Instructions

Fun Park is a game of strategy for the 16/48/128k Spectrum. Starting with an empty patch of land and 1500 currency units in the bank, it is your task to build an amusement park which will make you rich!

To begin with you will need to construct your park, which involves building the rides and the paths to connect them.

Move the cursor around the screen with keys QAOP. To build a path you need first to select a paving slab with key 1, move to the area where you wish to place it, then press M. The M key places or removes paths, and places any scenery and rides you have selected. You may remove and redraw paths and track layouts as well as rides, but scenery items cannot be removed once in position due to a lack of memory. Each block of path will cost you 1 currency unit.

Placing a ride or feature in your park is easy. Press 5 to bring up the feature selection screen. Initially you begin with 3 different rides to choose from, but this list will grow should you invest enough money in Research and Development - more on this later. Change the selected item with key P until you find the one you want, then press M to select that item. ENTER returns to the game with nothing selected. Move the feature around until you are happy with its position, then press M to place it at that point. Once the ride is in place the cost of the ride will be deducted from your bank balance.

The price and capacity of each ride is displayed on the selection screen. If you have insufficient funds or an existing path or feature is already in position there it will not be possible to build the feature and the item will not be purchased.

Once you have your first ride in place you may notice some little people appearing on the road at the bottom of the screen - they've heard about your new park and want to experience it for themselves, so you'll have to hurry and make sure your they can reach the ride via the paths.

The way you connect your ride to the paths is a little tricky. You need entrance and exit pathways, positioned either directly above or below the ride, they may not be positioned to the side. Entrances are unique in that you need a special type of path, or queuing area, so that the people have somewhere to stand while awaiting their turn. You can select this path with the 2 key. This path is yellow, distinguishing it from normal paving which is white.

Here are two examples of rides which are properly connected:

                        W
                 WWWWWWWW
                 Y W              
    ***          ***              Y = yellow queuing area
    ***          ***              W = white pathway
    ***          ***
    W Y
    WWWWWWWWW
            W   
* = ride (always 3 squares x 3 squares)

So now your first ride is connected. Providing you haven't set your ticket price too high, your first customers will start to enter the park and start queuing for the ride. When enough people have entered the ride the fun will begin and the ride will flash, indicating that it is in progress. This will take several seconds, after which the ride will finish and your customers will emerge from the ride on the white pathway to which you connected it earlier.

An amusement park with just one ride is a little boring however, so you will need to add more rides. As you do this your park rating will increase and the people will be prepared to pay more to enter. However, it is not just rides which will improve your rating, you can also add scenery to beautify your park. To begin with only trees are available, but by ploughing money into research and development you can improve this. Some of the later rides (for example the go-karts) require a track to be laid. Providing you have one of these rides in your park you may select the track with the 3 key, then lay it as you would a normal path. It is a good idea to complete the circuit before you build the queuing area for the ride, otherwise your customers might get stuck.

Shops

While expensive to buy, shops and pubs provide extra revenue for your park in addition to the ticket price, and should be positioned one square above a white path so that the customers may access the door.

Customer Survey Screen

Providing that you have guests in your park, pressing 7 brings up a survey screen where you can interview your guests to find out how many rides they have tried and whether they are hungry, thirsty or tired. In addition, a small image of the guest appears in the top left corner to give you an idea as to each guest's whereabouts. Surveys are free, and provide information which will help you to design your park. Press P to interview another guest.

Budget

Your money is displayed in the bottom left of the main screen, along with the current month and year. For a more detailed view of your financial situation you can bring up the budget screen using the 6 key. In this screen you can adjust the ticket price using keys Q and W, select how much you spend each month on Research and Development with A and S, and how much you wish to spend on advertising using Z and X. You may also take out or repay a loan using keys O and P. Loan interest is charged at the rate of 8 currency units per month.

Ticket Prices

Don't set these too high! The path at the bottom of your screen is located outside your park, and just because lots of people are walking along it doesn't mean they are going to pay the entrance fee - they've seen your advertisements and want to see your park, but if your ticket price is too high they'll just walk straight past. You need to improve your park rating before you put your prices up - trial and error will establish the best setting for each park.

Research and Development

If you really want the best park you need to invest in Research and Development. This will give you more rides to choose from, extra scenery and improvements to existing rides. The money you allocate will only go to R & D if you have the funds. If you run out of money for R & D, these payments are automatically suspended.

Advertising

Increasing this will mean that more people hear about your park and come to see it, so balance this with your ticket price and you should be in the money! If you run out of cash your advertising budget is suspended.

Security

Without sufficient security you're asking for trouble! People will wander in and out of the park at will, misbehave on the go-karts and go swimming in the log flume water channel. Hooliganism is made worse by the effects of alcohol, so make sure you spend enough on security especially if your park has a pub.

Loans

If you're short on cash you can take out a loan of 1000 currency units.Interest is charged monthly, so it is advisable to repay this as soon as you are able. Unlike advertising and R & D, if you run out of money to repay the loan the bank won't suspend your payments and you are declared bankrupt. This is the only way in which you can lose the game, so be warned!

End of Year

Notice the date at the bottom of the screen. You will see the months pass as you contruct your park and the people wander around enjoying the rides. At the end of each year you are presented with a summary screen showing the number of rides, visitors, your park rating and bank balance. Press ENTER to start the next year.

Behaviour of the Little People

Don't be tempted to save money on security as this will lead to bad behaviour, especially where alcohol is involved. Misbehaviour can lead to accidents and fatalities on later rides, too many deaths and your park willgain a bad reputation. If you have one or more pubs in your park it might be a good idea to place benches around your park where intoxicated customers can take a rest from all that walking and sober up! Water and alcohol is a particularly dangerous combination so don't place water in accessible places on the way back from the pub. Occasionally guests wander out of the park, then back in again. Your park has a special system whereby they don't have to pay to return. Extra security discourages guests from doing this, keeping them in the park for longer where they can spend more money.

If you haven't built an exit path from a ride the chances are guests will be dumped on the grass - this can also happen if you remove a path upon which someone is already standing. In these circumstances the people are far too polite to walk on the grass, and stay put until you build a path for them. They will also quite happily use rides where the track is incomplete, which may lead to them getting stuck.

Main Editor Controls

O - Cursor left, P - Cursor right, Q - Cursor up, A - Cursor down
M - Place/Remove item
S - Save game, L - Load game, X - Start a new game

1 - Select pathway
2 - Select queuing area
3 - Select track (certain rides only)
5 - Select rides and scenery menu
  P - Show next attraction
  M - Buy this attraction
6 - Budget screen
7 - Customer survey screen (only when guests are in park)   P - Show next customer
ENTER - Deselect (delete mode)

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