Theme Park (1994) is Peter Molyneux at his most playful: a business sim disguised as a toy. You build a rollercoaster, price the fries at an indecent markup, hire a man in a rabbit suit, and watch thousands of tiny visitors vote with their wallets.

Beneath the candy colors sits a surprisingly sharp economy. Staff strike if underpaid, visitors complain if the park is dirty, and the research tree quietly determines whether your park becomes Disneyland or a car park with a Ferris wheel.

The management sim before management sims

Bullfrog had already made Populous and PowerMonger, but Theme Park invented the template that RollerCoaster Tycoon and Planet Coaster would polish later: sandbox with just enough rules to make chaos meaningful.

Today

The DOS version remains the best - the console ports trimmed the simulation. It runs happily in DOSBox, and the loop of "build, earn, expand" is as dangerous to an evening as it ever was.

Verdict: the game that made spreadsheets fun without admitting it.