When the iPhone gives you lemons...

Bobb Jamison’s Lemonade Stand economics lesson masqueraded as an Apple II computer game. You can relive those bittersweet 1980s days all over again on your iPhone with Lemonade Stand from Maverick Software. The question is, do you really want to?

You run a lemonade stand, deciding how many cups of lemonade to make every day, how many advertising signs to make, and how much to charge per cup. The only variable is the weather, which can range from sunny, to hot and dry, to rainy. You have 30 days to amass as much money as you can while battling the forces of nature and catering to thirsty bypassers.

A quick trip into the options can turn on “Classic Graphics” that are as retro as you can get without invoking the spirit of Pong. The modernized game illustrations are cute but stale, and the 8-bit style music is the same in both. Where are all the different variations on this game that have appeared over the years? For example, you could mix your own recipe, decide how many paper cups to invest in, and how much ice to buy (which would melt at the end of the day). The iPhone can surely handle it, and it would be nice to have some more depth in here.

Lemonade Stand has two markets: children and nostalgic adults. Since you don’t see many young kids with iPhones, that narrows it down considerably. It’s a momentary distraction, but not much else.

Lemonade Stand 1.1.1
COMPANY: Maverick Software
CONTACT: http://homepage.mac.com/mavsftwre/Maverick_Software/Home.html
PRICE: $0.99
REQUIREMENTS: iPhone or iPod touch with 2.0 software update.
Easy to play. Teaches basic rules of economics. Offers “Classic Graphics” to remind you of yesteryear.
Very repetitive. Not enough variations in the weather. No additional options, such as stand rental, ice melting, and cup purchasing, that other versions offer.