Jolly Putt - Mini Golf & Arcade

I was borderline on this one, but what it seems to lack by planning overwhelms what it has that works.
The core of the game is building a little indoor mini golf and arcade, as the title says.
Right from the start there are some options, and as I understand it, you unlock more as the game progresses.
Two kinds of arcade games, so you can have a ticket booth with prizes, and you can sell food. You also have to hire staff.
The controls are a bit sticky at times, not everything works, for example I can't blow up a misplaced arcade game. I am supposed to be able to according to the developer, so maybe that's just on my computer? No clue.
Customers come in and entertain themselves, and if you do well, they join as members, which makes you even more money.
The numbers seem wonky to me, which takes away from immersion, fifty bucks just to come in the door? Meh, not a big deal.
The game allows you to play your courses, though the controls there are pretty crude. There is nothing like a par score, which I miss but I guess that's a minor point.
Where things fall apart for me is that there easily could have been more mini-games. A few arcade games, a race game, even the skeeball could have been added.
All in all the awkwardness of the controls and commands, the occasional bug or crash (which doesn't save) and the minimalist design just tips it into the thumbs down category for me. Only by a little bit though, and this might still be fun for some, I can only judge it based on my own experience of course. At the price point I got it at, $1.99, I might have recommended it, but the full price of $8.99 deeply reduces it's desirability.

Only 6 hours in but this is a great little game. I did encounter a bug early on in the play through but informed the dev and a response and fix for the issue was released that squished the bug. Impressive response time, especially over the holiday period and I look forward to getting plenty more hours out of the game

Being able to walk around your park and play your own courses is great. This is something that you are required to do to progress, but I would do it even if that wasn't the case

A fun little tycoon game with some deceptive depth!
Rating: 7/10
Overall: It teeters on the edge of being great or terrible, but ultimately is 100% worth it for fans of tycoon style games, and it earns some bonus points for the ability to play your own courses!
What I like: Building a mini golf course and arcade is just good clean fun! There is quite a bit to unlock, you're able to play on the courses you build or just walk around and take in your hard work.
What I don't like: The game clearly needs some polish in terms of U/I, QoL, and AI. There are some staples of game control missing from the game (e.g., the esc key doesn't pull up the options menu), some of the controls are a little clunky, and the AI can be a bit brain dead (i.e., I had to delete all benches as guest constantly got stuck in a walk animation near them).