Rent & the lease
The clock the whole station runs on.
A recurring payment that rises over time, collected by a landlord who expects to be paid on schedule and is not interested in explanations involving unsold stock.
Rent converts a shop into a deadline. Everything else — margins, licences, machines — is priced against the next payment rather than against an abstract ideal of profit.
Rent is the game’s grading system. A shop that pays it has been profitable in the only sense the station recognises; a shop that nearly pays it has been lucky, and the next cycle is where that shows.
The climbing payment is why the mid-game turns from selling to scaling: a margin that covered week one is a rounding error by week three, and the answer is machines, licences and a second product line rather than a better haggling impression.
Counter protocol
- Keep the rent money untouchable; the shop is not the place to gamble it.
- Failing a payment escalates: the landlord does not negotiate and the shop does not keep trading.
- Unsold stock is not rent, which is the trap that catches a first run.
Related stock
Where this comes from
Keeping the rent paid is the precondition for expanding the business.
“Keep the rent paid and you can start thinking bigger.”
Rent keeps rising, and a bad deal can leave a shop unable to make the next payment.
“But rent keeps rising, and confiscated stock or a bad deal can leave you struggling to make the next payment.”
Community guides document a seven-day rent cycle and a rising payment.
“The landlord comes around every 7 days.”
Caption as spoken (verbatim)
The landlord comes around every 7 days.
Tier 1 is the developer or publisher speaking, tier 2 is a large structured reference, tier 3 is player-made material. Anything a player measured rather than read is labelled as community-reported on this page.