Roller Coaster Tycoon The Board Game

Build the Best Theme Park

Posts normally have affiliate links, but this game is out of print. We got a copy for $10 on eBay if you want the game start your search there, or look on BoardGameGeek.

Goal

Buy attractions and have guests get onto them to earn the most guest points.

Number of Players

2 - 4 Players

Time to Play

45 minutes

Rapid Rules

Important: This game takes a lot of space to play

Setup

1. Place all seven guests at the park entrance, the Month Marker on March Year 1, and the Closed signs on River Rapids and Wooden Roller Coaster
2. Place all attractions aside from the pop-up cardboard ones in their spot on the board, so the name of the attraction is face up
3. Remove blank cards from each deck and shuffle event cards and attraction cards then place them next to the game board
4. Each player gets the following bills:
   • 2 $1,000,000
   • 1 $500,000
   • 5 $100,000
5. Each player should
   • Choose a color (red, blue, purple, or yellow) and leave the cardboard markers in the box for now
   • Receive two random attraction cards which they must pay the starting price for
   • Flip over or build the attractions on the board
   • Place a marker of their chosen color on the marker space next to the attraction
6. Optionally, players may purchase a Handyman and/or Mechanic for a price based on the number of players which may help during Events
   • 2 Players - $400,000 each
   • 3 Players - $300,000 each
   • 4 Players - $200,000 each

General Play

1. On their turn, players will perform the following actions in this order:
   • Draw an Event card and follow instructions immediately
   • Roll the eight sided color die and the number die then move a guest token of the matching color the indicated number of spaces
   • Award guest points
2. If an auction card is drawn
   • Players take turns bidding or passing starting with the player who drew the auction card for at least $100,000 (or passing to the next player if they don't want it) for the number of attractions listed on the card
   • Attactions may be revealed (regular auction) or hidden (blind auction)
   • The winner of the auction pays the bank the winning bid, then flips over or builds the attraction and places a color marker on the spot next to it
3. When awarding guest points through rolling and moving guests or through events, if the player who moved the guests is the owner of the attraction they get twice the number of guest points listed. If another player owns the attraction, then both the owner of the attraction and the player who moved the guest each get the listed number of points
4. Players will take turns performing steps 1-3 until the Month Marker moves to "Game Over". The player may finish out their turn and then all players will add up their score.

Winning and Losing

• Players count up all guest points, and also earn 1 extra guest point per $100,000 they have
• The player with the most guest points wins

Variations

Random Ride Closures

• Particularly useful in a two-player game, whenever an event appears to close rides attraction cards from owned attractions will be shuffled and two will randomly be chosen and closed

Interest in Re-Opened Rides

• Using the blank event cards, when drawn they allow a player to open a single closed ride, close another ride, and immediately move the closest guest to the re-opened ride to earn guest points

Upgrade Attractions

• Using the blank Attraction card, this can be designated as an "Upgrade Attraction" card akin to adding a new feature to a ride and upon winning the card in an auction, it may be used to increase the number of guest points at a single attraction by 1

Trash

• Additional tokens to represent trash will be required in this version
• After a guest rides a ride, roll the numbered die to see if the guest makes a mess. If the roll is lower than the number of guest points, a trash token should be placed on the attraction
  • There may not be more trash tokens on an attraction than guest points the attraction is worth
• Each trash token placed on an attraction decreases the number of guest points earned
• Players with a handyman may on their turn remove trash tokens for $100,000 per token
• Players with or without a handyman may remove all trash tokens from a single attraction when an event card with a handyman is drawn by any player for $200,000

More Involved Mechanics and Handymen

• Players may still only own a single Mechanic and Handyman
• Mechanics are able to be moved to an attraction once per turn for $100,000
• If a Mechanic is on a spot that is closed, that player may roll the die to see if the Mechanic will fix it, removing the closed sign until an event requests both closed signs get placed on the board. The player must roll a number equal to or greater than the number of guest points a ride is worth.
• Handymen may also be moved to an attraction for $100,000 once per turn to make the attraction worth an extra guest point
• If an event card with a Handyman is drawn, all players with a Handyman must pay $100,000 for wages