The main concept of the game was to build a successful theme park where guests could ride the rides, buy food and drink, and use the various amenities that you need to place to meet their needs. The platinum edition also included waterslides and a zoo expansion which to my 10-year-old brain was more excitement than I could possibly comprehend.
Obviously, the smart thing to do would be to start with some small rides and add to the park as you go, making sure the guests are happy and the money is flowing. The obvious choice, however, was not the fun one. My favourite thing to do was to place a no entry sign in front of the exit so that the one path in the park would completely fill up with guests who I would then sell balloons to. I’d then build a launch coaster that flew off the tracks directly into the crowd of people- writing this down makes me feel like some kind of psychopath, but I promise you I did play the game somewhat as intended at times.
I would usually play on sandbox mode because the concept of being financially responsible is something that I still cannot grasp. This let my imagination run free and I could build away to my hearts content. There have been numerous theme park-based city builder games since such as Parkitect and Planet Coaster, but none have come close to the whimsy and charm of RCT3.