Each player is a zoo owner with some money and a place to start. The game lasts for five years, each year 5 zoo-tiles are auctioned for the highest bidder and at the end of the year points are calculated. Each zoo-tile contains two different animal types, some roads and possibly trees.
Each player secretly selects the amount of money he is willing to pay for the tile and the highest bidder wins the auction. When ever a tile is bought it needs to be fitted to zoo so that the roads and green areas match. It might be that after the tile is fitted to the zoo, the zoo gets more interesting than before. Interest value is shown with little stars on the tiles, more stars of one color you have, more interesting your zoo is in that animal type. The visitor are also interested in trees and parks. The visitor always go for the most interesting zoos and at the end of the year each visitor in your zoo gives you points. When the year ends each player gets some money and new zoo-tiles are drawn for auction.
The goal is to get as much visitors as possible and thus score more points than others.