Information Kiosk
The Information Kiosk is a stall that sells park maps and umbrellas.
The Information Kiosk is the only stall that sells park maps, which helps a guest find rides, as well as reduce the chances of them getting lost, and one of only two stalls (the other being the Souvenir Stall) that sells umbrellas, which guests will use when it is raining. In addition, the Information Kiosk will also re-orient any lost guests walking past it. These properties make the Information Kiosk an important stall in virtually any park, as they can contribute to shop/stall profits, while also indirectly boosting the popularity (and, in "pay per ride" parks, the profit margins) of all other rides in the park and drastically reducing the likelihood of guests getting lost (which can lower the Park Rating).
Products
Park Maps
Park maps help guests find the rides they like, and it helps direct them to destinations, rather than have them wander around aimlessly. They have a high profit margin regardless of the circumstances.
Umbrellas
A guest holding an umbrella will use it during rainy weather, which keeps them happy and makes them more likely to visit shops or continue queueing for a ride despite the inclement weather. Umbrellas have a slightly lower profit margin than park maps but will be more likely to sell when it rains. The colour of the umbrella sold by an Information Kiosk can be changed, although this colour change does not affect other shops/stalls selling umbrellas and only takes effect with new umbrellas purchased from the kiosk.
Tips
Umbrella Exploit
The umbrella exploit is an exploitation of RollerCoaster Tycoon's guest AI, which causes guests to always purchase umbrellas at their maximum sell price ($20). Whenever it rains, guests will ignore the pricing of umbrellas and will buy them from any Information Kiosk or Souvenir Stall. As a downside, guests will not buy umbrellas priced above $5 whenever it is not raining—scenarios with a "hot and dry" climate, such as Dynamite Dunes or Ayers Rock, will almost never experience rain, limiting the usefulness of this exploit.
Other Tips
- An Information Kiosk should be built near the Park Entrance(s), which will cause some guests to immediately purchase a park map before they start exploring the park. Other good places to build Information Kiosks include food areas and popular rides. In RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (RCT3), it may also be a good idea to build more than one Information Kiosk in areas where peeps are thinking "
<Information Kiosk name>is too busy." - In RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, the Information Kiosk can be accessed from all four sides, so it only needs to be built immediately adjacent to any path, irrespective of its construction arrow, to function.
- In RCT3, the default selling price of an umbrella is its break-even price, so the selling price of umbrellas must be increased to turn a profit.