Zoo Tycoon The Board Game - solo playthrough 

Jemima thank you so much for your lovely comments and welcome in!! I hope you find some solo games to enjoy - it's such a great hobby and hope you fall in love with it like I have! And thank you also for your kind words on the reviews/playthrough! I hope you love it as much as I do when you get your hands on it!

Hello I'm so glad you've found it! I really have a great time with it! It's absolutely a big investment though and I know the game is not going to be for everyone (the solo is a 'beat your own score' for example) so I thought it was quite important for people to see how the solo mode worked to see if it fits their taste. Lucky for me I love it - I hope you do too if you make the leap!

Thank you for watching! I hope you love the game when it arrives! 🥰

A very well timed day off, I just couldn't stop thinking about it so wanted to try my best to get a playthrough recorded. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for your continued support! 🥰🤩

I hope you love it! Definitely very crunchy, I'm quite surprised at the step up if you compare to Ark Nova. Quite different in both gameplay and complexity.

Thank you for watching! I hope it satisfied your curiosity 😁 I'm having a really good time with it, there's a lot to think about

Yes unfortunately it does take up a lot of room. You could move the scoring board to a side table but there's still quite a bit to have in front of you!

Hey thank you for the watch! Thank you!! Definitely not mentioned in the rules but yes quite clearly in some of the pictures, that makes it easier with those focal points, thank you! Yep the second point is my understanding too - sorry if I said something funny in the playthrough - so many things to think about at once! Hmm your last point I have re-read and still interpret it the same way - I would think the cospecies would have to be integrated the same round as it says a 'new mixed enclosure' on pg 11 example, also I am not sure why they just wouldn't make the popularity of a cospecies just one more if they could be integrated at any later round for the same popularity...I see your point though. I may also ask that on the BGG forums to clear that up ha!

@@bluedogboardgames yes I'm quite unsure about the 3rd, but I see the logic with your interpretation. I didn't know there were a forum we could use for this game, thanks for tip 😊

Thank you for watching! Personally I think the solo mode is really good :) It is beat your own score but I find it really rewarding and it interacts at just the right points. The rulebook certainly could have been smoother though with more clarifying examples!

I agree the rulebook needs working on or we need someone to develop a short a easy to learn video that covers everything

Thank you very much for your lovely comment Diceman 🥰 I hope the playthrough helps you see how the game is played! No this certainly wasn't the easiest game to learn, the rulebook needed fleshing out a bit and restructuring a bit. I learned by first of all setting up as a standard two player game and completely ignoring what the other person would be doing. Each season I would just reread the whole section of the rulebook to make sure I followed the steps right. Only then once I'd finished that game did I try and implement the solo mode as the solo rules aren't very easy to follow I found in terms of how it integrates into your turn order. I think in my first couple of plays the first year or two took me at least an hour so don't be afraid to take your time and go through the rules step by step at each stage. It does actually make a lot of logical sense when the rules are understood! I did ask for a lot of clarification on BGG so also do have a look through the rules forum on there as that may help with some clarifications. The designer is very active on there also if you needed additional help. I also forgot to say I completely just omitted reintroductions in my first playthrough - too much to think about! Finally some lovely person has made an English solo player aid on BGG so I think that would help immensely! I haven't used it yet though. I hope you get to enjoy the game, it is so fun and puzzle like when those rules are clear! 😁

Thank you so much for such a full reply. I was beginning to think it was my age. Just one thing: Am I right when reading the set up that it says 'place 6 tiles on bottom left of board' but does not say which type of tile, or am I missing something? How did you work this (and other ) stuff out? Sorry to be a pain. Thank you again.

You're not a pain!! Never think that, it's always disheartening when a game you think you'll love seems like a lot of work, you'll get there! So the 6 tiles are just 6 enclosure tiles. There's another part of the rulebook somewhere that says that enclosure tiles are always interchangeable in terms of the type you can use until you place them in your zoo (so if you grabbed one that is tropical one side and savanna on the other you can switch it out for one that is savanna/forest at any time prior to building it in your actual zoo!). That's why I used a die in the playthrough to just track the number of tiles I have access to- to save me having to waste time sifting through the tile types when I didn't know what I wanted on the next turn. Does that make sense?

Yes it does. I think the thing that confused me are the 3 little symbols for forest etc as I had separated them into 3 groups. Thinking you had to put a certain number of each, as the rule book doesn't say anything. It seems to miss certain bits out. I think it's my 67 year old brain.....(I must be having a senior moment).....lol. I really do appreciate you spending time to help me. Thank you. 👍😁

Yes it's certainly not clear about certain aspects! No worries at all 🤩

Thank you so much for watching! Yes the darker meeples are the males. The orangutan females have their arms up yes 😊

Thanks a lot!@@bluedogboardgames