Who doesn’t love a good walk in the park or a stroll down a trail? I love to get out and enjoy nature and see all the wonderful parks and scenes around the country. But what about a trip down every park on our game table? Let’s see what that looks like together!
Parks is published by Keymaster Games and is designed by Henry Audubon with art by Josh Emrich and Lisk Feng. It plays 1-5 players in approx 30-45 mins.
Overview:
In Parks players control pairs of hikers traveling along a trail over the course of four seasons, representing a year. The goal is to visit and claim National Park cards by using resources collected along the trail. Players will also be able to get equipment and canteen supplies to help build their collection. Photos of great locations will also round out your collection. The player with the most points at the end wins!
Gameplay:
At the start of the game, the trail is formed with unique abilities that will be shuffled and switched each round. These are placed down the line between the beginning trailhead and an end tile. Each location provides a specific action, usually allowing players to gain resources such as forest, mountain, water, sun, or wildlife tokens which are wild resources. Each player receives two hikers, a canteen token and their player board.
On a player’s turn, they move one of their hikers forward along the trail to an unoccupied space. When the hiker lands on a location they take the resources present and the action of the tile above that spot. Hikers can only move forward, and once a hiker reaches the end tile, it remains there until the season ends. Some locations allow players to take photos or gain gear cards along with resources. Gear cards provide ongoing abilities or one-time effects that modify how players collect resources or score points.
The PARKS spot will allow you to visit or reserve park cards. Players may claim a park card by paying the listed resource cost, either from their supply. Claimed parks are placed in front of the player and contribute to their final score. Reserved park cards are kept along the side of your board and can be claimed later, preventing other players from taking them.
A season ends when all players’ hikers have reached the end of the trail. At that point, the trail is refreshed, new park cards are revealed for the next season, and the season bonus is determined and rewarded for the bonus it gives. After the fourth season, the game ends and players score points from claimed parks, photos, bonuses from gear, and any endgame objectives. The player with the highest total score wins!
Impressions:
I really enjoyed the original print of this game and getting to experience the new version was a blast. The game is easy to understand and as such it was like riding a bike-a quick review of the rules and we were back to it! The gameplay was similar with just a few things that felt new to me.
The art style is vibrant and new in this version and I got to say, I love it. It is smooth, the canteen and bag player boards are really nice and the parks cards are gorgeous. You can tell a lot of time was put into the style of this game and it really shows on the table.
As far as gameplay goes, this is a game that I would consider light to light plus. Most non-gamers will pick it up easily and those with any experience in the gaming world will latch on without a problem. Plan to teach this one once and have people ready to come back for more!
Overall Parks is a light and fun game that is bound to be a hit for your next family game night or a casual time around the table with friends. So grab your backpack, fill up the canteen and let’s all head out to the trailhead to see how we fare in Parks!
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