Parks

Parks is a great game for the hikers who love the beauty of the world. In Parks you compete against your opponents to try and have the most memorable year after playing through 4 seasons. Who has the most fun is measured by points scored through visiting parks or taking pictures. You can visit parks and take pictures by spending resources that are gained by traveling through that season's trail. Although you have to be careful as traveling to a space with another hiker will put out your campfire, limiting you to how many times you can share a space with an opponent and allowing opponents to block you from gaining necessary materials. You can pick up gear or land on special tiles along the trail that help you out along the way, whether it's trading for materials that you might need more of or snapping a picture and gaining the camera. All of the game's artwork and tokens are very well made and fun to look at. Parks can be played individually or with up to five players, taking somewhere from 40-70 minutes to complete and is best for age ranges 10 and up. 

I enjoyed the learning curve of this game as I started out less confident but by the end of my first game I felt a lot more confident with how the rules work and how to strategize. I also enjoyed how easy it was to learn and feel comfortable with. The instructions were easy to read and simple to look back on if we had questions about specifics. Once I felt more comfortable, strategizing ahead became really fun. Planning out moves and hoping your opponents don’t take materials or steal spaces from you is really fun. There are also many routes you can go on with strategy, like buying gear to help you along the way or trying to complete your individual goal that is private to the rest of the table. I think that the balance of strategy and the simplicity of the game make it really enjoyable and not very high pressure and a more relaxing experience. I would recommend picking up Parks if you are looking for a new game to have fun with.

Parks is available now from our webstore.