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In the original PC release of RollerCoaster Tycoon, if playing in a scenario with a lot of grassland, I would ensure my handymen did not mow the grass as their other services seemed more beneficial to keeping the park tidy, as well as making sure the handymen did not wander off the paths. In the android release, the handymen by default do not mow the grass (that duty by default is set to off).

I know the guests will remark on the scenery and vandalism, but I have not seen anything to suggest that mowing the grass has an effect on the guests or ride construction.

My question is; does mowing the grass have any effects apart from just making the park look tidier? Does allowing it to overgrow have any negative effects?

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  • 15
    I'd always have just one handyman mowing the entire park. he was never bored.
    – Rapitor
    Dec 5, 2017 at 15:46
  • Note that the answer may differ between versions of RCT. (RCT1, RCT2, RCT Classic, OpenRCT2)
    – Stevoisiak
    Dec 5, 2017 at 21:37
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    It has a positive effect on the player (me) because they (I) might be (am) a little OCD when it comes to park image. :P
    – Sera H
    Dec 6, 2017 at 8:19
  • Related discussion on r/RCT
    – Stevoisiak
    Dec 6, 2017 at 16:31
  • 2
    I would often hire like 10+ handymen specifically to mow grass. Isn't keeping the park fully mowed the main goal of the game? All my park profits went to more grass mowers...
    – Pedro A
    Dec 6, 2017 at 21:18

3 Answers 3

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A few sites claim that having handymen mow grass gives a small boost to the guests overall happiness and park value. IGN's wiki states:

...mown grass looks nicer, and helps guests happiness ratings, and park value ratings

Note that this was for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, but I believe they share the same mechanics in regards to mowing the grass.

A Reddit Post also seems to suggest the same information, and they also mention that it's practically pointless since the impact on guests is very small:

...guests are slightly happier if they are next to freshly mowed lawn tiles. But lawn tiles that are pretty far off won't affect them. I think weed laden tiles make them slightly less happy. I usually don't bother with grass, unless I happen to have a handyman maintaining some gardens nearby as well. Obtaining a 999 park rating is still simple enough with weeds everywhere, and your handymen are better utilized on paths anyway.

If I recall correctly, having mowed grass near your attractions boosts the Excitement Rating for the ride as well, but by a very small amount.

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  • 2
    In a number of scenarios, one can max out the park rating without touching the grass at all. Makes sense if the effects are present, but negligible.
    – user200816
    Dec 5, 2017 at 14:21
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    If tiles with weeds on them makes guests unhappy, then it's worth noting here an old trick: just "paint" the tiles with the default grass terrain. It doesn't cost anything and the weeds go away (but so does the mown grass).
    – PlanetAlexanderProjects
    Dec 5, 2017 at 14:24
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    @PlanetAlexander that was such a good trick to make the park look nice fast. I remember doing that.
    – Timmy Jim ♦
    Dec 5, 2017 at 14:27
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    The cited IGN wiki page was edited and no longer claims that mowed lawns increase guest happiness.
    – Stevoisiak
    Dec 6, 2017 at 16:50
  • @StevenVascellaro since IGN's sites are like the Fandom Wikis, I believe anyone can edit them (with an account). I'm wondering if someone here did that... I find it a bit ironic that something I cited got edited 5 hours ago (from posting) to remove information that supports my post. Especially since RCT isn't a widely popular game.
    – Timmy Jim ♦
    Dec 6, 2017 at 16:51
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Mowed grass does nothing to peep happiness or Park rating.

Mowed grass is not mentioned in the code for park rating or the code for peep happiness and thoughts. In other words, it does nothing. You can see this in the OpenRCT2 source code. (specifically in Peep.cpp and park.c)

Additionally, mowed grass does not have any impact on the beautiful park award.

To get most beautiful park award, 1/128th of your guests must think "Great scenery", which comes from being around scenery items, and less than 16 guests are allowed to think about bad vandalism, litter, or disgusting paths. Mowed grass is not a factor in this.

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  • Perhaps it'd help to add a link and extra information to make it easier to verify?
    – namey
    Dec 6, 2017 at 10:28
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    openrct2 is a 're-implementation' of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. This implies that it's not based on the source code of the original game and so I don't think conclusions can be drawn from it: the developer of openrct2 has chosen for grass to have no effect, but that doesn't mean it didn't do something in the original.
    – DaveMongoose
    Dec 6, 2017 at 11:03
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    Except it's not a reimplementation, it's been reverse engineered from the RCT2 binary. Proof: Just look at the early code: github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2/blob/…
    – LordAro
    Dec 6, 2017 at 11:19
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    @LordAro OpenRCT2 has a few significant differences from the original game. (Modified guest AI, increased passenger limits, bug fixes, etc.) OpenRCT2 is also based on RCT2, while the question asks about RCT1.
    – Stevoisiak
    Dec 6, 2017 at 16:27
  • Differences does not change the fact that it was reverse engineered, rather than reimplemented
    – LordAro
    Dec 7, 2017 at 11:16
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According to Marcel Vos, mowing the grass has no effect outside of visuals in both RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 & 2. The same applies to watering plants.

It's worth noting that in RCT1, newly hired handymen have mowing grass enabled by default. This was changed in RCT2 so that new handymen start with mowing grass disabled.

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