Theme Park Planner

Theme Park Planner is a relaxed tycoon game on a sunny patch of grass seen from above. Guests only walk where you lay paths, so you drag those first, then build a ticket gate on the bottom edge and pick from a catalogue that grows as you go: a carousel, teacups, bumper cars, a log flume, a ferris wheel and a roller coaster you lay yourself, track tile by track tile, in a loop back to its station. Candy floss, ice cream and drinks stalls keep the crowd going, and benches, bins, toilets and flower beds make the difference between a nice day and a great one.

Every guest is a little walker with a thought bubble. They get hungry, thirsty and tired, they queue, ride, buy a snack and drop the wrapper if there is no bin within three tiles; a janitor sweeps it up and a mechanic fixes the rides that break down. You set the gate price and every ride and stall price, and the daily income and costs panel shows each coin in and out, from tickets and rides to upkeep, wages and stock. Happy guests, a variety of rides, clean paths, scenery and good facilities make the park rating, and word of mouth brings more visitors each day.

A day runs from eight in the morning to ten at night with seeded weather, school trips and festival days, at 1×, 2× or 4× speed, and you can skip to the next morning at any time. Twenty milestones lead from opening the gate to a five-star park and a thousand guests in a day, and if the coins ever run short at wage time, the town sends a grant so you can always carry on. It is a game to relax with that still gives your brain plenty of queues and layouts to juggle; Sandbox unlocks everything for an endless park of your own, an autopilot in the menu will run the place while you watch, and the whole park saves itself in your browser.