Coaster Park

Overview

Coaster Park is a compact theme-park tycoon played on a 12-by-8 dirt lot with a single gate at the bottom. You open with $350 and three in-game years to reach $5,000 of cumulative profit. Each year has 25 days, and a day lasts seven real seconds, so a full game runs under ten minutes. Four attractions are on the build menu. The Coaster costs $2,000, sells $12 tickets, and draws extra visitors every day. The Ferris wheel costs $800 and sells $7 tickets. Snack stalls cost $200 and sell $4 snacks. Restrooms cost $150 and charge nothing, but they keep guests comfortable. Every building has daily upkeep. A happiness meter rises with each kind of ride you own, with up to four snack stalls, and with up to four restrooms, drops sharply if the park has no rides at all, and falls when guests outnumber your park capacity. Each morning, happiness and your coaster count set how many visitors arrive that day.

How to Play

Press Start Game. The toolbar at the top holds Coaster, Ferris, Snacks, Restroom, Bulldoze, and Loan. Click or tap a tool to select it, then click a plot to build. On keyboard, arrows move the dashed cursor, pressing Up from the top row jumps into the toolbar, Left and Right pick a tool, and Space selects it; press Down to return to the lot and Space again to build. Bulldoze clears a building for a 40 percent refund. Loan adds $500 instantly. The HUD tracks cash, date, guests, happiness, profit, and any debt. P pauses and R restarts.

Tips & Strategy

Your $350 opening cash cannot buy a ride, and a park with no rides takes a heavy happiness penalty. One fast route is to take a single $500 loan on day one and build a Ferris wheel immediately; ten dollars a day is cheap next to the guests it attracts. Once tickets flow, add snack stalls rather than a second wheel: they are cheap, serve quickly, and each of the first four adds happiness. A restroom or two follows for the same reason. Because a busy attraction turns arrivals away unpaid, two cheap stalls usually earn more than one, so spread food across the lot. Save toward the Coaster: it is the only building that adds visitors directly, on top of the happiness boost from owning a second ride type. Watch the Guests figure against your attractions; crowding beyond capacity drags happiness down three points per extra guest. Keep cash comfortably above zero, because upkeep and interest are charged every night and foreclosure triggers at -$250.

What Makes It Distinct

Coaster Park compresses the classic park sim into one screen and a few honest formulas. There is no pricing menu and no staff to hire: every choice is a building on a plot, and the gap between a crowded park and a profitable one comes down to queues, upkeep, and how much debt you are willing to carry.