Top 10 Mistakes in Planet Zoo 

Really appreciate how you went straight into the list without ridiculously long intros or rambling, and each point was concise.

I love to build massive massive enclosures so animals can roam free. I love seeing them walking trough mountains and rivers, caves, hills, woods. I know it's way more space than the game says they need, but I think it matches better how they live in nature. So far I haven't had financial troubles and I've done this in franchise mode and campaign!

Huge habitat can be a win-win as long you plan to add many animals in the same enclosure. Having zebras, giraffes, wilderbeasts and ostriches sharing the same space looks way more atractive than just having polar bears.

For #10, you need to find a balance. You don't want the super expensive animals, but you don't want to be starting out with warthogs or peafowl either. You need something with high enough appeal to bring in decent donations. Some of my go-to starter animals are red pandas, saltwater crocodiles, and timber wolves.

#10 is such an important tip... On some of the story challenges, I actually ended up running a zoo solely on the little exhibit animals (bugs, snakes, etc) for a good long while, earning extra money and conservation points by selling offspring to fund my savings for big animal exhibits. Get something cheap and easy to tend like tortoises if you need an enclosure, they don't need much space so that'll leave plenty room to expand later. But those bugs can and will support you for ages.

I hope my voice is ok in this one - I’ve been recovering from the flu but feeling good now and ready to make more content! 😊

I actually like to start my zoo out with grizzly bears because even though their food is expensive they draw a MASSIVE amount of guests who will all pay an entry fee and food, drink and souvenirs and that will not only pay for the bear food but also continue to pay for much more than that. I started my franchise zoo with grizzlies and am now sitting at 350k and I've been playing that zoo for 3 days. So I disagree with your last point, animals like grizzlies are a high risk high reward investment.

A lot of zoos tend to have clusters of habitats, often with little to no space between them...and modern ones tend to incorporate a lot of sight line setups so that the exhibits blend together and make the entire thing look much larger which is something that is a really good starting point for things. For some examples of this is to start with Disney's Animal Kingdom, a lot of their exhibits are formed by a mastery of the way you look at it to make it look like each extends and blurs with the next, using terrain features to hide barriers. Unfortunately, you can't use all of the tricks they have for controlling the animals though. While it's not a Zoo, the Shedd's Aquarium in Chicago has another great use of this in their Oceanarium. When looking at their larger tanks, they're specifically set up and positioned that the water of the dolphin and beluga tanks blend with the lake water you see through the window behind it that makes it look far larger than it actually is. You also have the Cincinnati Zoo's Africa, from most viewing angles you can see their various areas that lead up to each other such as their general savannah where you can also see the lions where their exhibit is side by side with it and positioned to look like a natural part of the wilderness, but the animals can't directly interact there but can smell and hear each other,

I can confirm that of these 10 tips, I probably do 11 of them on a regular basis. Great video thanks! 👍🏻

Just bought the whole of planet zoo on steams Black Friday sale and this is the first video that is clear, concise and helpful. Thank you!

So I just bought the whole pack in the steam sale and have played almost nonstop since 🤣 I only play sandbox so far because it frees you of financial worries, but I do most of these mistakes! The only ones I haven't are water exhibits and self made buildings as I just use the ready made stuff. My biggest mistake is definitely having too big an enclosure. Its worked for my African grazing animals as there is a huge range of species in together but the other animals are a bit lost 😅

Paws Build, I have some additions to your great video "Top 10 mistakes in PlanetZoo", (1) invest in your staff with training (staff work faster & less work pressure) (2) place less stressed animals at the entrance, where it is usually busy (translated from Ned/Eng by Google translate)

I usually start out with one of the tortoises for a lot of the reasons most people suggest. Additionally though, I keep the tortoises and I let them have little baby tortoises for one cycle before I turn off breeding. Baby Tortoises are babies for like 20 years and the guest love to look at the baby animals. By the time they age I’m already well into my zoo

Great tips! I know a lot of people struggle in franchise mode and I made a series to show how I start mine. More like a playthrough with some tips thrown in lol. Your video is beautifully done and straight to the point. The water in PZ can be so frustrating to deal with especially if you like to make realistic habitats like you would find out in the wild with your animals. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you- subscribing now! ❤️

I would like to add that having a large habitat will require that Zookeepers spend whole lots of time in there. If been under financial pressure, Zookeepers will be inefficient, lots of poop will be spread around, they will have to walk larger distances to place food which will tire them down more swiftly.

The last mistake you mentioned on the list was so common for me to do but recently I started with things like Nile monitors and dwarf caimans which really helped.

Love this video! Been playing PZ for nearly two years now, and this video is a really good refresher on some neat tips and tricks! Also, LOVE the panda animation at the end, it's probably my first time seeing it HAHA

Thank you for these tips! I loved playing Zoo Tycoon back in the day and discovered this game about 20 minutes ago. It's still downloading and I can't wait to play it.

Your voice was fine, and again your tips were so useful for both the seasoned and the beginning player, thank you. The inside decoration tip is so true, I've made that mistake often. I still haven't mastered underwater viewing, could you do a video on them, please? I have seen several, but none really explain things in small steps as well as you do.

Just got the game on steam Sale last weekend. Really thankful for those tips. Arctic Foxes have proven to be a great starting animal for me in the Tundra area. Gonna do a massive overhaul of the whole Layout now 😅

This was recommended to me, I've never played zoo planet, but you kept me here until the very end. You 100% deserve a thumbs up for that alone 😅

Yeah... I had plans just for an African animal zoo and threw lions in as the first animal since I had some from a breeding program in my other zoos, and definitely had to sell a bunch of cheetahs just to stay out of the red until more guests started showing up. Often I forget about the animal food costs as a factor.

I’m very excited!! I just got the game and I’m so ready to make my ideal zoo this should help me get ready for it.

Great advice! Thank you!

i learned #1 the hard way 😂🤣 also this was rly informative, thank you!

I almost always put my facilities on squares. You can decorate these squares really nicely and even make a big building around it to make it an indoor area. Maybe even connect it to a small indoor habitat.

Thank you for your video! I just got the game yesterday and your selection of topics, for a beginner, is bang on.

Two thumbs up! Great video. Thanks!

I can tell you right now that it is either putting up climable fences that are too low, or not using heatmap to assign staff areas, or put out enough water or electrichal machines that are the top 3 mistakes

i just redownloaded planet zoo and this is really helpful your voice is very nice and the video was very well edited gonna here for more from now on! :)

One tip for power is to put the thing the guests walk threw to pay under ground and the will provide power

I used to struggle with 1 and 5 a lot

very great video lad. this needs more views

For 2 - sometimes I put animal empty habbitat and i can see if the space is enough and that way also see what animal need and require when i decorate and put the ground he need and the plants. Found this way is easier for me...than out ton of plants I like but then animal is like "Thats too muuuuchhh" :D Always trying to do 7..and always end up unhappy how it look like..and it take people forever to go there :D Once i just watched some people climb stairs, they almost reached the top and turned back to go downstairs... Great tips, thank you!

This is an older video but I just wanted to say this was super helpful!! I just bought the game today on sale from Steam and keeping these things in mind really helped me get started on the right foot (well, I think, time will tell haha).

I have always struggled with 8 (and occasionally 9). Thank you so much for the tips!

Im just gonna go on sandbox mode for my creativity, but I really like these tips, they are entertaining for me

That security guard at 2:40 is on top of things, you go gurl stop those criminalssss

I thought this was gonna be about tiny mistakes in like, animal accuracy from the developers, not player mistakes. But I was entertained either way, quite helpful video, man! If only I had the game.

I am super guilty of making my habitats waaaaay too big 😅 I have gotten in the habit of checking the size of the habitat once I have the walls and gate placed, but I’ll almost always end up like 20x bigger than the requirement and need to redo the barriers 😅😭

I am by far not an expert at this game, but I noticed Raccoons (why are they in a zoo?) are very easy, cheap, and can have quite a few in a habitat. Their food was cheap and their research gave them both enrichments on the first one. Only problem is you need 10 meter fences 😅

I love that in the Zoopedia you can now select how many adult and juvi animals will be living in the habbit and that changes how large the habitat will need to be.

Ur vids are amazing bro! I just found ur channel and im enjoying and learning a lot

I always find your video's very helpful in building my zoo. Plus it's really entertaining.

Wow thank you that helps. I had to learn some of these tips the hard way. My first zoo was such a mess

After I read the title, I thought that you want to talk about mistakes which developers did in the game. But that's cool you don't, very nice video. I just want to say, that small zoo can deal with keeping expensive animals like lions. It is a bit harder to earn money at start but sill possible and could be an interesting challenge.

These tips were really helpful, thank you for this video.

Thanks! I'm pretty new to Planet Zoo so this helped alot to make my zoos better!

Just started playing and love your videos! Really helpful 👍🏻🙌🏻

I love your channel! Y followed your tutorial because I'm a mess in this game! 😅 Love from Chile 🇨🇱

Thank you for this!!

Nice

New player here 😂 And all of those mistakes I've been done on my first play. Even though i played in sandbox mode it's still pain in the ass that my zoo still don't give any profit since i buy a couple less attractive animals.

Wow this video was really efficient. Well done 👍

Solid tips!❤

Thanks for the tips. I was abel to get my park finances in control. Added tip CONTROL YOUR POPULATION. Especally with animals who grow up slowlie, but have many offspring. Feeding them adds up fast. This also helped me.

Great pointers!

Thanks, great video!

I put all my utilities in the staff building, because that way they are far from guests and never affects their happiness. Also, I like put shops in the entrance building, since I always make custom entrance building. Also I play sandbox, because I pref. to have all the things unlocked, but thank you for the tips.

These were actually really helpful tips! And I have don’t nearly all of them! 😅

Hey man, I know this Video is old but I am not really creative but I started Planet Zoo yesterday. Thanks for giving tips without sounding condescending!

Tysm! ❤

Just found your account! Love all your videos

Wow youre a nice zoo owner. What i do is use the rides for the people to be able to access where the animals are, then i jack up the prices to 20 bucks a ticket. My fave zoo theres a big mountain and i jave bottom mountain just a train station, some small animals, bathrooms and shops, then they go to the mid mountain thats where they can see cooler animals, more shops, then i ha we a gondola to the top of the mountain that i capped with snow. There's colder weather animals up there like bears and penguins and a heated cave with more shops

Quality content!

My favorite part about this game is that it doesn't make me follow physics so i can do whatever I want i mean anything no matter how weird or bizarre or dangerous it is

Wish i saw this before, this is really important bro, good video

Thank you !

This is so to the point with no bullshit I love it so much!

Thanks for the tips! Could you show your whole zoo build?

Extremely guilty of not allowing for queuing space 😳🫣 I focus too much on the exhibits and forget about the guest facilties, so there ends up being no room for them and so they're put where they'll fit as basically an after thought 😓 Sorry to my guests that my Zoo ends up being built more for me and than you 🤣

You’re incredible 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

What I always do in the start is buying a vivarium and than a donation pot. It’s easy and you get much money. Then I upgrade the vivarium place. And then I had enough money to buy bears in early game.

i like your voice! so calm!

Idk if you have already made this video but if not maybe you could make a video about good animals to start with at your zoo? I don’t have the game yet but these videos really help me to plan for it. Keep up the good work!

Use the ultimate cheat for free energy. Place down zoo entrances way below the ground so they don't interfer with your paths etc and you have unlimited free power wherever you want to have it. Plus placing them costs next to nothing. So not the visitor spawners, just the entrances.

when he said "lion tigers and bears" it reminds me of that famous lines from wherever I heard it from "lion tigers and lion oh my" (in repeat and drama)

Great tips. Though what on earth is the starter power? I've never had that. I always have to buy a transformer right from the start

For what it's worth this has been the first time playing a franchise mode I haven't gotten super low and am hovering around 100k in my zoo. I started with utilizing the free power and putting the only necessary zoo buildings behind the entrance. My first three animals were grizzly bear, aardvarks (ugh) and timber wolf and a bit later hairy scorpion. Made sure the area in and around the anjimals were pretty interesting splurge for education boards. And ALWAYS ALWAYS donation boxes. Most of my money has cone from donations. Until the customers start requesting to spend more on tickets. . Only had vending machines to start and one keeper per two or three habitat (depending on size). I had one financial scare so far cause I hired too many new workers and i feel bad for them when I fire anyone in the game lol A little later if you can afford marketing think kids - kids need an adult so one kid usually equals one adult paying. Adds up. Edited to add: Also you can use the habitat animals to sell them and get some *bank*

Me, on the other hand... I don't decorate. Bare essentials, farm until the zoo goes bankrupt or starts lagging, new zoo all over again using what I learned from the last.

Can u show some decorations to the food and drink facilities

I have never played this game before and I don't have it now but I watched this video all the way through great tips 👍👍

I'm on my first zoo in franchise and I quickly realised I'm not good at design/building, but I'm good at managing. So I have like 5 crappy looking habitats, but almost a million dollars I don't now what to do with. Haha!

We want planet coaster and zoo combined 😊

I am subscribing!

Im the weirdo that doesnt have themed areas. Also im always on sandbox with loads of options shut off. I do the same things with Coaster too.

Great tips Thanks

Thanks for advice, I didn't even realize those viewing platforms were a thing. How do you keep the snow leopard from escaping its habitat? I tried putting electric fences but it still escapes

This video could be really helpful to my 12yrs old self 😂. Im restarting my zoo! Tysm for this video. Very helpful to my present self 😆🥰

Just bought the game have not played yet, THANKS

2:40 to 2:50 is queuing but when you were filming a person was getting arrested I think!

Honestly small hoofstock like springbok and peacock are the best Manufacturing Machine of pocket money

you should make a vid that idk more than 10 mistakes or 10 or less about people make in SANDBOX

2:38 yoo the guard is flirting with guess LMAO

Haha, Sandbox Mode go BRRRRRRR

I've been thinking about getting this game. But I'm not use to so much architecture and building. It's fun but I'm gonna need some tutoring on this 🤣

Random yt, good vid, quick and to point. Tho these games irk me when I hear stuff like it costs more money to run a transformer... oppose to not having the correct voltage supplied? what?

really couldn't wait for this game but it' feels like a chore of a game its just impossible to have fun on it

Didnt know taxes worked like this. Well time to compress my zoo lol

im playing in sandbox moge bc i cant even buy a zoo i n french mode and in challenges i just bankrut. sand box is for ppl who want to create a zoo with animals what they wanr and no limited