Your goals are two-fold in Zoo Tycoon: create enclosures that would make your animals content and offer amenities to keep your guests content. The results are a fun, if somewhat fiddly, experience. Additionally, it adds a more-than-thin veneer of educational value by including write-ups on the dozens of animals available and mechanics that reward matching species with their appropriate environments.

Zoo Tycoon takes the classic “city-building” strategy game gameplay and transplants it to the design and operation of private zoos.