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Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game

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ZTBG - Landing Page

Box art by Johanna Tarkela

Zoo_Tycoon-_The_Board_Game_-_Kickstarter_Video

Zoo Tycoon- The Board Game - Kickstarter Video

Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game Official Trailer.

Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game is a board game developed by Treeceratops (Treecer) with support provided by Microsoft Studios. In this strategic and thematic board game, each player has the freedom to develop their own zoo with animal exhibits, food booths, zoo shops and other attractions. The official Kickstarter campaign launched on October 25th, revealing more features of the board game.

Gameplay[]

Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game is played by up to four players, where the aim is to create a zoo that creates an equal balance of visitor popularity and nature conservation. The game is played over seven rounds, or "years", most of which are divided into four "seasons" where different events occur. In Spring, animals can breed, provided they are happy with their exhibit and aren't already caring for a previous young. In Summer, the players can obtain animals from the Zoo Market, or alternatively give animals away. In Fall, the players can build or expand enclosures for their animals, as well as buildings and focal points. Winter serves as an "end of year" round where the players are ranked and rewarded for their actions across the year.

Each player starts with six enclosure tiles and three zoo workers, who can perform various tasks around the zoo depending on the season. Spring is skipped for the first turn and the game starts in Summer. Here, the players can choose to adopt any two Level 1 or Level 2 species with the exception of the Asian Elephant and Giant Panda. They may also choose to adopt a Level 3 animal, but they can not adopt another species; they will instead receive a free conservation center that must be placed during the next Fall.

Spring[]

During Spring, all main species are able to breed provided there is at least one male and one female in an exhibit and their happiness is high enough to allow breeding to occur. Each player will roll dice depending on how many animals can breed, usually based on the number of females in the exhibit. Exceptions include most birds, where each dice represents a single pair, and the Golden Lion Tamarin, where only one dice can be rolled regardless of how many individuals there are. Each species has a success rate based on how happy it is and if a dice rolls the exact number or higher to match the success rate, a set number of babies will be born; both the success rate and litter size are mentioned on each species' card. The gender of each offspring is chosen at random using blue and pink "offspring discs". Some species will nurture their babies and will be unable to breed the following year. After breeding, the most popular species successfully bred will earn the zoo "Buzz", which goes towards boosting a zoo's popularity.

In addition, an event card is drawn at the start of Spring, which may reward or punish a player for the season or the entire year. Zoo Workers in Spring can help animals breed successfully or provide birth control to stop a species from breeding.

Summer[]

During Summer, main species are traded at the Animal Exchange. Each month will have a different selection of animals either available to offer the player (shown in green, with a framed icon showing a species that meets its minimum group size) or in demand (shown in red). Each player may make two trades. They will first select animals which they wish to give away in the "Leaving" phase, which can consist of either meeples in quarantine or offspring discs in enclosures; meeples in enclosures cannot be given away. They can give away as many of a single species as they like until the demand is fulfilled. After this, the players will then bring in new animals in the "Arrival" phase, which consist of animals already included in the Animal Exchange, plus any animals added during the Leaving phase. A species can only be offered if it is listed as available, specific requirements are met and if there is enough space to add it. If a player does not have a large enough exhibit, the species can be put in quarantine, which can hold two species. This round continues until each player has completed their trades or is unable to perform any further actions.

Zoo workers in Summer can help the player make additional trades, to a maximum of five. The workers can also offer an unexpected supply or demand, where they can obtain an offer already made by another player or an animal in quarantine is taken without requiring a demand, but each can only be used once per game.

Autumn[]

During Autumn, players work on building their zoos. Each player receives three enclosure tiles, with additional tiles available for achieving certain goals. From here, players may use their enclosure tiles to build exhibits for the animals they obtained during the Summer and, if needed, can purchase more enclosure tiles. In order to exhibit an animal, enclosures must be large enough, with significant free space and retreats, and enough individuals must be exhibited for them to be happy. As well as retreats, shelters known as focal points can also be placed in an enclosure, which can boost an enclosure's popularity, education or conservation value. Co-Species can also be adopted during this period.

During Autumn, the player may also create buildings to place around the zoo, although each building has a requirement in order to be placed (for example, being adjacent to a rainforest and montane forest exhibit). There are two main types of buildings. Focal buildings, such as parks, education booths and conservation centers, respectively help boost a zoo's popularity, education and conservation scores. Commercial buildings, such as food booths and zoo shops, can generate additional revenue to a zoo and may be built when a zoo reaches a popularity of at least ten. All buildings and focal points cost money and players may take out a loan during Autumn, at the cost of part of the map being prohibited to build on.

Zoo workers in Autumn can perform a variety of tasks, including Animal Keeping to boost the experience of a species, Maintenance to make changes to existing structures and Entertainment to boost scores.

Winter[]

During Winter, each player evaluates their performance for the year. Experience for each animal species is boosted, the zoo with the highest education score earns a conservation point and taxes are paid. Each player will then receive their revenue, which takes into consideration how popular the zoo is, how much "Buzz" was achieved that year and how many running costs the zoo has. From here, the workers and "Buzz" are reset and the next year begins.

End of the Game[]

After seven rounds, the game enters a final stage. All players that have a negative amount of money are automatically eliminated, whilst any offspring still present will lower a zoo's popularity counter. Next, players will be scored based on how well they participated in special conservation projects. Finally, the players must spend as much of their remaining money as possible on construction, such as enclosure tiles, buildings and focal points, in a last attempt to boost their scores.

Once players have spent all the money they can, the game ends and each player individually evaluates their popularity and conservation scores. Whichever value is the lower of the two represents that player's "victory points". The player with the most victory points is declared the winner.

Solo Mode[]

Solo Mode was first announced to be in development on October 30, 2022 after much demand for the mode by the community. Not much was known at the time other than Treecer was working with a Solo Expert on the project and that they would keep the community updated.

On November 5, 2022 Treecer released an update after testing Solo Mode for several days. In this update two modes were proposed for the Solo Mode; a mode where the player would play against an Automa and another where the player would simply try to beat their high score, which was proposed in response to a player who did not want to play with an Automa. Although both options still had balancing issues and other issues that needed to be ironed out, both modes were quite popular in concept with the community. As of November 12, 2022 it is not confirmed which mode Treecer is going with or if both options will be available for players to choose.

The first prototype of Solo Mode was released on Steam on November 8, 2022 as a Table Top Simulator mod to allow players to give feedback for further development. A rough rule book draft was also released at the same time. The introduction of Solo Mode has also made the possibility of Scenarios being introduced to the game, with Treecer asking the community for ideas and if they liked an idea enough they would include it in the game along with the player's name for the Scenario. No Scenarios have been developed as of November 12, 2022.

ZTTBG Solo

On November 12, 2022 Treecer confirmed that the board game was officially going to have a Solo Mode, officially making the game 1-4 players instead of the original 2-4. The Solo Mode was announced to be given away for free instead of a Stretch Goal as a thank you to the community; as the mode was created with cooperation between the Kickstarter Community and the Developers. The Kickstarter page was also updated to reflect the official introduction of Solo Mode. Treecer announced that they had made great progress with the mode and would continue testing it for several months to iron out any further issues the mode had, continuing to ask the community for feedback on Solo Mode's progress.

Animals[]

Animal-Ensamble-3

A Black Rhinoceros, American Black Bear and Red-and-green Macaw. Art by Victor Sales

Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game features 23 "Main" animal species and 12 "Co-Species", totalling to 35. Each animal species has its own characteristics regarding popularity for visitors, educational value, and nature conservation. All animals are divided into one of four orders - Bird, Carnivore, Primate and Ungulate. In addition, all animals are also divided into three biomes - Rainforest, Savannah and Montane Forest.

Main Species[]

The 23 main species can be adopted from the Animal Market each summer and placed into an enclosure each fall. Each enclosure can only house a single main species, although some will tolerate Co-species. Each spring, main species are able to breed, provided they are suitably happy with their enclosure. All main species are given a ranking from 1-3, with 3-rank animals being available to be released into the wild if successfully bred.

Main species have both specific cards and 4-16 wooden meeples, depending on the species. In the Kickstarter exclusive version of the board game, these meeples are given silkscreen detailing.

Animal Biome Type Amount Animal
Level 		Co-Species
compatible 		National
Park
American Black Bear Montane Forest Carnivore 6 - 3Icon male ZT2 3Icon female ZT2 1 No Banff
Arabian Oryx Savannah Ungulate 6 - 2Icon male ZT2 4Icon female ZT2 3 Yes N/A
Asian Elephant Rainforest Ungulate 8 - 2Icon male ZT2 6Icon female ZT2 2 No Ramganga
Bearded Vulture Montane Forest Bird 4 - 2Icon male ZT2 2Icon female ZT2 3 Yes Wolong
Black Rhinoceros Savannah Ungulate 6 - 3Icon male ZT2 3Icon female ZT2 2 No Serengeti
Bornean Orangutan Rainforest Primate 6 - 2Icon male ZT2 4Icon female ZT2 3 No N/A
Chimpanzee Rainforest Primate 16 - 8Icon male ZT2 8Icon female ZT2 2 No N/A
Common Ostrich Savannah Bird 14 - 7Icon male ZT2 7Icon female ZT2 1 Yes Serengeti
Common Raccoon Montane Forest Carnivore 16 - 8Icon male ZT2 8Icon female ZT2 1 Yes Banff
Elk Montane Forest Ungulate 16 - 6Icon male ZT2 10Icon female ZT2 1 Yes Banff
Giant Panda* Montane Forest Carnivore 2 2 No Wolong
Giraffe** Savannah Ungulate 8 - 3Icon male ZT2 5Icon female ZT2 1 Yes Serengeti
Golden Lion Tamarin Rainforest Primate 10 - 5Icon male ZT2 5Icon female ZT2 3 Yes N/A
Lion Savannah Carnivore 16 - 6Icon male ZT2 10Icon female ZT2 1 No Serengeti
Northern Bald Ibis Savannah Bird 12 - 6Icon male ZT2 6Icon female ZT2 3 Yes N/A
Plains Zebra Savannah Ungulate 16 - 6Icon male ZT2 10Icon female ZT2 1 Yes Serengeti
Red-and-green Macaw Rainforest Bird 12 - 6Icon male ZT2 6Icon female ZT2 1 Yes Pantanal
Red Panda Montane Forest Carnivore 6 - 3Icon male ZT2 3Icon female ZT2 2 Yes Wolong
Red Ruffed Lemur Rainforest Primate 14 - 7Icon male ZT2 7Icon female ZT2 2 Yes N/A
Snow Leopard Montane Forest Carnivore 6 - 3Icon male ZT2 3Icon female ZT2 2 No Wolong
Tiger Rainforest Carnivore 6 - 3Icon male ZT2 3Icon female ZT2 2 No Ramganga
Tufted Capuchin Rainforest Primate 16 - 8Icon male ZT2 8Icon female ZT2 1 Yes Pantanal
Western Gorilla Rainforest Primate 14 - 6Icon male ZT2 8Icon female ZT2 2 No N/A

*Kickstarter Exclusive Card **Kickstarter Stretch Goal Reward

Co-Species[]

The 12 Co-Species are not adopted in the summer as the main species are. Instead, they are added during the fall as part of the enclosure construction phase. Co-Species are able to co-exist with Main species, provided they tolerate other species in their enclosure, but can also be exhibited by themselves. Larger co-species require more space in an exhibit compared to smaller species. All animals listed as co-species have a rating of 0 and cannot be bred or given to other zoos.

Animal Biome Type Size National Park
Axis Deer Rainforest Ungulate Large Ramganga
Blue Wildebeest Savannah Ungulate Large Serengeti
Dama Gazelle Savannah Ungulate Large N/A
Eurasian Otter Montane Forest Carnivore Large N/A
Fischer's Lovebird Savannah Bird Small Serengeti
Giant Anteater Rainforest Carnivore Large Pantanal
Great Hornbill Rainforest Bird Large Ramganga
Jabiru Rainforest Bird Small Pantanal
Meerkat Savannah Carnivore Small N/A
Striped Skunk Montane Forest Carnivore Small Banff
Tundra Swan Montane Forest Bird Small N/A
West Caucasian Tur Montane Forest Ungulate Large N/A

Kickstarter[]

On October 25, 2022, Treecer publicly unveiled the board game's Kickstarter page. The page includes the board game's overview, rules, shipping availability, rewards, stretch goals, and further information regarding the project. Within roughly 5 hours of the announcement, the project was fully funded. 17 stretch goals are planned in total, all having been announced as of November 21, 2022.

The Kickstarter page has achieved all intended stretch goals, with total funding ending at 532,202 CHF.

Stretch Goals[]

  • 75,000 CHF - the board game is fully funded
  • 100,000 CHF - silkscreen prints on the player gates
  • 120,000 CHF - alternate Savannah game board
  • 135,000 CHF - 10 additional Rainforest tiles
  • 155,000 CHF - alternate Savannah game board
  • 185,000 CHF - individual meeple shapes for female Western Lowland Gorillas
  • 205,000 CHF - alternate Montane Forest game board
  • 235,000 CHF - individual meeple shapes for male Bornean Orangutans
  • 250,000 CHF - 10 additional Savannah tiles
  • 280,000 CHF - individual meeple shapes for female African Lions
  • 295,000 CHF - 10 additional Montane Forest tiles
  • 325,000 CHF - individual meeple shapes for female Elk
  • 355,000 CHF - individual meeple shapes for male Asian Elephants
  • 385,000 CHF - classic-styled staff meeple shapes
  • 415,000 CHF - double-layered scoreboard
  • 420,000 CHF - custom card artwork for welfare donors
  • 470,000 CHF - custom box storage space
  • 530,000 CHF - 4 Giraffe cards and 6 Giraffe meeples to be added in the game

Upcoming Expansions[]

On November 13, 2023 the first Kickstarter update regarding potential expansions for Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game was released. Beforehand, Treecer teased the idea several times in the comment section when the topic came up but this was the first, official confirmation of expansions being in the works. In this update, Treecer confirms that they are currently working on 1-2 expansions for the board game and asks interested backers for feedback on what platform they would like to use to follow the development of the expansions and give feedback. Suggested platforms included Discord, Reddit and Facebook.

In the next update on November, 27, 2023, Treecer confirmed that Discord was selected as the main platform where players can follow the development of the future expansions and give their thoughts and opinions on it, as well as telling those that preferred Facebook to follow Treeceratop's Facebook page for regular updates.

On December 12, 2023, Treecer posted their last, regular update to The Board Game's Kickstarter page, announcing the launch of their official Discord where players may join to follow the development of the first expansion for Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game and contribute to it in various ways, including suggestions for new animals, mechanics, streamlining the game, rule book clean-up suggestions, suggestions for cooperative gameplay and new scenarios. The update also hints at future public play-testing once the new expansion was in a developed enough point to test with interested players.

On January 21, 2024, a livestream was held on Treecer's YouTube channel to reveal the first of two planned expansion packs for The Board Game. The first expansion being named Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game - New Shores which will introduce three new biomes, new mechanics, and new animals. The other expansion mentioned was a unnamed mini pack for highly requested animals such as wolves. This pack was later named the Additional Animal Pack. A spin-off, standalone game was also mentioned that would be inspired by Dinosaur Digs.

Gallery[]

Kickstarter Campaign Gallery:
Final Production Sample Gallery:
Mass Production Samples Gallery:
Final Retail Version Gallery:
Tabletop Simuator Gallery:

Trivia[]

  • Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game is the only non-electronic game present in the franchise, although it does have an official mod for Tabletop Simulator.
  • Although both the reticulated giraffe and Fischer's lovebird were present in artwork for the game, neither species was present in the initial build. The Masai giraffe was added as a stretch goal, whilst the lovebird was added to replace the Grey Crowned Crane, which was initially an adoptable Co-Species animal before being replaced due to being a species in decline.

External Links[]

Zoo Tycoon
Zoo Tycoon • Dinosaur Digs • Marine Mania • Endangered Species Theme Pack • Complete Collection
Zoo Tycoon 2
Zoo Tycoon 2 • Endangered Species • African Adventure • Zookeeper Collection • Dino Danger Pack • Marine Mania • Extinct Animals • Ultimate Collection
Zoo Tycoon (Xbox)
Zoo Tycoon (Xbox) • Ultimate Animal Collection
Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game
Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game • New Shores • Additional Species Pack
Spinoffs
Zoo Tycoon Card Flip Game • Zoo Tycoon 2: Mobile • Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania Mobile • Zoo Tycoon DS • Zoo Tycoon 2 DS • Zoo Tycoon Friends
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
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