Parks Board Game - Simplified

Parks is a board game by Keymaster Games who did not authorize these changes to the rules. I receive no payment or remuneration for the following suggestions.

Many critiques of the board game Parks is that it is too complex to play with children or anyone not very confident with certain board game conventions.  Below is my attempt to simplify the game to be more enjoyable! Take them for what they are intended as suggestions or “house rules” you can modify further on your own with creative ideas so the game is fun for you which is the entire point of games! 

Basic/Simple Play
For youngsters
1.Use the Park cards to identify colors and names of animals. 

2. Read the fun fact about the park and find the state on a map of the US states and territories.

3. Use Park cards as story starters. How long can you use that scene to make up one sentence per person and tell a brand new tale? You can have the children draw their story and tell it to the group. 

For others
1. This version strips away a lot of the complicated factors.  No canteens, no campfire rule, no parks,  no season or year-end goal, no advanced sites, no photos. No limit on the number of tokens one can have.  If a site specifies an action, the player may pass without taking the action without penalty.

2. Use one hiker per person. Begin by moving your hiker to a spot on the trail. Collect the token indicated. Only move left to right toward the trail end.  Do four rounds, then count your tokens.  The player with the most wins. 

Intermediate Play
This version incorporates some of the normal elements to make the game just a bit more challenging and eases some of the normal rules. Begin at the Trail Head and move left to right to the Trail End. Take the tokens and perform the optional action.

1. Parks are free.  When a Parks card is collected, read the fun fact about it to everyone.

2. There is no Year Card with extra point goals.  

3. Everyone gets to use the camera card once a turn if they like. Trade one token for a picture. Pass the Camera to the right at the end of the turn.

4. Each player can buy gear once per turn if they have one Sunshine token to spend.

5. Everyone starts with two Canteen Cards. Feel free to put water in the canteens anytime you have it.  Use filled canteens to trade a water token for the tokens or action on the Canteen Card. 

6. Agree how many hikers everyone will use - one or two hikers, moving to empty sites only. If everyone plays with one hiker the game is shorter, two hikers is a bit longer. If playing with 2 hikers, you may be on the same site together. The campfire rule does not apply as it would normally.

7. At Trail End, empty canteens and either buy gear or visit a park for free. Collect the Parks cards.

8. At the end of four rounds (the year) everyone counts their tokens and parks cards to see who has the most.