Hello-
I'm new to the game, and liking it, but the thing about the timers which appear on buildings when cars are not reaching their destinations...well, I just don't get it.

I was playing LA, and thought I was doing pretty good, like around 400. Suddenly timers started appearing over one, then two, then three buildings.

I realize that means cars are not getting to their destinations or something, but I did not see exactly what was wrong. And then...game over... and I was like 'what happened?'...

Any tips would be appreciated!
-Scott

All games in Mini Motorways end eventually, so the fact that you get timers doesn't mean you did anything wrong. The thing about this game (and what makes it fun in my opinion) is to find good strategies that let you get as high scores as possible. But you *will* die. :)

Ah, ok.

That said, having it happen at 400ish means you do need to adjust your playstyle.

As for one timer resulting in 3 more: that's due to how the game assigns pips. Each color has a "pip timer" and each time it ticks over, the next business of that color gets a pip (circle buildings appearing twice in this list). When a building is set to receive a pip, but it is already full (square buildings get a timer at 6 pips and are full at 10) it is skipped and the next building gets it instead. So if you have a square business that is exactly balanced supply and demand wise, an over-full building of the same color can result in extra demand being sent to that balanced building.

Anyway, the general play tips are:

#0: Houses don't give a ♥♥♥♥ about not being connected to a destination. Destinations don't give a ♥♥♥♥ about being connected to each other. Colors don't give a ♥♥♥♥ about different colors: there is no reason to connect a yellow house to a green destination.
#1: Segregate. Following off #0, making green and yellow cars use the same roads leads to more congestion sooner and the game is all about minimizing congestion, so why hobble yourself?
#2: Avoid intersections at all costs. Cars have to slow down to check for cars wanting to make turns that would cross their own path. Traffic lights help as cars will not slow down unless the light is red (and come to a near instant stop if it is). Roundabouts turn 1 intersection into 4, albeit with no left turns.
#3: Use roads to manage the spawn placement of buildings. Buildings can NEVER delete roads, so clever placement of unused road tiles can block areas off so you have plenty of room to manage everything.

I try to avoid throwing all that at new players, though. I think it's more fun to try and come up with your own strategies, at least when you're new to the game. That said, he did ask for tips.

Also, #3 isn't really necessary. I've got quite a few top 10 placements in daily challenges, and I rarely use road tiles to block areas.

Just start with trying to segregate the colours as best you can and work from there...
You will immediately go well past 400.

there are some guides for this game
here's mine
also very helpfull to learn the game is watch YT videos, like here eg

If it happens again take a screenshot of your final map and post it here and we can have a look with you to see what can be optimised :) Since they've updated the game a bit you are now required to make changes to your layout a lot more earlier on in the game so it may have had something to do with your layout.

Another thing that may have been involved.... when a building of a certain colour (say pink) starts to "alarm" this is eventually shared across all pink buildings. I can't rememeber the specifics of it, but there is a Youtube account 'Retroflux' - I'm pretty sure he did a deep dive on how it works a couple of months ago. Some of his videos explaining how the game works may help. But basically what happens to one building of a certain colour can spread out onto other buildings of the same colour. So when one starts to alarm check the others of the same colour too. Hope thats somewhat helpful!