Real-world rollercoaster designers and the game’s creator, Chris Sawyer, reflect on the impact of the primitive-looking theme park sim that became a late 90s icon
‘I remember I would rush home from school just to play RollerCoaster Tycoon,” recalls John Burton, a senior creative lead at Merlin Entertainments (the owner of UK-based theme parks including Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures, and Legoland Windsor) and the man designing the forthcoming 236ft (72-metre) drop Hyperia rollercoaster at Thorpe Park. “I would then go to sleep dreaming I could become the next Walt Disney.”
When he reflects on the game, the adult Burton speaks with the excitement of a teenager on a sugar high. “I learned so much about how rollercoaster systems work with their block zones, or even the little tricks of the trade at theme parks like adding side queues and strategically placed toilets,” he continues, confirming my suspicion that the Jumanji-themed jungle world he helped to design for Chessington has what he calls “subconscious similarities” to the classic PC game’s Jolly Jungle scenario. “If I have to travel to a theme park abroad for work, I still load up the original game on the plane and sketch out ideas. I never really stopped playing.”
