M.U.L.E.

Set on the fictional planet Irata (Atari backward), the game is an exercise in supply and demand economics involving competition among four players, with computer opponents automatically filling in for any missing players. Players choose the race of their colonist, which has advantages and disadvantages that can be paired to their respective strategies. To win, players not only compete against each other to amass the largest amount of wealth, but must also cooperate for the survival of the colony.

s, to develop and harvest resources from the player's real estate. E. s are constructed), and Crystite (a valuable mineral available only at the "Tournament" level). Players must balance supply and demand of these elements, buying what they need and selling what they don't.

E. was initially called Planet Pioneers during development. It was intended to be similar to Cartels & Cutthroats, with more graphics, better playability, and a focus on multiplayer. The real-time auction element came largely from lead designer Danielle Bunten's Wheeler Dealers.

The board game Monopoly was used as a model for the game because of its encouragement of social interaction and for several of the game's elements: the acquisition and development of land as a primary task, a production advantage for grouped plots, different species (à la the different player tokens), and random events similar to "Chance" cards. Additional game features such as claim jumping, loans, and crystite depletion were discarded for adding complexity without enhancing gameplay.

M.U.L.E. sold 30,000 copies and was lauded by reviewers.

Computer Gaming World described it as a "fascinating and very enjoyable game which comes to its very best point with four human players". Minor criticisms included too-weak computer opponents and the lack of a save feature. Praising the "human engineering" that created the Atari 8-bit version's user interface, the magazine called it "All in all, a superior game". E.

Shigeru Miyamoto cited M.U.L.E. as an influence on the Pikmin series. Will Wright dedicated his game The Sims to the memory of Bunten. The M.U.L.E. theme song was included in Wright's later game, Spore, as an Easter egg in the space stage.

A 2007 remix of the theme song by 8 Bit Weapon is used in the video game Roblox.