Park (Second Edition) Board Game Review
Blog Andrew Joseph 24 May , 2025 0
When the original park was released in 2019, it quickly became a modern classic, thanks in large part to its gorgeous artwork celebrated the American National Park. See us Review Details about the first edition. But Keymaster Games not only took a fresh piece of paint on the second edition, it also called it a day. Instead, it thoughtfully combines basic games with extensions, simplifying gameplay, updating visuals and introducing new features while retaining this comfortable gaming feel.
The result is that it feels like a sequel and revision. Either way, the second edition of the park is a great excuse to climb the trails, take some photos and fill the cafeteria again.
Park (Second Edition)
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Like the original version, the second edition of the park is packed in a beautifully designed box filled with components of its iconic design. Most importantly, you will find an easy-to-follow texture, high-quality rulebook, and include a QR code that can be linked to a useful video if you are willing to learn by watching.
Although the park plays the game relatively simply, it includes various components. Two log-shaped containers hold the game's colorful wooden tokens, representing the resources you collect while hiking the trails. Below these is a triple game board with obvious space on it that can easily guide you through settings. The game board has been completely redesigned and expanded and has a brand new permanent trail area, canteen tiles drafting area and more.
The real standout is the built-in storage tray at the bottom of the box, the best I've seen in over 60 board games I have. Everything from tokens and tiles to dice and cards has its place, and they are effectively packaged to keep the game’s footprints compact while making it a breeze. The tray is available on the park, gear, passion, ranger Teddy and volunteer project cards, as well as solo reference cards, season and campground tiles, photo and hiker tokens, off-road website tiles and more.
Each player will get a plank with an empty backpack and water bottle, with clearly marked sections around the edges to organize visits and reserved parks, purchased gear, and more. The backpack can hold up to 12 resources, while the water bottle has six spaces for canteen tiles that you can fill while playing.
One of the biggest updates in the second edition is the extended card set, which now includes all 63 American National Park, higher than the original park. The card features brand new artwork and clean iconography that better matches game updates and a more colorful design. Although some fans may miss it Fifty-nine park printing seriesArt Nouveau feels more cohesive and is perfect for the rest of the game's style. Each card includes the name of the park, its founding date, and a brief brief about what makes it unique.
Rules and how they play
The gameplay in the second edition of Parks is a simplified work of the original, combining two extended elements. The goal is simple: score the most by hiking trails, visiting the park, taking photos and completing optional goals.
To set up, each player rides a pair of hikers and matching player boards. They will also receive a random canteen symbol placed on the board, and if played with more than three players, the bonfire icon will turn to its lit side. Each player will then issue two passion cards and select one to keep and discard the other. Finally, the first hiker token was given to the designated starter player.
Passion Cards provides small themed goals to chase during the game, such as visiting a park with specific icons, taking photos with wildlife tokens, or buying gear from a material store. Once done, you can flip the card to select one of two rewards: the last effect of the rest of the game, or the final game reward with the final score increasing points. Some passions are easier to accomplish than others, and I usually tend toward final game bonuses because these extra points are usually the difference between winning and losing.
Each round of the park takes place in one of three seasons: spring, summer or autumn. At the beginning of the game, all three seasons are drawn randomly, each offering unique rewards, such as rewarding players for collecting most of a specific resource or visiting the park with certain icons. While no additional points are given in spring and summer, the fall prizes receive three bonuses, making the winner particularly attractive. Players can choose to ignore these goals, but they provide useful incentives if they are aligned with your goals.
In turn, the player moves two hikers forward along the trajectory, collecting resources or performing actions on the trail location tiles above the space where they land. Since you can only move forward, careful planning is key. Off-road tiles can provide specific resources such as sun, water, forests and mountains; allow you to buy gear from the store; allow you to take photos by exchanging any resources or adding tokens in the canteen; scrolling the trails as random rewards; or swap any resources for wildlife tokens (properly acting as wild resource tokens). Each tiles shuffle each season to keep things fresh and unpredictable, except for the park space permanently located in the middle of the trail.
Landing on a park space, you can keep the park or visit the park by paying for its resource costs. If you have enough resources, you can even access multiple parks in the same round, this is crucial for scoring points. Therefore, it is usually the most popular attraction on the board. Thankfully, there are no restrictions on how many parks you can keep, and there is no penalty for not visiting them until the game is over. However, since you can't keep and visit the same action, every choice on this space brings real weight.
Parks are ultimately a game about opportunity cost. Ask a question for every move: What am I going to give up here? Many off-road sites offer one-time bonus resources, so players are competing to catch what they are able to catch before others beat it. Since each season is unique and unless you use a bonfire to light it, you won’t be able to share space with another player (including yourself), every decision is important. You might skip to get key resources or reach a specific website, but doing so means sacrificing everything you’ve walked along the way without the chance to go back until the next season.
Like many people Worker placement gamethe real strategy in the park is to use hikers from both sides to stop opponents from collecting critical resources or taking valuable actions. In high player count games, the trail can quickly become crowded, so refreshing the bonfire to share space is crucial. In the lower player count game, there is more room for breathing, allowing you to slow down and hit more points along the trail. When players reach the end of the trail, they choose one of three actions: take a park action, pay for any resources to take pictures or buy gear. The first hiker to reach each space also receives a one-time reward and adds motivational avenues. This constant push and pull slows down to collect resources and compete in front of rewards, a truly special seasoning that makes the park shine.
Since your backpack can only hold 12 resources, you need to spend resources to carefully manage inventory if possible, otherwise you may discard valuable resources at the end of the turn. By contrast, the canteen offers flexible bonuses whenever you collect water. You can place water in your backpack based on what you collect, and instead insert it into the cafeteria to get resources or perform actions. Some tiles can even have powerful effects, such as taking important park actions. Once used, the canteen bonus is unavailable until the next season, and time is important. Overall, they are a clever way to provide players with alternative pathways, not just relying on open trail spaces.
Another way to earn points on the trail is to take photos. This is most often done by using photo icons to access the trail site or end space of the trail where you can exchange any single resource for a photo worth a point. The player with the most photos at the end of the game also earns bonus points, which gives you a good reason to snap up a few along the way. If you land with a shutter badge, you will claim you can take a second photo every time you use the photo action, as long as you can pay. However, the token can be taken away by other players, so make the most of it while you are.
During your adventure, you will have the opportunity to visit the Gear Shop and purchase items to help you along the trails. The cost of gears ranges between one and three solar resources, depending on the effect. Although the equipment does not directly win points, it provides light Engine construction Opportunities such as getting reward resources at specific trail sites, filling up the cafeteria after certain actions, or refreshing the bonfire more often. That said, I found the gear store to be hit or missed unless it directly benefits from your overall game plan. Usually, you'd better save resources for visiting the park because that's the real point of view.
While Parks supports solos and up to five players, I found it best to have two or two or Three players. However, the strategy feels more eye-catching in both players (one Cooperating board gamethis is not). Regardless of the number of players, when only one player leaves the hiker on the trail, they have to move both hikers to the end of the next round. This rule prevents players from being too greedy as they may be rushing to catch up with every space as they may be rushed and missed more valuable opportunities. exist Two-Day Gamewhich is even more obvious, as one player can jump to the end as early as possible and force another player to skip potential turns.
Once your belt has been hiking a few times, you can add optional modules to the park to increase variety or increase difficulty. Camping mode introduces three tents to the trails, allowing you to choose from powerful bonuses. However, using a tent means you cannot collect resources or use the action on that trail site. Volunteer programs add more challenges by introducing restrictions that players must follow, such as spending extra resources when visiting parks, limiting the number of wildlife tokens you can hold, or allowing access to only parks you have already retained.
The park includes a complete Solo mode This keeps you in touch with Ranger Teddy, an automatic shooter of two groups of hikers who determine their movement by flipping the cards. Your goal is to achieve the highest score, which adds a lot of replayability. Ranger Teddy’s hikers do not collect resources, purchase gear or visit the park directly, but they discard these elements when landing on the corresponding space, effectively mimicking the pressure of competing players. Since their movements are often unpredictable, you need to keep your toes to succeed. You can also add Ranger Teddy to multiplayer to simulate more players on the trail and add some breeds.