in various colonies around the world. Trade stocks. Bet on horse races. Sip sherry with your uncle. Mind you, while you are doing all this, WWI in raging across Europe, and French and German towns are aflame. A simple, educational game that just wants to teach your about the various painting styles of the early 20th Century? Or a damning indictment of how only the poor…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →nice solid 7/10 good game well made complicated but easy to learn i ran out of ♥♥♥♥ to say why the ♥♥♥♥ did i buy this peiec of ♥♥♥♥ game wow i dont even remember when i got it or when i played it someone help me
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Kind of a boring game. Klunky, controls are all wonky.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Typical buy here, sell there, game with timeline in place. You can purchase land and grow crops and then sell the crops. The game is what it is. If you don't expect anything more you will not be dissapointed. You might like this game if: You enjoy games where you simple games where you manage resources and play different markets.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →most confusing board game ever
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →vermeer 2 aged beautifully - no crashes on win10 so far.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I thought the game was absolutely dogs**t when I played it as a kid. As an adult I still hold the same opinion. But my sister loved it and I bought it for her. And seemingly its the only game of its kind so even over 20 years after it came out, its still holds its own despite issues it has on newer hardware. If game doesnt run for you just put /windowed in launch options. That fixed it on her laptop.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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