Money Issues

I have no money. I'm way in the red, and I tried doing a lot to bring it up. I took away lots of unnessicary (sp?) footpaths, fired extra staff, and raised all the admission and food stand prices. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Sell back some rides. Then hire staff to keep your rides open and running all the time attracting people to your park. Also advertise. It cost money but it does pay off.

-putting on flame suit-

The money issues you're experiencing could be from a variety of things. Poor coaster design, not enough variety of rides, not enough food stands, bathrooms, drink stands, guests getting lost, trying to build too much too fast, lack of any landscaping/theming, etc. A comination or even one of these things can send your budget plummeting.

If you want some good advice, you'll have to be more specific as to the dynamics of the park.

I have about 5 coasters of various designs, and food and drink stands evenly distributed around the midways. I don't have much money for landscaping, but there are one or two gardens. I also try to keep the paths clean and the park well kept. I could try getting rid of an unpopular ride, maybe. I like all the rides, though.

What version of the game are you playing? 1 or 2? Maybe tear down one of your expensive coasters and build a few flats.

Start out with the usual things that everyone likes......a few flats, a few places to eat, some T-shirt stands, and some nice landscaping. Be very, very generous on the trash cans and benches, and have your food stands/bathrooms/first aid stations/info booths evenly distributed. Hire a small staff and keep an eye on them.

As far as the coasters I would start with the pre-made ones first. Don't get too ambitious too soon or you will lose money VERY fast. Your park has to build up a reputation first.

You have to remember that a majority of your customers are not enthusiasts after all. ;-)

OR, if the money issues are a problem you can just play the park where you don't have to worry about it, and just build the most insane coasters till your little heart's content. :-) If your customer's don't like it you can just tear it down and build something else, or just drop em in the lake and watch them drown. Or, if they get really *****y you can just build your drop tower VERY low and UP the launch to were it blasts up into the sky and crashes into the crowd....lol.

I would only do that in your "no financial restrictions" park though. ;-)

-Tina

*** Edited 12/29/2003 8:00:46 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

I'm playing #2. I've built pre-made coasters. (Back in RCT 1, I built a replica of the Magnum (CP) and everyone was scared of it.) I might just have to start a new park and get a "no financial restriction" park.

In RCT2 it's called "Extreme Heights". I just got the game for Christmas and haven't tried that park yet. In RCT1 I would import several "real" coasters but nobody wanted to ride them either, including Magnum. What's with the wimpy crowds?

I was telling a friend that the makers of the game should create a group of "enthusiasts", then you can hold events, have ERT, and listen to even more whiney complaints!! lol.

I understand that there are a few people in the game that are named after "real" people but they don't really do anything. I guess I will see for myself. :-)

-Tina

*** Edited 12/30/2003 2:01:08 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

The enthusiast idea sounds awesome. They should also make nights when the park is closed so the staff can clean the midways better and I could build more.

I just started Extreme Heights today, and it's doing very well. Thanks for the advice, all of you.

It can be helpful to mess with admission/concession prices and watch the peeps reactions. If they are saying something is "really good value," then you should raise the price. Try to find the price just below the value that makes them say "I'm not paying that much..." to get max profits.

The general guideline I go by is charging $1 for each Excitement point, so a carousel is $1, and a coaster with an E of 7 is $7. I usually charge a bit more for thrill rides. When you first open a coaster, you can charge $10+ per ride, and people will pay anyway. Just make sure you keep an eye on your rides to see when they get "old." Then you have to lower the prices to keep the people coming.

Two other things to mention that both involve checking out a sample of the peeps in your park to see how much money they have on them. If a lot of the people in your park are broke or close to it, you could benefit from putting cash (ATM) machines around the park, especially near the exit.

The other problem is when you have to charge admission to the park, but rides are free. Check several peeps walking up to the gate to see how much money they carry. In some scenarios, they can have only $30 or $40, and if you charge more than that, they will just walk away. For a scenario like Gravity Gardens, it can actually be profitable to shut your park down every year, herd the people out, and then reopen so they will all have to pay to get in again. Without doing this, I find the "flat admission fee" scenarios to be much more difficult than the "per ride fee" ones.

I hope some of this helps, and that once you get the hang of things, you try some of the money scenarios, because there are some fun ones :)

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Idora360 said:
Any other suggestions? Thanks.

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A trainer mayhaps?