Legend of Empires is a challenging new fantasy game where players can choose to play different roles: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and/or Private Investor.


You are the Chief Executive Officer, the "CEO". You design a corporation and operate it however you like. You build and improve your corporation by creating a company, setting Corporate Preferences, and executing Corporate Actions. The goal of the game is to eliminate your rival companies by increasing revenue, expanding operations, or overpowering competitors.

The names of the top teams and CEO's who control the fastest growing companies are posted on our leader boards for all to see. Don't worry, even if you just started playing, you can get there!

First, you select a unique, fictitious company name. This name cannot be in use already by any real company or by any Legend Of Empires virtual company. Second, you briefly describe your company with its slogan, direction, operation, or management information.


Third (and most important step in creating a company), you select a business sector. The performance of each company is affected by the real life performance of the companies in the sector you select. Sector information and real life "Tracking ETFs" (in parentheses) are given below:

Healthcare (XLV)	Medical (IHI)	Pharmaceuticals (PPH)
Biotechnology (IBB)	Utilities (XLU)	Mining (XME)
Materials (XLB)	Technology (XLK)	Communications (IYZ)
Internet (FDN)	Oil and Gas (XLE)	Oil Services (OIH)
Alternative Energy (PBW)	Banks & Money Centers (XLF)	Investments (KCE)
Insurance (KIE)	Food and Beverage (PBJ)	Defense and Research (ITA)
Real Estate Develop. (XHB)	Real Estate Invest. Trusts (IYR)	Railroad (IYT)
Trucking (IYT)	Shipping (IYT)	Packaging (IYT)
Textile & Apparel (RTH)	Office Supplies (RTH)	Housewares and Access. (RTH)
Stores (RTH)	Toys & Games (PEJ)	Entertainment (PEJ)

Once created, the ranking of your company is measured by its "growth". Growth consists of two parts: stock price and earnings. A company's stock price moves similar to its real life "Tracking ETF" (shown above). Stock price is also affected by Corporate Actions executed by you. A company's earnings fluctuates throughout the game, as well. Earnings are affected by the Corporate Actions executed by you and by your rival corporations.

Last, you select the initial share price, the total number of shares outstanding, and the number of shares to sell to the public (called float shares). This allows you to control the percentage ownership and the overall size or market capitalization of your company.

See a sample virtual company profile for more help.

Before you begin playing, you need to set up your company using your company's "Resource" and "Philosophy" preferences.


You manage your company's resources through "Corporate Preferences". Initially, you receive 100 points to allocate to 10 different Resources. Below is a brief description of each Resource.

• Dividend - The amount paid to investors as dividends
• Advertising - The amount spent on advertising
• R&D - The amount spent on product research and development
• Actions - The amount allocated to Corporate Actions
• Property - The amount spent on assets (Property, Equipment, Inventory, and Intangibles)
• Compensation - The amount spent on employee compensation and incentives
• Expansion - The amount spent on business expansion
• Investing - The income earned on available cash
• Margins - The profit margin built into the price of goods and services sold
• Longevity - The duration of solid, strong, and stable company performance

Three different business philosophies enable you to select your continuing strategic direction. Below is a brief description of each Philosophy.

• Cash vs. Debt - The financial method used to pay for operation and expansion
• Growth vs. Value - The distribution of cash, toward growth or toward shareholders
• Domestic vs. International - The market audience for products and services

Note: Focusing too heavily on any one aspect might have negative consequences. Be sure to select Resources and Philosophies in a balanced way.

Note: You need to set these Corporate Preferences immediately after submitting the Virtual Initial Public Offering (VIPO). Also, you can adjust preferences at any time.


At any given time, you may initiate various kinds of Corporate Actions, such as a research and development (R&D) project. You specify a certain amount to be devoted to that R&D project. The project is paid for with the company's available cash. If the project succeeds, the company receives a benefit. If the project fails, the company loses the entire amount devoted to that project. Each company may spend as much cash as is allowed. However, it is better to conserve cash for future actions, and it is wise to execute a defensive action every day. Read each corporate action description to learn how it works. Do not waste company cash because it is vital to a company's existence.

Note: Companies that engage in volatile or unfriendly behavior might stir up rivals. So, keep a low profile when starting a new company.

You can eliminate a rival corporation through Hostile Acquisition. If you have enough cash to purchase an entire company, you may do so. The actual cost of acquiring, liquidating, and eliminating a company is 5% of its purchase price. When completed, all shareholders of the acquired company are compensated in shares of the acquiring company, the acquired company is dissolved, and its CEO is ousted.

(A Hostile Takeover is when a "bidder" acquires a company by forcefully pursuing a majority stake in share ownership without informing its CEO. This is different from a Hostile Acquisition.)

If you control more than one company, you can merge your own companies (or any of your teammates' companies) at any time. A merger decreases your managerial effort and increases the strength and market capitalization of newly formed company. However, it also decreases the total number of companies under your control. Thus, merging companies may negatively affect your potential of making the leader board.

Form business partnerships with other companies to bolster your company's direction, improve your R&D, reduce your overhead, and increase your business growth. But remember, it costs company cash in order to attempt to affiliate with another corporation.

You may repurchase shares of your own company at any time using company cash. This reduces cash, but increases the number of shares available to be resold at a later time.

There are many more Corporate Actions available to you. Click on "My Empire" and go to the "Actions" page of any company that you control.


Company ratings are determined by six investment banks, each of which specializes in rating a particular aspect of a company (i.e. management, stability, revenue, return on investments, etc.). The average rating given by all six of these investment banks affects the company's share price on a daily basis. (See sample ratings)

At the end of each day the share price for your company rises or falls based on several factors: the change in your company's sector price, your Corporate Actions, and your company's average bank rating. So, make sure that your company has at least an average overall bank rating, or you will lose share price every day.


Each day, your company cash increases by your company's earnings. So, it is important to watch your earnings and to increase your earnings as much as possible.

Sometimes various Corporate Actions can trigger certain kinds of hidden secrets. There are over a dozen types of hidden secrets throughout game play. Some secrets are positive and some are negative. Certain "friendly" Corporate Actions (for example, Special Dividend Payout) can occasionally result in extra revenue or better earnings. But, certain "unfriendly" Corporate Actions (for example, Steal Technology From Rival Company) can occasionally result in unexpected loss of earnings or loss of capital. So, choose activities wisely.

Teams are a way to increase company earnings, revenue, and overall power. Teams are formed by declaring a team name in your "My Team/School Information" page. In order to create or join a team, you must type in your team name precisely (character for character). Be sure to obtain permission before joining a team or you could be ousted. If you repeatedly harrass any team by joining without permission, you will be denied access to play the game. (So just don't do it.)

Although teams are generally friendly, corporations on the same team are considered both friends and rivals. So, be sure that no one on your team is secretly waiting to attack or eliminate you.

The most important element in Legend of Empires is the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Hence, the goal of every company should be to increase its earnings by any means possible. The lower the P/E ratio the better.

Note: In Legend of Empires, companies cannot lie about their current earnings. So, pay particular attention to each company's P/E ratio.

The most important objective is to be consistent, that is, remain active on a regular basis. Earnings are built up over time by repeatedly pursuing a specific management style.


You are the Private Investor, and you're loaded. You are given $1 million fantasy cash to start. You can buy or sell stock for almost any company at any time. Do a little research to find the best companies in which to put your cash. You can increase your chance of success by figuring out which CEOs and which sectors are the best. Also, you can assess the growth potential, stability, history, and payout of each asset. Investment Bank ratings provide an initial guide, but by no means indicate future performance. Investors can use these ratings focusing on the metrics they believe are most important (and those they believe others desire, too). For a sample view of Investment Bank ratings click here.

The top Investors with the highest rates of return will have their names posted on our leader board for all to see! A special "Legend" prize is awarded to any Investor who successfully takes over the top performing company by acquiring more than 51% of its total shares outstanding. But, beware, buying too much stock will make its price sky-rocket.

If you gain enough capital, you may want to try to execute a Hostile Takeover of an existing company. This allows you to become the CEO of an already established company. Such a move, if properly timed, has the potential to place you on the leader board.

The most important element in Legend of Empires is the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. In Legend of Empires, companies cannot lie about their current earnings. So, buying the stocks of companies with the lowest P/E ratios is usually the best bet. Nevertheless, companies that remain inactive for long periods of time are subject to random disasters.


An "Inventor" studies novel technologies and assesses their value. Each Inventor competes to propose technological improvements, discover technical problems, and determine the market potential of these inventions. Players vote on the most significant inventions and the players with the most votes are displayed on our Inventors leader board for all to see! More details *coming soon*.