Americans will celebrate their most confusing of holidays next week with Thanksgiving. While nearly every aspect of the loosely historical day causes outrage by one or several groups, this year's rebranding has been boiled down to two things: giving thanks for something special and turkeys.
Last night, two new rides and two eateries appeared in Roller Coaster Kingdom that all feature turkeys. Ensuring less outrage, Tofu Turkey is bound to make the vegetarians happy and for those who don't like turkey at all, there's always the turkey-free Cranberry Jelly shop.
If you've got the park space and $4,000,000 coins, the Turkey Escape might finally add less confusion and more action back into the holiday.
Roller Coaster Kingdom players will reluctantly admit that it isn't their favorite Zynga game. One of the big reasons for the negative reaction is that while other Zynga games allow players to earn special cash or coins that they can use to purchase premium in-game items, Roller Coaster Kingdom has no such earning ability. Instead, players will need to use really money to buy the sacred Coaster Cash.
While looking to add more neighbors to my park (in order to get another expansion), I noticed that none of my neighbors or Roller Coaster Kingdom friends have Coaster Cash. Sure, my friends could be cheap, not willing to invest in their park or simply got turned off by the game's limitations. But would they play more if they could each Coaster Cash?
Looking to add a new look to your Roller Coaster Kingdom park? Well the game's team released nine new items based on Space and Stone Age themes. Looking at the items, it's pretty clear which one will be the most popular as all the Space-theme items are available for those who have paid real money for Coaster Cash. If you're not willing to pay, then Stone Age may be the next hot thing in Roller Coaster Kingdoms on Facebook.
A little over a week ago, Roller Coaster Kingdom for Facebook added an achievement system that helps players look forward too, rather than just recruiting friends and having them create their own parks to add to your own experience level. With the game's notoriously long wait periods between visitors, we didn't get many badges but it appears that Zynga has rethought the badge system since we noticed today that two of the categories (Bargain Hunter and Hard Hat) were renamed (Shopaholic and Foreman) along with one category, Giving Buddy, has been removed.
Might more changes be in the works? We'll keep watching and let you know.
The real thrill in going to any amusement park remains in each venue's roller coaster. Whether your favorite coaster sports bowties, a cobra roll, a double dip or a corkscrew, there are hordes of fans who rate, cherish and take delight in riding and re-riding their #1 thrill. So why aren't those coaster available in Zynga's Roller Coaster Kingdom?
From the killer drops of Kingda Ka (Six Flag, New Jersey) to the face-flattening speed of Top Thrill Dragster (Cedar Point in Ohio), we wondered if coaster fans want their favorites to show up in Roller Coaster Kingdom.
And the winner for most popular game on Facebook in October is ... (drumroll, please!) ... FarmVille. The farm-simulation is still attracting players in droves, bringing in 11 million people in the past month for a whopping total of 63 million users. Zynga's restaurant simulation game, Cafe World, went from zero users to 27 million in a single month and Happy Aquarium went from zero to 22.5 million users in a month.
The other games that made the top five include Mafia Wars, and Pet Society. Even though these games have the most users, it's also important to mention that Zynga's Roller Coaster Kingdom gained 14 million users last month, Pet Society gained 3 million users, Restaurant City gained 2.3 million users and the newly redesigned Bejeweled Blitz gained 2.6 million users.
Needless to say, Facebook game are continuing to attract players in droves; we're already placing bets as to how soon Cafe World will overtake FarmVille as the top dog on the charts. Care to wager?
Want a chance at winning up to 500,000 Coaster Coins in order to buy just about anything you'd want in Zynga's Roller Coaster Kingdom? Well, the game's creators are looking for the scariest theme park as created by you, the game's biggest fans. The contest is relatively easy, take a screenshot of your park and submit it to the Halloween Decorating Contest Entries folder by October 30 at 11:59pm PT (and yes, the forum just went down for two hours of maintenance).
One Roller Coaster Kingdom player will receive a grand price of 500,000 Coins as 2nd and 3rd place winners will get 250,000 and 100,000 Coaster Coins respectively.
Still not convinced that social gaming will take over the world? It took nearly a 1/16th of a day to find the best social gaming blog and news that would normally keep us away from our Cafe World/Mafia Wars/Roller Coaster Kingdom schedule.
- Parks aren't fun for all. Apparently that's message that one player is sending as she says Goodbye Roller Coaster Kingdom after being fed up with the game's quirky limits on expanding one's park by adding neighbors. She'll be missed but her presence will still be felt in Cafe World, FarmVille and Pet Society. (Quirky Gaming Girl)
- "Today, I was playing FarmVille all day, and I was really into the game. I was getting phone calls all day, but I kept ignoring them cause I was making so much Farm Money. Come to find out it was my son's school. He fell off the jungle gym and broke his arm. FML" (FMyLife)
- The death of the CD-based game . As if you're shocked. The advent of games like Pet Society didn't just change the rules of Facebook, it completely upset the sales of boxed games that you might find at Best Buy, Target or Walmart. Blame it on a culture that's obsessed with labor-light thrills, but video game makers and social network game makers agree, the best future use of your CD-ROM drive might be a drink holder. (MCV)
- Rocking Facebook is hard. With scores of odd groups (yeah, so I dig the Tea Appreciataion Society), it's tough to get fans for a product that isn't blonde and scantily clad. Yet Guitar Hero 5 found new reason to gloat this week as it staked out its claim as first video game page to score one million fans. Rock on indeed. (http://dontloseyourdayjob.com/)
- We're cheap but admit that LEGO's efforts to create a LEGO MMO gamebased on the brick formula that's shaped many a childhood is something that, well, is building a personal interest in our smallest recesses. Still, a game that allows us to build anything, take part in new LEGO adventures beyond the LEGO site and Lucas offerings is hard to skip. (Eurogamer)
Cameo appearances of one TV show's characters in another show has been done for eons. Now Zynga is taking a page out of the TV executive playbook for Mafia Wars' Halloween Loot Event. Starting this Friday, October 30 at midnight (PT), players will be on the hunt for eight Halloween themed items that are based on FarmVille, Roller Coaster Kingdom, Zynga Poker and Cafe World.
The Official Mafia Wars Facebook page whet the appetites of players by unveiling four of the eight items they'll try to earn as they fight and complete jobs in the game.
Park owners got a surprise this week as Zynga's Roller Coaster Kingdom gained a stack of new Themes along with options to alter your park's main gate, fences and paths. The new options allow players looking to stylize their park in Western, Jungle or Haunted Forest Themes.
Yet the Facebook community didn't react kindly to the new themes for one simple reason, many of the new themes items could only be purchased with real money. Jungle Gate, Haunted Gate, Western Gate, Jungle Fence, Haunted Fence and Western Fence items are available for 30 Coaster Cash (about $5.50) with Western, Jungle and Haunted Forest hills going for 40 (about $7). The pay for play theme extended to Haunted and Jungle Paths both going for 10 Coaster Cash (about $2). Those choosing Western Path get a reprieve as that costs 10,000 coins (which are earned through the free game)
Comments from Roller Coaster Kingdom's Facebook Fan Page run from "Pay for themes... BOO!... How 'bout with coins?" to "I'm not paying with real money for that! crazy!!" and "Upgrade with real money... don't think so... will keep my original theme... thanks :o(".
So far, the anger hasn't prompted a mass defection from Roller Coaster Kingdom but with a rash of game outages this week and prohibitive expansion options that don't unlock until players get more friends into the game, fans of the kingdom are hoping that their favorite game isn't turning into a push for profit.
After playing FarmVille, Cafe World or Mafia Wars, players start to see a pattern to the games that Zynga makes. Yet, the company's Roller Coaster Kingdom game looks, plays and operates quite differently than its super popular peers. To help shorten the learning curve to fun, here are five must-know tips on turning your pleasant park into a big money venue.
1 - Booking Guests
Unlike other games, Roller Coaster Kingdom's paying patrons just don't show up to hand you money. You have to book tours in order to bring people to your park. Of course, it takes time from booking until they show up (from a few minutes, a few hours and up to two days). Your available coins also determine which tours you can book too. Just remember to venture back to your park when the tour arrives to welcome them to the park. If you fail to welcome them, you'll lose the patrons, their money and the cost of booking the tour.
2 - Rides
Making money from park attendees is done by thrilling them on rides. The bigger the ride, the more it costs to ride. So a House of Spooks (which costs 5,000 coins) brings in 3 coins per rider, the Tombstone Coaster (which costs 7,500 coins) gives more at 5 coins per rider.
3 - Food and Drink
The other way of making money in Roller Coaster Kingdom is by selling food and drinks. As you may already know, amusement parks gouge hungry patrons and that's true in the game too. They're a lower cost option for park owners when compared to rides and don't suffer from the capacity issues that rides do. Full on restaurants like Tooter's are even a higher value opportunity that gets you 8 coins per patron at level 1. Sadly, it costs 75k to get to level 2 (11 coins per patron).
4 - Adding Neighbors
Roller Coaster Kingdom relies on the help of others in order to obtain more items. Asking your Facebook friends to be your neighbors also adds a steady stream of income as your neighbors do better, you can receive bonuses in the thousands. So rather than wait until the next bus tour, you can use the bonus to upgrade your rides, add new rides or give patrons new food and drink options. Skip the decorations early on in your game since you'll need that for upgrades and rides that bring in money.
5 - Upgrade When You Can
Each ride in the park comes with a number for Excitement, Capacity and Ticket Price. More exciting rides create more demand and if those rides are upgraded, you'll gain more money. It's also a good way to maximize your rides since upgrades often are cheaper than buying a new ride.
Roller Coaster Kingdom, Zynga's Facebook game that puts you in charge of a virtual theme park, has slowly been gaining a following since its launch in August. While it hasn't caught on like Cafe World, it's still boasting around 10 million active users and gaining every week. Learn more about how to play Roller Coaster Kingdom here.
In the meantime, we're starting to see lost baby moose and broken down buses appear in the game. If you choose to help them out (and other people adopt them), then you're rewarded with a hefty sum. FarmVille has a similar mechanic, where turtles, black sheep, etc roam on to your farm, which you can then 'help' your friends adopt. Unlike FarmVille, the payback is big and can help you get a leg up on building the theme park of your dreams...
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The real thrill in going to any amusement park remains in each venue's roller coaster. Whether your favorite coaster sports bowties, a cobra roll, a double dip or a corkscrew, there are hordes of fans who rate, cherish and take delight in riding and re-riding their #1 thrill. So why aren't those coaster available in Zynga's Roller Coaster Kingdom? 
Want a chance at winning up to 500,000 Coaster Coins in order to buy just about anything you'd want in Zynga's Roller Coaster Kingdom? Well, the game's creators are looking for the scariest theme park as created by you, the game's biggest fans. The contest is relatively easy, take a screenshot of your park and submit it to the 
The other way of making money in Roller Coaster Kingdom is by selling food and drinks. As you may already know, amusement parks gouge hungry patrons and that's true in the game too. They're a lower cost option for park owners when compared to rides and don't suffer from the capacity issues that rides do. Full on restaurants like Tooter's are even a higher value opportunity that gets you 8 coins per patron at level 1. Sadly, it costs 75k to get to level 2 (11 coins per patron). 
Each ride in the park comes with a number for Excitement, Capacity and Ticket Price. More exciting rides create more demand and if those rides are upgraded, you'll gain more money. It's also a good way to maximize your rides since upgrades often are cheaper than buying a new ride.
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