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Shops

Eleven shops and six vending machines, thirty-four things to sell, and a price and a recipe on every one of them. Guests do not buy because you built it - they buy because they are hungry, thirsty or tired.

Four things a guest feels

Shopping is not a shopping list - it is the answer to whatever is bothering them at that moment.

Hunger

Climbs on its own all day, and only food brings it down. A famished guest is a miserable guest, and a bowl of noodles fixes it where a coffee will not.

Thirst

Climbs as they walk, and much faster after anything salty. That is the whole reason to put a drinks stand next to the burger restaurant.

Energy

Spent on walking and on every ride they board. A bench tops it up partway for free; coffee is the biggest lift in the park.

Bladder

Fills slowly, and quickly from drinks - coffee worst of all. Sell a lot of cola and you had better have built some toilets.

Energy and hunger are not the same thing. A coffee is the biggest energy lift in the game and barely a mouthful; a plate of noodles is a meal. That is why the coffee shop and the burger restaurant are both worth having, and why neither one replaces the other.

How a shop works

Placing it is the easy part. Getting guests to the counter is the game.

1

It serves from one side

Every shop has a counter on one particular face of it, and turning the shop with R turns the counter with it. Guests queue on that side and nowhere else.

2

A road has to reach it

If nothing walkable touches the counter, the shop sells nothing at all - and its window says so, rather than leaving you to wonder why the takings are zero.

3

One guest at a time

The counter is booked before the walk, not on arrival, so a guest who cannot get a slot picks a different shop instead of forming a scrum outside this one.

4

They carry it away

The cook hands it over and the guest walks off eating, drinking or holding it up - and, some distance later, looking for a bin.

Every shop

Prices beside each item are what a shop opens with - yours to change - and the chips under them are what it does to the guest who buys it. The figure at the foot of every card is what the shop itself costs to put down.

Burger restaurant in Amusement Factory

Burger restaurant

Four lines · the most filling stop in the park, with a terrace

Hot food to order, and the messiest shop you can build - everything here comes in a wrapper. Its terrace seats six, so guests sit down to eat instead of wandering off with it.

Burger€ 8
Fills 50 Energy +48 Thirst +16 Salt dial
Fries€ 4
Fills 26 Energy +30 Thirst +30 Salt dial

The saltiest thing on the menu, and the reason to put a drinks stand across the path.

Pizza€ 7
Fills 46 Energy +44 Thirst +14 Salt dial
Sandwich€ 5
Fills 34 Energy +30 Thirst +6 No dial

Cold, plain and cheap. Nothing to get wrong.

€ 700 Cost to build Research tier 2
Cafe in Amusement Factory

Café

Six lines · the sit-down one

A proper coffee house - and a pot of tea for anyone who does not want one - with a counter of pastries to go with it. Lay a paved terrace of tables and chairs out front and guests will sit down, set their cup on the table and stay a while.

Espresso€ 4
Energy +55 Quenches 12 Bladder +26 Strength dial
Cappuccino€ 5
Energy +40 Quenches 22 Bladder +24 Strength dial
Pot of tea€ 3
Energy +20 Quenches 34 Bladder +18 Strength dial
Croissant€ 3
Fills 16 Energy +14 Thirst +4 Sugar dial
Pastry€ 4
Fills 24 Energy +16 Thirst +6 Sugar dial
Slice of cake€ 6
Fills 34 Energy +24 Thirst +10 Sugar dial
€ 750 Cost to build Available from the start
Donut stall in Amusement Factory

Donut stall

One line

A pink kiosk with a giant donut on the roof that does one thing and does it well. Sweet enough that guests come away thirsty, so a drinks stand or a coffee shop next door does well out of it too.

Donut€ 3
Fills 22 Energy +30 Thirst +8 Sugar dial
€ 500 Cost to build Research tier 2
Noodle shop in Amusement Factory

Noodle shop

One line

A proper meal, and the best energy in the park short of coffee.

Noodles€ 9
Fills 55 Energy +52 Thirst +22 Salt dial
€ 600 Cost to build Available from the start
Hot dog stand in Amusement Factory

Hot dog stand

One line

A street kiosk that does one thing well, and fits into corners a proper shop will not.

Hot dog€ 6
Fills 40 Energy +38 Thirst +20 Salt dial
€ 300 Cost to build Available from the start
Coffee shop in Amusement Factory

Coffee shop

One line

The biggest pick-me-up there is. It goes straight through a guest, though - every cup fills a third of their bladder.

Coffee€ 4
Energy +60 Quenches 18 Bladder +30 Strength dial
€ 300 Cost to build Available from the start
Soft drinks shop in Amusement Factory

Soft drinks shop

Two lines · the fastest way to deal with a thirsty crowd

Cold and fizzy. What goes in must come out, so a busy drinks stand makes for busy toilets.

Cola€ 3
Quenches 55 Energy +16 Bladder +28 Sugar dial

The sweeter one: more of a lift, quenches a little less well.

Lemonade€ 3
Quenches 68 Energy +10 Bladder +24 Sugar dial

The best thirst quencher in the park.

€ 600 Cost to build Available from the start
Slushie stall in Amusement Factory

Slushie stall

Three lines · sells hardest when the sun is out

Crushed ice and syrup. Everything here is served cold, so a hot afternoon empties the counter and a wet one leaves it untouched.

Blue raspberry€ 4
Quenches 58 Energy +18 Bladder +22 Sugar dial

The one everybody pictures. A good drink and a good sugar hit at once.

Cherry€ 4
Quenches 48 Energy +24 Bladder +20 Sugar dial

The sweetest of the three: more of a lift, and it quenches least.

Lemon & lime€ 4
Quenches 66 Energy +12 Bladder +26 Sugar dial

The sharp one. Nearly a match for the lemonade, and colder.

€ 1,050 Cost to build Research tier 2
Ice cream shop in Amusement Factory

Ice cream shop

Two lines

A scoop in a cone, eaten on the spot with no wrapper to clean up - or a lolly for anyone in more of a hurry, which does leave a stick behind.

Ice cream€ 5
Fills 18 Energy +26 Quenches 8 Sugar dial
Ice lolly€ 4
Fills 12 Energy +18 Quenches 10 Sugar dial
€ 300 Cost to build Research tier 2
Popcorn and candy in Amusement Factory

Popcorn & candy

Three lines · the cheapest counter in the park

Fairground snacks. Salty enough to sell drinks for the stand next door, and sweet enough to be pure mess.

Popcorn€ 5
Fills 22 Energy +20 Thirst +18 Salt dial
Candy floss€ 4
Fills 16 Energy +18 Thirst +12 Sugar dial
Lollipop€ 2
Fills 6 Energy +14 Thirst +6 Sugar dial

The cheapest thing you can sell, and a snack that leaves no wrapper - the stick goes in a pocket. It fills almost nothing and is carried around for ages, which is the whole appeal of one.

€ 300 Cost to build Available from the start
Gift shop in Amusement Factory

Gift shop

Three lines · nothing here answers a need

The one shop that sells nothing a guest actually needs, and the one whose stock advertises itself.

Umbrella€ 12

Off sale unless it is raining - and then everybody wants one, over anything else in the park.

Souvenir€ 8

Handed over the counter and put straight in a pocket. A little something to take home, and it cheers them up.

Balloon€ 3

Carried on a string for the rest of the day, cheering that guest up the whole time - and every guest who walks past one wants their own. The only purchase that survives boarding a ride.

€ 400 Cost to build Available from the start

Self-serve, and where a stall will not fit

Seven machines that need nobody behind them. Each is one tile, each serves itself, and each fits where a stall never could - a corridor, a corner, the back of an arcade.

Vending machine in Amusement Factory

Vending machines

Five drinks

Each machine sells the one drink painted on its front, so which of the five you put where is a real choice. All of them are caffeinated - they wake a guest up almost as well as a coffee and fill the toilets almost as fast - and all of them are dearer than a stall, because a machine in a corridor is convenience.

Pixel Cola€ 4
Quenches 40 Energy +44 Bladder +26 Sugar dial

The middle of the road: the house cola, dark and sweet.

Neon Lemon€ 4
Quenches 58 Energy +38 Bladder +24 Sugar dial

Sharp citrus, and the best of the five at actually quenching a thirst.

Cosmic Cherry€ 4
Quenches 22 Energy +46 Bladder +27 Sugar dial

The sweetest, and the only one that leaves them wanting another drink.

Turbo Orange€ 4
Quenches 34 Energy +56 Bladder +34 Sugar dial

The strongest. Wakes a guest up like nothing short of a coffee.

Arctic Berry€ 4
Quenches 50 Energy +32 Bladder +20 Sugar dial

The mildest of the range - still caffeinated, just civil about it.

€ 200 each Cost to build Research tier 3
Choco Byte chocolate vending machine in Amusement Factory

Choco Byte

The sixth machine

The only machine in the park you can eat out of. A bar of chocolate is the one thing a guest can buy without queueing at a counter, so it earns its place where a stall will not fit - and it leaves them thirsty enough to sell the drinks machine beside it.

Chocolate bar€ 4
Fills 20 Energy +34 Thirst +14 Sugar dial
€ 200 Cost to build Research tier 3
Cash machine in Amusement Factory

Cash machine

20c a use

A guest who is running low and enjoying themselves draws more out and carries on spending. One who is having a bad day walks past it and goes home - so it rewards a park people like rather than rescuing one they do not.

€ 250 Cost to build Facilities research tier 2

Tuning a shop

Click any shop to open its window. Price and recipe are set per item, per shop - two burger restaurants on opposite sides of the park can run completely differently.

Sugar · salt · strength

Turn the dial

Most items carry one dial that runs from 0 to 100. It scales what the item does - between 60% and 140% of its headline effect - and it is always best left near the middle.

0 · inedible 50 · just right 100 · inedible

The satisfaction cost grows with the square of the distance from the middle, so a small adjustment is nearly free and either extreme makes the product horrible. Guests still buy it. They just do not enjoy it, and the park's reputation notices.

  • Sugar drives the energy an item gives back - and how sickly it gets. Wound up past the middle it leaves them thirsty as well, so an ice cream stand sells drinks for whatever you put beside it.
  • Salt drives how thirsty it leaves them. Turn it up and watch the drinks stand queue.
  • Strength drives coffee: more energy, and a much fuller bladder afterwards.
  • No dial touches how filling something is. A saltier burger is still a burger.
Price · 0 to 99

Set your prices

Every item has a fair price, and guests judge yours against it. You can charge whatever you like - but there is a cliff, not a slope.

You chargeWhat happens
Under the fair priceA bargain, and they know it
Around the fair priceEverybody buys
A bit overThey pay, and grumble
1.8x or moreThey refuse - loudly

A guest cannot see the price until they get to the counter. That is deliberate: they make the whole walk, refuse in front of everyone within earshot, and will not come back to that shop for a while. Overprice one stall and it empties out rather than merely annoying its customers one at a time.

Stock is not free. Every sale costs the park what the item cost to put on the counter, so the takings are not the profit. The shop's own window shows you both, per line and in total.

Weather moves the till

Demand is not fixed. Every item is either served cold, served hot, or neither - and the season and the sky decide which of those a guest fancies.

  • Summer sells ice cream, cola and lemonade, and leaves the coffee going cold.
  • Winter and autumn do the reverse - hot food and coffee carry the park.
  • Rain pushes any day toward coffee weather, whatever the month says.
  • Umbrellas only exist while it rains, and then they outsell everything.

Cold things

Slushies, ice cream, cola, lemonade. Wanted in the heat, ignored on a cold wet day.

Hot things

Coffee, noodles, burgers, pizza. The colder and wetter it gets, the better they sell.

One gift shop pays for itself in a single downpour

A guest caught in the rain wants an umbrella more than they want anything else in the park - including the ride they were queueing for.

Kitchens get dirty

A stall is not as safe on its hundredth burger as it was on its first.

Grime builds as you trade

Every item a kitchen hands over takes about 0.8% off its hygiene, so a stall is grubby after some forty sales and filthy after eighty. A busy stall in an unstaffed park really does go off; a quiet one mostly does not. It never recovers on its own - nothing brings the number back up but an inspection.

Mess near the counter is worse

What a sick guest leaves within about eight paces of the counter dirties it far faster than trading does - three patches at once is the most that counts, and a neglected corner can ruin a stall in a couple of minutes. This is the one that makes keeping a cleaner near the food worth doing.

It is the half you can fix

How dirty a kitchen is multiplies the odds that what it sells makes somebody ill - and it is the only one of those odds that belongs to the shop rather than to where the guest happened to be standing. That is what makes an outbreak findable. A clean park is exactly as safe as it was before any of this existed.

Clean · 100–65% Getting grubby · 65–35% Filthy · below 35%

Every shop with a kitchen carries Hygiene and its verdict at the foot of its window, with a Call inspector button underneath. An inspector takes about eight seconds and puts the shop back to 100% - and the counter is shut while they work, so a clean-up costs you the sales as well as the wage. Left alone, one will head for the dirtiest kitchen in the park by themselves.

Health inspectors are the sixth staff role and have to be researched first - see Staff. Drinks never get dirty: coffee, soft drinks, slushies and the five drinks machines are poured or sealed. Nor do the gift shop and the prize shop, which sell nothing you eat.

What happens afterwards

Selling a guest something is the start of a chain, not the end of one.

Wrappers

Nothing is dropped at the counter - guests carry a wrapper well down the road before they think about it. If a bin is within reach they walk over, pause and use it. If not, it goes on the ground. Click any bin to see how much use it gets: one sitting on zero is standing somewhere nobody walks.

Toilets

A toilet block has to be come across, like a bin, so one block in a far corner will not serve the whole park. Set a fee or leave it free - free costs you a little on every flush and buys real goodwill. Blocks get dirty with use, and a cleaner will pick a filthy toilet over a dropped wrapper every time.

Somewhere to sit

Lay a paved terrace outside the café and dress it with tables, chairs and umbrellas. A tired guest carrying a coffee will sit down and set it on the table rather than holding it in mid-air - and benches along the paths do the same job for free.

Unlocking shops

Shops have a research track of their own, sitting in three tiers, and each tier costs more points than the one before it - 1,250 points multiplied by the tier.

Tier 1 is open from the first morning, and it is already seven counters: something to eat, something to drink, something to take home. Everything after that is a decision about where the day's research money goes.

Rides, shops, the arcade and staff training all draw on the same daily budget of € 4,000, so a park that rushes its shops is not researching a coaster at the same time.

That is free play, where the whole list is reachable. In the campaign each location also caps how far the track goes: your first park stops at tier 2, and from the second location on every shop in the game is researchable.

TierUnlocksPoints
1Café, coffee shop, noodle shop, soft drinks shop, hot dog stand, popcorn & candy stall, gift shopfree
2Burger restaurant, donut stall, ice cream shop, slushie stall2,500
3All six vending machines, and the prize shop3,750

Within a tier the order is shuffled per park, so two parks do not unlock the same stall first. Two cards on this page are not on this track and say so on their badge: the prize shop is a shop the game shelves on the Arcade tab - it takes tokens rather than money, so it is meaningless without machines to win them on - and the cash machine is researched on the Facilities track at tier 2, beside the toilets, rather than being sold anything.

Now go and build something for them to queue for.

Twenty-two rides, four thrill bands and a dial on every one.

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