User Guide

Desperate Measures
You’re out of cash and the bank won’t give you any more funds. The end of the month is
approaching, and you can’t meet your payroll. What’s do you do?
• Wait. You can go into the red (negative numbers) for a short time, and your park keeps
running. As long as your rides are generating income, you should eventually rise out of the
depths of debt. (If not, make some changes!)
• Dismantle attractions, especially the less profitable ones. This generates immediate
income, though not as much as you might expect. It also relieves you of concern for the
demolished ride, and of whatever long-term profit it might have brought.
• Remove footpaths. At a few dollars a pop, this isn’t the most lucrative operation, but most
parks have pathways that they can run smoothly without.
• Raise prices. This works in the short term, but it might eventually cause dissatisfaction in
your guests. Of all the options, however, this is probably the safest overall.
Marketing
Word of mouth is the best advertising (so the rubric goes), and a high Park Rating is certain to
attract guests to your gate. However, reputation is not the only form of marketing, and you should
seriously consider making use of every public relations tool at your disposal.
First, click the Finances button
to open the Finances window.
Next, select the Marketing tab.
The options in this display allow you to launch professional campaigns with the intended result
of drawing greater numbers of visitors to your park. All you need to do is:
• Select one of the campaigns.
• If necessary, choose which of your attractions will be affected by the campaign.
• Use the tiny ‘up and down’ arrows to adjust the length of time you want the marketing effort
to run. The marketing agency charges by the week, so be careful of rising fees.
• Click the Begin This Campaign button that appears near the bottom of the display.
Here’s how the various campaigns are supposed to work:
Vouchers for free entry to the park allow guests to forego paying the park admission fee.
Obviously, this is of no benefit to them if you don’t charge for entry into the park, and thus it is
of no value to you. You do not collect the money for admission from guests bearing vouchers,
but those individuals are a little more willing to spend for attractions once inside the park.
Vouchers for free rides on a particular ride draw visitors by making
one of your rides free (you select which ride). You lose some income
due to guests not paying to get on that ride, but you’re sure to make
up the difference (and then some) through increased admissions to
the park and the other money the guests are likely to spend. This
is also an effective way to raise the popularity of a particular ride
or to get some benefit out of an older, less profitable attraction.
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Vouchers for half-price entry to the park are similar in effect to the free entry vouchers, except
that these leave you some income from admissions. (Less ethical park managers raise the price
of admission to compensate.)
Vouchers for free food or drink work in much the same way as those for free rides. Food and
drink concessions are one of the mainstays of income in many parks. After all, your guests must
eat, and your stalls are the only source of food in the park.
Advertising the park, though more expensive than any of the voucher efforts, is also more
effective in attracting custom. Your marketing agency creates a media-based ad campaign (you
can rely on their expertise) and pursues it for as long as you choose. This costs you nothing in
terms of lost income, because you’re giving away nothing for free.
Advertising a particular ride works best when it’s a new attraction you’re touting. This campaign
draws public attention to one ride–if you’re wise, you’ll advertise a big-ticket item, a “headliner”
that you’ve located near the back of the park (so that guests must pass all the other tempting
attractions on the way to it). As with advertising the entire park, this is one of the more expensive
campaigns, but you lose nothing in income–and the added business should far exceed the cost
of advertising.
Marketing Theory
You can have any combination of campaigns–even all of them–going on at the same time. It’s
entirely up to you how you spend your money. Some claim that saturation is the most effective
tactic–throw advertisements at the public on every channel until they can’t take a breath
without thinking about your park. Others advise that you should generally avoid too much
overlap, for fear of competing with yourself and confusing your message–after all, people have
only so much attention to pay. Whatever theory you abide by, just remember that it’s your park
development money you’re spending. Be prudent.
Troubleshooting
Some potential problems don’t easily fit into categories. That’s what this little section is all
about; it’s a catch-all for management issues you’re likely to run into sooner or later–and you
want to be prepared for anything in this business.
Ride Crashes
Old rides, intense rides, and those that are not inspected often enough have a tendency to break
down. Even worse, however, is when one crashes with guests onboard. This is a catastrophe–it
is possible for guests to die. Obviously, you want to prevent this. The only way to do so is to
schedule regular inspections of every ride, especially the more dangerous ones. Have enough
Mechanics in your employ to the cover schedule you’ve set.
Note
Some rides–the Hedge Maze is a good example–cannot crash.
Crashes are also extremely unlikely on mild rides such as the Merry-Go-Round.
Generally, if something is going to crash, it will be a roller coaster.
Assuming that you’ve done all that you can to prevent injuries, there
is still the small chance that a ride will crash, as an example of the
sheer perversity of the universe. You cannot recompense the victims
or their families, but you can repair the ride. Double-click on the red
light in the Ride window to reset the ride, then click the green light.
If the crash was the only problem, the ride reopens immediately. If
there was also a breakdown, the usual radio call goes out, and a
repairman comes to fix that problem. When he’s done, the attraction
reopens as usual.
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