Do you play Franchise Mode or Sandbox Mode?

[Scrambled Bacon]

Hi I just started playing the game and was wondering which mode do all you players mostly play on? Just gathering opinions for now.

[swskydancer]

For the first couple of years that I played this game I played nothing but Sandbox mode after completing the first four career scenarios. However, at the last anniversary of the game I finally decided to open a Franchise zoo and am glad that I did. Now, I play both those modes. :D

[Varick]

I have always played in franchise and used sandbox for building some things I would blueprint. And, then, swskydancer got me interested in working in sandbox. I think both modes have their place and can be fun.

[grampers62]

Well... BOTH!
My zoos in general are created in franchise but I use sandbox to test things and prebuild things to be dropped into the franchise when things get to where the franchise zoo can handle it. Saves a lot of cash and redoing when the fiddly bits have already been worked out.

[jillquick2002]

Hi guys, I play everything :)...sandbox, franchise, career and other peoples zoos. I chop and change with my mood lol....great game. Hugs Jill

[audiolady]

Mostly sandbox, so I can let my imagination run riot. My franchise zoos are pretty generic looking at first, til I earn enough money to decorate the buildings I have,

[SLG]

I just played one franchise zoo to see how it was and to get an achievement. I only play sandbox mode now. I sometimes play the scenarios to unlock the reward statues.

[Jendowoz]

I began playing franchise all the time, then moved on to the occasional challenge, and now I am making my own zoo except for some workshop downloaded bits and pieces (whom I acknowledge with a lit up sign) to try to make my own zoo. It is as much a trial and error zoo for me as I am still trying to get used to all the pieces I can use to create so many things.

[grampers62]

Yeah, sometimes it gets hard to figure out some of the pieces just by looking at the icons in the build menus.

[jillquick2002]

I seem to use the same pieces all the time...favourites lol...I did use an african piece on the alpine toilet though, finding that if I coloured all of it brown it made pretty beams - most impressed.

[audiolady]

I love statues and wall decorations. You don't always have to do "serious" buildings, either. Just have fun, no matter WHAT you build! Try an elephant sometime, with a water jet inside the tip of the trunk, especially if you point it at the path!
I also made a food stall with the skunk statues, and the mist makers inside the rear end, and turned the mist grin, so it looks like the guests are getting sprayed by a skunk.

[rpita]

Never used sandbox. Finished the career while sometimes doing my franchise

[keiko_asuna]

Ive done a couple scenarios but mostly play sandbox i love no restrictions!

[Erionar]

Franchise only. I don't see the point of doing any sandboxing. The game is easy enough, so that unless you're playing it like an absolute baby, your franchise zoo will soon be swimming in money, allowing you to build whatever you want.
Plus, franchise is online, allowing you to share your animals with others, which to me makes it the de-facto default game mode - why would you breed all those albinos for yourself in sandbox with no-one to share? I'm no egoist. I'm always happy to share with others.
I don't really play scenarios or story/career for the same reason: why play an online game solo?
So franchise only for me.

[Lilo]

Sandbox pretty much exclusively; because I like the building and watching the animals rather than breeding.

[jcp011c2]

I'm about 75% franchise, 25% sandbox. I'm not an achievement hound and know all the basics, so Career mode doesn't offer much for me. Challenge Mode would be great if we didn't have to research all the building themes again. I wouldn't mind having to research animals as that's actually a good way to sort of pace your zoo's growth, but I really dislike having the barest of building themes again.

As far as advice on how to begin totally, I'd recommend the first few career scenarios. It will teach you the basics on getting an animal in a habitat and taken care of. After that, I'd recommend going sandbox mode for a little while. You'll have the animal basics down, and then you can focus on more indepth care of animals, as well as building tools and tricks. If that's your thing. Go wild with it in Sandbox mode, you can even set cash on if you want, to work to getting you to run a financially successful zoo. Learn what works and doesn't work. After that you're probably ready for franchise.

Now...that's just what I did, which is why I recommend it.