I first starting playing this game way back when it first came out.  I was a kid at the time, and spent alot of rainy days playing this game.  I would always hope for a 'fire in the store', so I could jake up the price of food and energy and leave my computer oppenents in misery for a while.  Since, they often seemed to conspire against me, it was only fitting to do the same!

A few times, when I got a four play game going, with actual humans, we would try to maximize the final score.  So, we kept prices for food and energy down.