I'm quoting the most useful tips I've found from The Compost Heap and posting them in this
thread. Their site hasn't been updated since 2003, but there is a lot
of great info there :D (WAS - the site is now gone :sad:)
The Guests and General Tips:
- Zoo Guests can see 10 spaces, and they officially ‘view’ an exhibit
that is within 3 spaces of them.
- In some games (scenarios especially), it’s a good idea to push your
admission up to $100 to stop the influx of guests. You can be very
profitable with 200 guests, or you can have 1000 guests, be more
profitable, but suffer from too much trash, too much crowding, etc. By
setting the admission high, you get to control how your Zoo grows.
- If you already have a lot of guests and you want them to leave, you
will have to spend a lot of money to get them to go. Although a fun way
to persuade people to exit is to let a couple animals escape, a less
harmful way is to sell off 70% to 80% of your animals. The less things
to see, the quicker Guests leave the Zoo, and when the amount of guests
that you wanted to leave have left, you can increase your admission and
put the animals back in. Safe yourself this aggravation and control
Guest population from the start.
- It is usually wise to build double lane footpaths, or leave enough
space to upgrade your footpath to two lanes in the future. When you
have a zoo that has 700-1000 guests, many main paths need to be 3 or 4
spaces wide to deal with the large number of guests.
- To help with traffic, you can build “observation areas”: Add blocks
of footpath onto a side of your main path. This creates a little "nook”
that Guests will move into to view an exhibit, thereby not crowding the
main foot path.
- Fence tips: Try not to use chain link. Sure, you save a hundred
bucks or so on the exhibit, but stick pole fences are only 5 dollars
more per unit and usually last 4 more months then chain link before they
deteriorate (and don’t let those in game tool tips fool you, stick pole
is stronger then chain link). Wooden slat is a good “middle of the
road” fence. Concrete chain might look a bit uglier then iron bar, but
it has the same features and life of iron bar, its only slightly weaker,
and you save about 30$ per unit of Concrete chain over iron bar.
- Don’t over fence! Several animals live fine in low fencing, and
there is no reason to surround these animals in tall fence. If you
don’t need a really strong low fence, low wooden slat fencing lasts just
as long as the most expensive low fencing, but its 40 dollars a unit
cheaper. A list of who takes low fencing is in the fence formula sheet:
- Having a problem with trash? Don’t like restrooms? Just build
restaurants. A restaurant contains all food types, seating, disposal,
and restrooms. This means you do not have to build trash cans or
restrooms, people in need of those services will go to your restaurant.
A single restroom well placed in a zoo can handle between 200-300
guests. There is no trash in your zoo, and no trash cans that cause
guests to lose happiness. The one disadvantage of having only
restaurants is that you will make more money with stands and vending.
- If you are setting up food shacks, you might as well make as much
money as possible of the concessions. Use Burger Shacks, not Pizza
Stands, as Burger shacks do not fill up the people as quickly as pizza
stands, cost less in overhead and initial cost, and are more profitable
then Pizza Stands.
- The best money making attractions are the animal theater and the
carousel. These are far better than the elephant ride, and the small
size of the carousel allows it to go nearly anywhere.
- For non-money making attractions, the Japanese Garden is the best by
far. The petting zoo is OK, but it doesn’t generate the happiness level
for the amount of space it takes up.
- Gift shops/stands do not generate very much profit at all. Most of
the time the only reason you put them in the zoo is to satisfy those
guests who are always looking to buy a souvenir. Most guests want a
souvenir when they enter or exit the zoo, so putting a gift shop/stand
near the zoo entrance is a good way to avoid having many Gift Shops or
Gift Stands. Gift stands can go nearly anywhere, which is convenient,
but it cannot compete with the speed and sales of the Gift Shops. A
gift stand is considered “too crowed” if two people are nearby waiting
for a souvenir, so it is best placed in a large zoo in the remote areas.
NOTE: In Dinosaur Digs, the Zoo Tycoon add on pack, you can now move
your gift stands to a new area after you have placed it. This gives you
the ability to watch the sales of a gift stand, and if you think it
could make more money somewhere else in the zoo, you can move it there
without any penalty.
- A great place for a Gift stand is in the "foyer" of your zoo entrance
(by the admissions booth). You can put things in that enclosed area,
so why not put a Gift Stand in there?
- Although its fun to make a “garden area” in your Zoo, the happiness
level that you get from it will in no way compete with the happiness
gained through a new exhibit. Although you might want to make a large
garden, or a area devoted to animal houses or attractions, if you don’t
intersperse these areas with exhibits, they may actually decrease
overall Guest happiness.
- Although listed under the Animal Foliage section, Cherry trees,
Japanese maples, Pacific Dogwood, and Wild Olive trees all increase
guest happiness. Cherry trees are nice looking, and add a lot of
happiness for their cost and size (more then any topiaries, flowers, and
most statues.)
thread. Their site hasn't been updated since 2003, but there is a lot
of great info there :D (WAS - the site is now gone :sad:)
The Guests and General Tips:
- Zoo Guests can see 10 spaces, and they officially ‘view’ an exhibit
that is within 3 spaces of them.
- In some games (scenarios especially), it’s a good idea to push your
admission up to $100 to stop the influx of guests. You can be very
profitable with 200 guests, or you can have 1000 guests, be more
profitable, but suffer from too much trash, too much crowding, etc. By
setting the admission high, you get to control how your Zoo grows.
- If you already have a lot of guests and you want them to leave, you
will have to spend a lot of money to get them to go. Although a fun way
to persuade people to exit is to let a couple animals escape, a less
harmful way is to sell off 70% to 80% of your animals. The less things
to see, the quicker Guests leave the Zoo, and when the amount of guests
that you wanted to leave have left, you can increase your admission and
put the animals back in. Safe yourself this aggravation and control
Guest population from the start.
- It is usually wise to build double lane footpaths, or leave enough
space to upgrade your footpath to two lanes in the future. When you
have a zoo that has 700-1000 guests, many main paths need to be 3 or 4
spaces wide to deal with the large number of guests.
- To help with traffic, you can build “observation areas”: Add blocks
of footpath onto a side of your main path. This creates a little "nook”
that Guests will move into to view an exhibit, thereby not crowding the
main foot path.
- Fence tips: Try not to use chain link. Sure, you save a hundred
bucks or so on the exhibit, but stick pole fences are only 5 dollars
more per unit and usually last 4 more months then chain link before they
deteriorate (and don’t let those in game tool tips fool you, stick pole
is stronger then chain link). Wooden slat is a good “middle of the
road” fence. Concrete chain might look a bit uglier then iron bar, but
it has the same features and life of iron bar, its only slightly weaker,
and you save about 30$ per unit of Concrete chain over iron bar.
- Don’t over fence! Several animals live fine in low fencing, and
there is no reason to surround these animals in tall fence. If you
don’t need a really strong low fence, low wooden slat fencing lasts just
as long as the most expensive low fencing, but its 40 dollars a unit
cheaper. A list of who takes low fencing is in the fence formula sheet:
- Having a problem with trash? Don’t like restrooms? Just build
restaurants. A restaurant contains all food types, seating, disposal,
and restrooms. This means you do not have to build trash cans or
restrooms, people in need of those services will go to your restaurant.
A single restroom well placed in a zoo can handle between 200-300
guests. There is no trash in your zoo, and no trash cans that cause
guests to lose happiness. The one disadvantage of having only
restaurants is that you will make more money with stands and vending.
- If you are setting up food shacks, you might as well make as much
money as possible of the concessions. Use Burger Shacks, not Pizza
Stands, as Burger shacks do not fill up the people as quickly as pizza
stands, cost less in overhead and initial cost, and are more profitable
then Pizza Stands.
- The best money making attractions are the animal theater and the
carousel. These are far better than the elephant ride, and the small
size of the carousel allows it to go nearly anywhere.
- For non-money making attractions, the Japanese Garden is the best by
far. The petting zoo is OK, but it doesn’t generate the happiness level
for the amount of space it takes up.
- Gift shops/stands do not generate very much profit at all. Most of
the time the only reason you put them in the zoo is to satisfy those
guests who are always looking to buy a souvenir. Most guests want a
souvenir when they enter or exit the zoo, so putting a gift shop/stand
near the zoo entrance is a good way to avoid having many Gift Shops or
Gift Stands. Gift stands can go nearly anywhere, which is convenient,
but it cannot compete with the speed and sales of the Gift Shops. A
gift stand is considered “too crowed” if two people are nearby waiting
for a souvenir, so it is best placed in a large zoo in the remote areas.
NOTE: In Dinosaur Digs, the Zoo Tycoon add on pack, you can now move
your gift stands to a new area after you have placed it. This gives you
the ability to watch the sales of a gift stand, and if you think it
could make more money somewhere else in the zoo, you can move it there
without any penalty.
- A great place for a Gift stand is in the "foyer" of your zoo entrance
(by the admissions booth). You can put things in that enclosed area,
so why not put a Gift Stand in there?
- Although its fun to make a “garden area” in your Zoo, the happiness
level that you get from it will in no way compete with the happiness
gained through a new exhibit. Although you might want to make a large
garden, or a area devoted to animal houses or attractions, if you don’t
intersperse these areas with exhibits, they may actually decrease
overall Guest happiness.
- Although listed under the Animal Foliage section, Cherry trees,
Japanese maples, Pacific Dogwood, and Wild Olive trees all increase
guest happiness. Cherry trees are nice looking, and add a lot of
happiness for their cost and size (more then any topiaries, flowers, and
most statues.)
