Guest Preferences

Lore & Background

In the colorful, slightly cartoonish world of RollerCoaster Tycoon, the park is a living organism that breathes with the whims of its visitors. Each morning, as the gates open and the first families shuffle through the turnstiles, the game quietly rolls the dice for every single guest. A young thrill-seeker might arrive with a burning desire to experience a new looping coaster, while an elderly couple nearby just wants a gentle carousel and a warm drink. The system treats these desires as sacred: a guest who cannot find the ride they came to see will drift through the park with a visible frown, their happiness ticking down and their wallet staying closed.

This creates a rich, emergent narrative across the park. The player, acting as the park's owner, becomes a kind of host reading the room—scanning the collective preferences to decide whether the next investment should be a towering drop tower, a family-friendly flat ride, or simply a new snack stand offering the specific drink that half the crowd is searching for. The tension between a guest's personal wish and the park's actual offerings is the quiet heartbeat of every successful (or failing) tycoon session.

Over the course of a playthrough, the preferences system also creates a natural evolution. Early in a park's life, guests are more forgiving and their preferences are broader. As the park matures and competition or boredom sets in, the engine can sharpen expectations, demanding more variety and higher quality to keep the same crowd satisfied. The player who learns to read the subtle shifts in the preference list will always stay one step ahead of the crowd.

In Their Own Story

The afternoon sun hung low over the park, painting the queue for the new steel coaster in shades of amber. Margot, a middle-aged woman in a sun hat, checked her list for the third time. 'Want to see: a family flat ride. Something gentle. A soft-serve cone.' She'd already ridden the coaster—twice—and now the rest of the park felt like a maze of missed opportunities. She spotted the carousel from across the plaza, its horses mid-spin, and her shoulders dropped an inch. She bought her cone, watched the horses for a full two rotations, and left with a small smile that the park's happiness counter registered as a quiet, satisfied tick.

Reader's Guide

Every guest who enters your park is assigned a personal preference set at the moment of arrival. This set includes the ride types they want to experience, the food or drink items they'd like to purchase, and a general expectation of park quality. You can inspect any individual guest's 'Want to See' list by clicking on them in the guest list window, and you can view an aggregate summary of what the majority of your current crowd is hoping to find in the park preferences overview.

The core rule is simple: a guest will only queue for a ride if it matches one of their listed preferences. If no ride in the park satisfies a preference, that guest's happiness drops, their spending decreases, and they are more likely to leave early. Conversely, a park that covers a wide spread of ride types and food options will keep a larger percentage of its visitors engaged and happy throughout their stay.

Practically, this means variety is your single most powerful tool. Early in a park's life, build a balanced mix of thrill rides, family rides, and flat rides so that the broadest possible range of preferences is met. Add food and drink vendors that cover the most common preferences you see in the aggregate list. As your park grows, keep an eye on the preference distribution—if a large chunk of your crowd is searching for a ride type you don't have, that's your next build priority.

The system interacts directly with guest happiness, spending, and park rating. A well-matched preference set boosts all three simultaneously, while unmet preferences drag them down. It also feeds into ride popularity: a ride that matches many guests' preferences will naturally accumulate longer queues, which in turn raises its popularity score and can attract even more guests. Reading the preference list is, in effect, reading the market.

Did You Know?

• In RCT2, you can click on any individual guest to see their personal 'Want to See' list, which includes specific ride types and food/drink items they are hoping to find during their visit.
• The aggregate park preferences overview lets you see what the majority of your current crowd wants, making it a practical tool for deciding your next ride or vendor to build.
• A guest whose preferences are not met by any ride in the park will experience a drop in happiness and is more likely to leave before spending their full budget.
• The preferences system works in tandem with ride popularity: rides that match many guests' desires naturally build longer queues, which raises their popularity score and can draw additional visitors to the park.