Zoo Tycoon Tips and Tricks | Guide

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

In this Zoo Tycoon guide, we will be going over the must-know Zoo Tycoon tips and tricks. This is for beginners and even those who are a little more veteran at Zoo Tycoon. This Zoo Tycoon guide was created for the Xbox version. However, these may work out for you on PC as well; if they do work on PC as well, let us know in the comments!

Who to Hire:

• Always try and get a level two worker when starting out. They are better at what they do than a level one and aren’t incredibly expensive. However, if the choice between only one worker or three or even two, you should go with quantity and get more workers if you can’t afford three level 3 workers. Money will eventually come and you can always train them to a higher level. Don’t drain your budget over one or two employees.

Facilities:

• Facilities are much-needed necessities when running a zoo, so make sure they are high on the list when first starting out. They will make your life easier allowing you to not only profit from them – eventually – but allowing you to focus on areas in the zoo that need more attention.

Decoration:

• Decoration can really help the customers’ happiness, which will bring you more money in the long run. However, buying too many decorations and/or too many large decorations will take up 300 space, which will take up space for the animals. A strong yellow for decorations is a good rule of thumb. This will allow you to have more animals and concessions.

Concessions:

• Concessions are what feeds and entertains guests alongside animal entertainment. Always have more food and drink concessions over entertainment concessions. Keep in mind the main entertainment comes from the animals in your zoo.

Best Animals to start out With:

• When you first start out you won’t have a lot of money – unless playing free roam – so you have to be wise with the money you spend. Buy a Tropical Exhibit and get yourself two Asiatic Lions, one male and one female so you can breed them. They should cost you less than $8,000 if you shop right. Having lions always brings in guests.

Mini Exhibits:

• Mini-exhibits are cheap and good for when starting out. Use them when you are broke in order to bring in more guests into your zoo. You should never have more than three unless you have to for campaign mode.

Give Guests what they want then Change it Back:

• Sometimes you will need to do interactions for guests to complete a goal. Do the interaction requested then change it back to something that benefits the animal better, making them happier.

Small map for Driving:

• Your animals will eventually get sick or concession stands will need more supplies causing you to drive all over the zoo to heal or supply it. When everything is too spaced apart it can cause a headache when driving. Make it easier on yourself and make everything closer.

Pay Attention to Needs:

• Don’t buy something an animal won’t eat or play with causing them to be unhappy. Press LT to see if the animal you are working with likes what you’re giving them.

Going Rare:

• When selecting animals, go for rare animals when having enough money to buy them. They will bring more customers in, which will make you more money over time.

Pure Albino:

• You might get lucky when having baby animals by getting an albino one. They are hard to come by because both of the parents have to have that genetic code. This makes them rare and even more rare to have two albino ones that you can breed together giving you another generation of albino genes.

Stick to the Theme:

• Having too many color and style themes can cause a conflict in design and take away from the beauty of your zoo.

Back to Health:

• You may have an animal that gets sick and needs to be brought back to health or are asked to take on an animal from abroad and bring them back to health. The way to do that is to make sure all their needs are met. If they feel too cramped, buy them a bigger exhibit or a larger food storage or cleaning storage.

Animal Happiness:

• Animal Happiness can be obtained by making sure their needs are met. If they are large animals that need other animal interaction then you may want to get a medium sized exhibit with a few other animals of the same breed. Make sure they have large enough food storage, adequate exhibit size, and cleaning station size. When their needs are met they will be happy.

Set Them Free:

• When you have an animal that reaches level 20 you should release it in the wild. You will hear how its life plays out and it can be exciting. Plus, you may get paid for it too!

Having at least one level 20:

• Try and always have at least one level 20, that way when the game offers to pay you to release one you are already prepared. You can make a lot of money releasing animals, so make sure to keep doing it.

Making Cubs:

• Cubs born in the zoo are cheaper than buying them and can bring loads of customers. You need the obvious factors, a male, and female, but you also need them to be happy. Which means a clean exhibit, food, an area to clean themselves, and, of course, a place to have fun.

Animal Stations:

• Animal stations that are fully upgraded are the most beneficial to your zoo. You will have to level up to unlock station upgrades, so make sure to do that. Also, make sure you have enough zookeepers that can refill the stations when empty or you may have to check on them and refill them yourself.

Fix when Broken:

• If a feeding station or any animal station is broken, always take time to check the above tip and check each exhibit.

Hover, it’s Easier:

• Pressing Y allows you to hover above like a helicopter making everything easier to see and easier to get to if need be. Wherever you press Y at again is where you will appear.

Make Guests Happy:

• Always monitor zoo overview and try to make it better. The key rule is to have a good balance.

How to increase Zoo Beauty:

• At first, you want to buy a Bear Topiary – it’s only $300 – as it will boost zoo decoration. Don’t buy too many decorations, mainly get small ones you can put all around.

Don’t buy cubs at First:

• If you are playing free roam then buy cubs but if not then don’t spend loads of cash on one cub when you could buy two or three adults for that same price. You can buy them later when you have the funds.

Enrichments:

• Enrichments are a necessity, so make sure it’s in the exhibit and also that it’s the right enrichment for that specific animal.

Zoo Tycoon Cheats:

There are no cheats for Zoo Tycoon.

If you have any other questions that we have not covered then go ahead and leave them in the comments below and we will get back to you.