Zoo Tycoon 2 — A GREAT GAME for kids ages 7 - adult | Kids Computer Games Recommendations

Zoo Tycoon 2 — A GREAT GAME for kids ages 7 - adult

by Jenny Mannion
on 10.24.07
10-11, 11-12, 12 and up, 7-8, 8-9, 9-10, adult
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Growing up in NYC I was lucky enough to have the Bronx Zoo accessible to me. It is one of the best zoos in the US and offers plenty of space for the animals . I remember going to the Central Park Zoo before it was renovated and the animals pacing their cages and how sad they looked. Luckily the Central Park Zoo was remodeled and is now much better for the animals. When I went to High School at the Bronx High School of Science I had an Animal Behavior class that had me at the Bronx Zoo every week studying “my animal” that I would report on.

So all this time in zoos and animals definitely had me interested in the game Zoo Tycoon where you set up your own Zoo. The first Zoo Tycoon was amazing but definitely had some limitations. I recommend Zoo Tycoon 2 a lot more heartedly and you don’t need to have played the first one. In it you can do tutorials to learn how everything works first. Then you have the option of making your own zoo from scratch or playing a game with tasks you have to complete.

When you make a zoo you do EVERYTHING. Decide whether it will be big, medium or small and what location it will be in. You design cages, roads, amusements and food areas, gift shops, hire zookeepers and maintenance people, add animals after you have ensured their fenced area has the right ground, shelter, food, trees, rocks, toy, etc. In this version you can even play as the zoo-keeper if you like. You can also zoom in on people and see what they like about the zoo and what they don’t. You set up donation boxes around the zoo to earn extra money.

The younger kids would need help to get started on this game but even my 4 year old is entertained by sitting with my 8 year old son and I as we play. You have to make sure your zoo is up to snuff… I remember the first time playing I forgot to add a maintenance person and zookeeper and people at my zoo were throwing up around the monkey cage due to the smell. The game tells you when something isn’t right and you can adjust it accordingly. You can monitor if the animals are happy as well as your workers and how much money each food vendor is making.

I will admit my son has some fun letting lions loose and watching the visitors run away screaming. I have more fun trying to have my zoo gain in popularity and having the animals be so happy they procreate and I can have the option of releasing them into the wild or having them adopted.

There are tons of Zoo Tycoon add ons now and they even offer it for the Nintendo DS. This game has been one of my favorites for years and children can learn about animals and all the work involved in running a zoo or they can just have some fun taking care of a few animals.

This is one of my favorite kids computer games as well as adult game. Be warned — you might lose hours of your time once you start!

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