The Idea

As a kid, I always loved playing “tycoon” type PC games - Rollercoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, Theme Hospital etc. I used to think that a tycoon game where you manage a camp site would be really fun: desiging your camp site with plots for tents and caravans; placing amenities such as water / electric points; facilities like toilet/shower blocks; maybe even a “club house” with a bar, restaurant, evening entertainment etc. Thinking back to the idea, I wonder if it could make for a fun board game experience? A concern is that there’s not sufficient depth here - on the PC you’d have the enjoyment of seeing people coming into your park, interacting with everything you built, and that simulation would carry the experience a certain amount. Could I boardgame-ify this?

Thoughts

• Shared board or personal board? A personal board feels like the obvious choice, and thematically it makes the most sense to me - but I prefer the interaction that arises from a shared playspace
• Would make sense to make this a tile placement game. The usual polyominos (like those found in Patchwork, Isle of Cats) don’t feel right to me, but maybe simpler hex-based polyominos (like those found in Ark Nova) could work; their shape is a little more organic, there’s a variety of configurations available, and I typically find that they’re a little easier to piece together whilst still providing just the right amount of awkwardness
  • Alternative idea: cards. Could be freely placed on the table, leading to a more natural layout. No idea what the gameplay would look like with this though, and would likely require a larger play area
• If using a shared board, scoring/VPs/whatever would probably work better being accumulated each turn, rather than calculated at the end. I’d like this to be a somewhat cosy game too, so having to do a bunch of arithmetic at the end to calculate the winner doesn’t feel like the right vibe to me
• Perhaps could borrow heavily from Planet Unknown, but on a shared board? Tiles could be a combination of different types, and depending on what you place and where you could move up different tracks
  • Pitches for tents would provide increased visitor capacity
  • Utilities like water + electric would allow different types of visitors? (ie my wife will only camp at sites with electric points, whereas I’m not so bothered by that so I’m pretty much happy to camp anywhere)
  • Improved facilities would boost reputation, meaning increased numbers of visitors
  • Entertainment spaces would boost income
  • Beautification would ?? - pure scoring, like PU’s water track?
• Is there an economic aspect to the game, or can money just be ignored? Pay for tiles, or have some other selection mechanic instead?
• Staff?
• Focus just on site building, or simulate visitors too? Something like rolling a pool of dice and assigning to tent spots? Higher numbers = more discending visitors, so if you roll them then they won’t come in unless you have prerequisite reputation? Not sure if that would be a fun addition, or more faff. I think that would work better on a personal board