DINOPARK TYCOON

Way more than Dinosaurs!

Build a thriving dinosaur amusement park or face financial extinction.

Hire and Fire

You can't do it alone. Running a business takes people. And people are expensive. So learn who to hire - and who to fire.

Shop Dino City

This place has the largest selection of dinosaurs on the planet - from the humongous, 54,000-pound vegetarian Diplodocus, the the child-sized, 65-pound, meat eating Coelophysis.

Look it Up

Rely on the fact-filled guide for all your favorite crowd-pleasers. Bone up on your dinosaur's diets, climates, habitats, sizes, theories of extinction, and lots more.

Build your Park

You start off buying land. Then build fences, parking lots, food stands, even rest rooms. But watch your cash flow. And learn when to take chances.

Hit the Auctions

Here's a great way to build up your inventory at a better-than-Dino-City prices. It's also a great way to get stuck with a Lemon-osaurus.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

From a desk in the front office, your decisions make or break your business. When do you raise ticket prices? Where will you place your advertising? How many free tiki-torches can you get? What if you sell out? It's all up to you!

Tycoon Math

• Make and Lose Money
• Buy and Sell
• Estimate and Predict
• Analyze Charts
• Perform "What-ifs"

~ from the back of the box

With Jurassic World: Rebirth hitting cinemas earlier this month, I thought it would be a perfect excuse to dig through the fossilized remains of early digital dinosaur games that came out in the wake of Steven Spielberg's never-bettered original. So, I dusted off a game I've always been curious about yet never quite got around to playing; DinoPark Tycoon. This 1993 DOS title from MECC, better known for educational classics like The Oregon Trail, arrived just in time to ride that feverish dino-wave that took over the world in the early 90's. Every kid caught up in the hype desperately wanted their own Jurassic Park, but does DinoPark Tycoon succeed in realising this fantasy?

At its core, DinoPark Tycoon is a management sim with a charming educational twist. You start with a modest $5,000 loan and a dream: to open the most successful dinosaur-themed park this side of the Mesozoic. From the start, you're juggling land purchases (desert, swamp, plains), fence enclosure options (wooden, steel, concrete, or high-voltage), and which lizard to hatch first. It's part SimCity, part Zoo Tycoon, and part math homework - but somehow, it works. For kids in the 90's, this was both a lesson in budgeting and a ticket to pretend dinosaur ownership. Who could resist? 

Fill your zoo with dinosaurs bought from the hatchery (left).

Make sure you have the land and fencing to house them (right).

I'm going to be honest here and say that a 10-year-old me would. Having played and loved Bullfrog's Theme Park, the lack of any control in the design of the park is a major disappointment. This is firmly a business sim, not a park builder. No matter where you place plots of land, or how many zoos you create, the park will always look the same. Same layout, same size - just the odd switcheroo of sprites and colour palate. Unless you want to see a barely animated T-Rex sprite, a visit to the park is entirely unnecessary and not interactable at all. Any changes you may want to make takes place in a vast sea of menus, graphs and numbers.

The best part of the game is the dinosaur selection which is surprisingly robust for a game of its time, featuring a variety of species each with their own distinct needs. They've even included a dinosaur library for curious players to learn about their prehistoric pals. Want a ferocious carnivore like Tyrannosaurus rex? Better budget for meat - lots of meat. Prefer a peaceful herbivore like Triceratops? You'll still need a decent fence - these big babies don't mess around when they're hungry or bored. 

The park needs to be manned, so hire away (left).

If you can't pay them, they will quit. No pouting dino-lady willy soften the blow (right).

But things will escalate quickly in DinoPark Tycoon. Once your dino is munching away in its enclosure, you're thrust into the surprisingly chaotic world of park management. Hire staff, set ticket prices, install concession stands, and don't forget to pay taxes! And just like real life, staff can be moody, dinosaurs can escape, and the bank will always want their money. The learning curve isn't steep, but the game does a good job at sneakily teaching resource management, cause-and-effect, and basic economics, but you'll have to get past the monotony of numbers to really get anywhere.

That said, don’t come here expecting Jurassic World Evolution levels of polish. Or even Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. Even by early 90's standards, DinoPark Tycoon was never a graphical marvel. The game's pixel art is colorful but simple with minimal animation. And as for the sound design, well, if you enjoy the comforting hiss of DOS-era silence broken only by the occasional electronic dinosaur roar, you're in for a treat. There's a certain nostalgic charm in its chunky user interface and cheerful MIDI tunes, though like The Oregon Trail before it, it's definitely something that would more likely be played in your school's computer lab than on your dad's expensive 386 he rarely let's you use. 

The robust encyclopedia details all the information you need for each dinosaur (left).

Monitor a wide array of stats to keep the zoo afloat. No peeking dino will alleviate boredom (right).

Revisiting the game today, it's easy to see both its charm and its limits. The gameplay loop becomes repetitive fairly quickly: build, feed, maintain, and repeat. Escaped dinosaurs and disgruntled employees add occasional spice, but the lack of long-term goals or evolving gameplay means interest can fizzle after a few in-game years. Still, there's something endearing about a game that never pretends to be more than it is - a digital sandbox with just enough teeth to keep curious young minds engaged.

Critics at the time weren't particularly kind, and in fairness, some of their points still hold. It lacks the visual flair and immersive complexity of more advanced simulators like SimCity, but DinoPark Tycoon wasn't meant to compete with those highly regarded best-sellers. It was designed to teach kids how to run a business, cleverly disguised as a dinosaur fantasy. And from that lens, it deserves more credit than it got. DinoPark Tycoon is a mildly engaging digital relic. It's no Jurassic Park, but it is a delightfully nerdy slice of 90's edutainment that's aged... well, let's just say like a fossilised Hadrosaur.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox to bring the game to modern systems. Text Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 21.3 Mb.  Install Size: 56.2 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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Dinopark Tycoon is © MECC
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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