Strap on your hiking boots and dust off your travel mug—this is my honest review of Parks. As someone who’s tried too many board games (my friends are still recovering from my Catan phase), I can tell you Parks stands out for all the right reasons. From jaw-dropping art to clever gameplay, I’ve roped a bunch of pals into this one and lived to share the tale. Whether you’re a board game newbie or a seasoned hiker of cardboard trails, I’m here to spill the beans: Is this walk in the park worth your precious game night?
How It Plays
Setting up
First, lay out the trail tiles in a line. Place the season card, park cards, gear cards, and canteens nearby. Give each player two hikers, a canteen, and a fun little token. Get your camera ready because it helps later. Everyone starts at the trailhead. Try not to knock over the beautiful trees and mountains like I always do.
Gameplay
On your turn, move one of your hikers forward on the trail. You can go as far as you want, but you can’t share a space unless you use your campfire. Each spot lets you gather resources—sun, water, mountain or forest tokens. Sometimes you’ll take photos, grab gear, or fill canteens for extra stuff. When your hiker reaches the end of the trail, you can visit and buy a national park with your resources. You can also take a photo (if you’re crafty) or select a gear/card if you want.
Winning the game
After four hikes (one for each season), count your victory points from parks, photos, and secret year cards. Whoever has the most points wins. If you tie, you both get bragging rights and the chance to tease your group until the next hike. Just remember: be prepared for someone to claim they just played for the scenery.
Want to know more? Read our extensive strategy guide for Parks.
Stunning Scenery: Art and Components in Parks
If you’ve ever wanted to hang a board game on your living room wall, Parks is the one. The artwork is so gorgeous, I half expected Bob Ross to pop out from behind a tree and compliment my route choices. The game features illustrations from over 35 different artists, and wow, it shows. Each card bursts with color and detail. I often found myself pausing the game, just to stare at the cards—and occasionally to make my friends jealous of my national park knowledge. The landscapes are so pretty, I almost forgot I was losing. Almost.
Let’s talk components. I’ve seen my fair share of cheap game pieces—ones that feel like they’d fall apart if you sneeze near them. Parks does not have this problem. The wooden hiker tokens are chunky and satisfyingly heavy, kind of like those weird rocks you collect on vacation and then never know where to put. All the resource tokens are shaped like actual things: little water droplets, cute suns, chunky mountains. Bonus points for the campfire token, which is so adorable it distracted me during my first play. Even the insert inside the box is top-notch; the pieces fit perfectly instead of rattling around like loose change in my dad’s car.
The quality of Parks makes setting up and playing a real treat. No fiddling with blurry cards or wobbly tokens. The whole production screams, “Hey, take me seriously!”—but not so seriously that you can’t have a good laugh when you run out of canteens. Component quality here really does make you feel like you’re out on the trail, minus the bug bites.
But how does it actually play with real, live humans? Let’s grab our hiking boots and head for the Gameplay and Player Interaction section, where the real adventure begins.
How Parks Brings People Together: Gameplay and Player Interaction
Playing Parks with my friends quickly turned into a mix of gentle elbowing, light-hearted complaints, and a surprising amount of trail rage. Don’t let the peaceful national park theme fool you — there’s plenty of competition as you move your hiker meeple along the modular trail. Each turn, you can only move forward, so the tension builds faster than I do when someone grabs the last donut.
Parks nails that perfect balance of being friendly but just cutthroat enough. Blocking someone from getting to their favorite site is a classic move in our group. It never gets old seeing Karen’s face when I claim that waterfall photo she’s been eyeing for ten minutes. It’s a game where you pay attention to what others want almost as much as you focus on your own path — like a nosy hiker peeking into everyone’s picnic basket.
The resource gathering in Parks is smooth. You collect sun, water, mountains, and forest tokens, and turn them in to visit parks at the end of the trail. There is some luck in what gets revealed, but it rarely feels unfair — you can plan, but you also need to adapt. There’s a shared canteen and gear market, which turns up sneaky little ways to mess with your plans or help you out just when you need it.
The mix of light strategy and interaction makes Parks shine for both chill and competitive groups. Now, let’s pull on our boots and wander into the wild world of replay value and strategy — trust me, you’ll want to pack some snacks for this next part.
Replay Value and Clever Strategies in Parks
If there’s one thing I love about Parks, it’s that you can never really play the same game twice—and trust me, I tried. Each session, the trail tiles shuffle up, making every hike a fresh trek. There’s enough variety in the gear, canteens, and season cards to keep your inner strategist on their toes. Even after my sixth playthrough (yes, my closet is basically a board game shrine), I still found new paths to try and new combos to chase after.
You might think, ‘How many ways can you walk down a cardboard trail?’ Turns out, a lot. One game, I hoarded canteens like a squirrel with trust issues. Another time, I grabbed all the gear I could and pretended to be a park ranger with the world’s biggest backpack. Every strategy matters, but you’ve got to watch what the other hikers—aka my snack-thieving friends—are plotting too. Blocking spots, snatching parks before others, or taking a surprise photo at just the right moment—it all shifts your game, so no snoozing at the table.
What’s great is that Parks rewards both planners and opportunists. You can focus on collecting certain resources, or play a flexible game and react to what’s left on the trail. Either way, the game’s length feels just right—nobody gets stuck in analysis paralysis (unless they’re distracted by the art again).
Get your rain jackets ready, folks, because next we’re splashing right into the muddy puddle that is: Luck vs. skill in Parks!
The Tug of War: Luck vs. Skill in Parks
If you’ve ever played Parks and found yourself mumbling, “Come on, can I please just land on that water tile?” then congratulations—you’re not alone. It’s a game that throws just enough randomness at you to keep things spicy, but not enough to make you hurl your canteen out the window.
Most of the game rides on your choices. You have to plan your route, manage your resources, and out-think your hiking buddies. Do you race ahead and grab the first shiny gear card? Or do you dawdle at the back hoping your friends clear the path for you? There’s a real sense of agency in every move. It feels good when your plan pays off, and even better when you squeeze in a park visit right before someone else snags it.
But luck isn’t totally out for a picnic. The season cards mix things up, and you never know what weather will toss free sunshine or rain at you. Sometimes you set up the perfect turn, and boom—a friend nabs the tile you need. That’s life on the trail, I guess. Still, luck never feels unfair. It keeps you on your toes, but skill is what gets you those gorgeous park cards.
Would I recommend Parks? Absolutely. Unless you hate beautiful art, clever strategy, or fun—then maybe just stick to Monopoly. For everyone else, lace up your boots!
Conclusion
Parks is the kind of game that makes you want to pack a rucksack and hit a hiking trail, but with much less sweating. Its art is gorgeous, the pieces feel great in your hands, and the rules are fair – so it gets a big thumbs up from me and my game group. There’s enough strategy to keep you thinking, and just a hint of luck to keep things fresh. Sometimes the competition for spots on the trail can make you want to “accidentally” knock over your friend’s water bottle, but that’s half the fun. If you want a game that’s as easy on the eyes as it is on your brain, Parks deserves a spot on your shelf. That wraps up my review—now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go stare wistfully at landscape tokens.
