The board game based on the well-known Microsoft video game brand Zoo Tycoon has a future: As the makers announced, there will be an expansion for the title. A spin-off with dinosaurs is also planned.
The business simulation Zoo Tycoon by Blue Fang Games is now many years old. The game was released in 2001, but still has its fans today. In 2004, a sequel, Zoo Tycoon 2, was released, which was also hugely successful. A third part was then canceled, however, and instead Microsoft brought a completely revamped version for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 onto the market. Thanks to an idea from the Swiss start-up Treecer, fans can now experience zoo management in a licensed version as a board game. The makers raised around half a million Swiss francs with a Kickstartercampaign of almost 5.000 supporters to ultimately successfully realize the board game.
"New Shores" for zoo managers
The success of the basic game, which is primarily aimed at experts, is now set to be extended: an expansion called "New Shores" is to be released, which is also to be financed through crowdfunding. For the new content, the Swiss are once again going back to the original. Blue Fang Games released two expansions a year after the release of the basic game: Dinosaur Digs and Marine Mania. The latter is about zoo animals in the water, dolphins and aqua shows, for example. This is controversial today, as the Swiss at Treecer are also aware. They are therefore thinking about the first expansions to Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game: "We have decided to concentrate on Marine Mania. However, since it is no longer appropriate to keep marine mammals such as orcas, dolphins and sharks in zoos, we have decided to open up the topic further and also allow other species, including island species and semi-aquatic species," explains Marc Dür, CEO of Treecer. The name has also been adjusted accordingly: Instead of Marine Mania, the expansion will now be called “New Shores”.
This time too, the financing is provided by Kickstarter off, a Preview page already existsThe second edition of the board game will then also be available to fans. "As the Kickstarter campaign for the basic game was very successful and the subsequent release brought very positive figures, Microsoft was also prepared to allow an extension," says Marc Dür happily. This time, too, it is an official license, which was already a rarity with the basic game, as Microsoft is not particularly generous with its own brands. In the meantime, however, the Redmond-based company has obviously changed its mind, after all, board games are also being released for Halo or Gears of War.
The preview page for the first expansion for Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game on Kickstarter does not yet provide much information. And the landing page on the publisher's website also only gives away a few details. However, the publisher says that "New Shores" is intended to complement the game principle without making it more complicated.
"As a completely new animal exchange ("animal market") with three new biomes (water, dry forest and tundra) and over 24 new main species (+60 smaller species) is available, there is an enormous amount to discover and familiar strategies to rethink," says Marc Dür. In addition, reptiles such as Komodo dragons or Galapagos tortoises as well as aquatic and semi-aquatic species such as Magellanic penguins, California sea lions or polar bears and Australian species such as koalas, kangaroos and platypuses as well as the vivarium for indoor animals will bring "exciting changes to the game mechanics".
"The Vivarium in particular offers new strategic options to exploit," says Dür. "This keeps the gaming experience familiar but still refreshingly different." Since the animal swap is now modular, players can mix and match old and new species, creating endless gameplay possibilities.
The crowdfunding campaign will start on July 2nd.
First and last expansion, but…
Treecer is also sticking to the hard line with Zoo Tycoon: The board game is staying true to itself: According to Marc Dür, "New Shores" will be the first and last expansion "like all our other games". "We prefer to release one big expansion rather than many small ones," says the CEO. "From our point of view, this is also the better approach for customers."
The second KickstarterThe campaign is therefore also the last opportunity to get the deluxe version of both the base game and the expansion. In the deluxe version, all 450+ animal figures are printed, which is supposed to make them even more "alive". Important to know: The deluxe version was never available in stores and, according to the publisher, will never be available in stores.
For the new edition of the basic game, the creators have completely revised the rule book. The rules remain the same, but the presentation, structure and accessibility, among other things, are completely different.
"We are very confident that these new rules will help new players to get to know the game," says Dür happily. "It will also make it much easier for players who want to start playing again after a break of a few months."
Even if "New Shores" puts an end to the zoo management board game, that won't be the end of Zoo Tycoon. Marc Dür throws fans a little bone: "There are plans for a Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game - Dinosaur Diggs." This should be released as a standalone game in 2025/26.
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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Zoo Tycoon * | 8,39 EUR |
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