PARKS Review - with Zee Garcia

hey hey everybody Zhi Garcia here and today we're gonna be going on a year-long hiking expedition trying to visit as many scenic places as possible in parks in this game each player is going to have two hikers and they're going to be moving those hikers along a path in order to collect resources manage a few different things and ultimately visit some amazing parks they're gonna be doing that four times one time for each season so that's the general idea of the game it's a fairly straightforward game with a couple of interesting little choices and some resource management's along the way so we're gonna go ahead and take a look at this game we'll come on back after that and I'll tell you what I think of it here we're gonna be taking a look at a game with three players the objective of the game after four seasons of running through this board here is going to be to have the most victory points possible and those victory points are going to come from a few different things but mainly from visiting parks which are these cards and they'll give you in this case four points five points two points and so on you're going to get victory points from pictures you've taken along the way and each one of these pictures is going to be worth one victory point is listed on the back and then also from your year card which has a secret mission something you are trying to accomplish for a few bonus points and that's largely it so the game here is set up for the first season there's only one final thing I need to do and that is flip over one of these season cards it's going to do two things it will give you a special power or restriction for the year and then it shows a pattern down here at the bottom and we're going to replicate that pattern on these tiles out here starting from the second one we're skipping the first one so it's a sunshine water sunshine is the pattern so sunshine water and sunshine again or splendor and then again and there and it ends right there we don't put any on the final top and then we are ready to begin I am the start player so I have this token here the player to my right ie the last player gets the camera which has the reminder for how it works right on the back of it set that aside for now and then we're ready to begin so on my turn what I do is I pick one of my two hikers I'm playing blue in this case and I'm going to move that character up as far as I want to and I will do the action on that top so for example let's say the very first thing I want to do is go here and I'm going to get one treat I also get if there's anything on the tile I get that so I'm taking both of these tokens and I put them in front of myself start gathering resources so I can buy these parts later on and then the next player would go and the next player might go let's say right there to the very first one they get a mountain and then the next player would go now you cannot normally go where there is someone already so this player for example could not go there because I'm already there however you may do that if you exhaust your fireplace you turn it over to the side that is exhausted and you can visit a place where someone already is and then that'll stay unlit until you make it all the way to the end over here with one of your characters you will realize that fire one other thing that each player begins with is a canteen I have my canteen right here the way this works is anytime you take water so let's say you know I have a character of the jumps all the way over here I get my two splendor there and this water you may put that water on a canteen right when you get it that's the only time you can do it and you take whatever it says in this case I can turn that into a mountain for my reserve here so that's how canteens work and you will be able to get more throughout the game so let's go ahead and go over these tiles now so you understand what it is they do most of them are very obvious right the mountains and the forest there the ocean the valley you get those things and then the the other two here you see this is a standard tile that lets you either take a canteen or take a photo if you take a photo you pay any two resources and you take one of these photos and then you get the camera if you already have the camera it costs you only one resource and you keep the camera and then at the end of the season you can take one more picture again for a single resource that's what the camera is so to move around the players usually giving you that discount for the images and then this one over here is one of four special tiles randomly put into this display you know they get shuffled up and laid out this one happens to say you can throw two things into two different things not wild and wild are there animal shapes and they're all whatever you want them to be right there all difference actually all the little animal shapes so at the end of this season we would take another one of these and add it in as well shuffle them up so the path is longer by one tile the next time and then by 2 and then by 3 so in the final season they're all in play they'll randomly laid out and so what these do is this one lets you turn any one thing into a wild resource this one's gonna let you take some bonus actions before you got to the end of the trailers which is where you normally do these things and then this won't let you copy where another hiker is standing by spending one water so that's what they do so this is going to continue the players advancing either one of their hikers up somewhere and so they finally come into the end here and there at the end you have three choices the top one so the first thing that happens is you relied your campfire if it's out the top one is you can reserve a park if you're the very first person there you take the star player token and then you can reserve a part you can take one of these set it aside in front of you somewhere to complete later on and we would replenish that like so the next one anyone else who goes there of course still can reserve but they no longer get the star player token the next one below that lets you buy gear if you're the first player in there you're going to get one splendor and then you can buy gear this is the gear they have a cost on the top and they let you bend or break some rules in the game after that no one gets a splendor but you can still buy gear and there are two spots for splendor we with four players and the final one at the bottom let you visit a park which is how you buy the parks or visit them you spend the necessary goods you take it put it in your scouring pile and then we replenish it you can also of course complete one you have previously reserved by visiting a park so that's how that works this is going to continue with all the players moving along taking these different actions as they show up you know until you have a single player left on the track or a single pawn I should say left on the track at that point they just have to come in they don't get to slowly work out through the rest of this so they'll come in they'll buy some you know gear will replenish that gear and then we start the next season in which will replenish you know anything on these to be done we will go ahead and shuffle all these up add one as I said and then send everybody back to the trailhead again and set up the line once more whatever has a star player token it is going to be the star player for the next round and we can once again begin so that's basically it there we go so that might be the next run-through it's season 2 we also make sure that we take this card put it at the bottom of the pile draw a new one and set it up in this case it says parks are gonna cost one less water to visit and the pattern across the bottom is water splendor water so it would go skipping the first one water splendor water water splendor water and so on first person to visit it gets that thing you do that four times then at the end of the game we are going to add up this score we are going to add up our secret bonus rightly a year car in this case this one says that if I've got six splendor on parks that visited and I've taken three pictures at least I get two points if I have done ten splendor on parks and I've taken five pictures then I'm gonna get three points and these are just small bonuses you know they all work like that that's the and you deal two of these to every player they pick one the rest are just set aside so there you go and then finally also the pictures like I said are worth one point and this is worth a single point at the end of the game as well don't forget at the end of the season meaning when everyone is here whoever has the camera can take one more picture for any one token and that'll be a victory point when everything is said and done so there you go that's how that works you do have a token limit in the game you have a few things to manage more canteens which do clear out at the end of a season you might grab more of those get your gear for discounts and new powers and so forth but it's a fairly straightforward affair I think by now you sort of understand how travelling works where you're making your victory points and you know how the sec collection is the central part of the game so let's go back up top now that you've seen this and let me tell you what I think of a game and that is parts from key master games I have to say I mean I'm a fan of key master games they have a handful of games but I'm usually very excited when they announce something that's coming out and their game just lovingly produced they always look good and they're just there's a lot of care and a precision that goes into their game manufacturing game making so I'm gonna go ahead and dive into it I have a very minor ding to it and that is replayability the game has a decent amount going on but I could see the same sort of things becoming perhaps a little repetitious if you play the game a lot again this is a very minor nitpick because I do like this game a lot overall so with that out of the way let's dive into the rest of it the thematic ties and the setting here are lovely they're very nice the idea of traveling of always pushing forward of seeking new places and managing all of your things you know what you've discovered along the way if you would if you buy into that theme it's a very lovely theme it's a this is not the first time I'm gonna say this but it's a very charming theme this game has a lot of charm in it the aesthetics the only thing I wrote down in my notes here was in all capital letters amazing and this looks amazing everything about it is superb it's a gorgeous looking game the iconography in it is very well used but it's light you know it's not overbearing it is a stunning game I could see tons of people buying this game just because of the gorgeous look of it and honestly I wouldn't fall it's a single person for doing that this is a piece of artwork you know a lot of pieces of artwork actually the game length the first time you play might feel a little sloped playing all four seasons but that'll go away very quickly I think and I do like the fact that each season is going to be slightly longer than the last there's also one tile by the way that's a common tile in the path that you would have added in there with four players so it would be one longer anyway with four players I think the plans you put in motion you need all four seasons because the plans you put in motion you know the way you're gathering things the way you reserved something to complete next season hopefully and there is a there's definitely some nice rising tension especially during that final season where you wanna you want to come in just at the right time at the end you know it's this idea of I want to go slowly because I want to get a lot of things but I want to go quickly because I need to be the first one to grab that card I like that that's a great it feels both tense and freeform and that's a nice balance you know not a lot of games are able to pull off of that that idea of like oh you didn't you can move ahead anywhere you want also if you pass a place you can go back and if you take too long someone else will take the thing you want at the end of the trail so I really enjoy that there's also with more players especially that idea of I've got to get one of my guys in just so I can relight the campfire cuz I got to visit some things that are being blocked right now great really nice little little touch not as important with fewer players but a very important aspect of the game with with more so there you go ease of play there's one thing I have an issue with and that is in the rulebook I can't quite tell but I think this is correct you have a token limit of 12 tokens I wish that was more clearly spelled out the only place it's referenced is in an icon iconography where is it here yeah icon reference it's listed in the icon reference limit of 12 players can carry up to 12 tokens with them if you have more than 12 discard down to 12 that's I can't find it anywhere else that should have really been folded into the regular rules because that page looks skippable and so I'm a little concerned about that I think that's correct 12 tokens I'm fairly certain that it feels right so you know but that's that's really yet everything else is very well done sometimes I also forgot about that bonus picture at the end of the trail when you come in if you have the camera get a bonus picture for for one token but other than that it is an easy game to play they do give you a nice amount of references the iconography is well done like I said so it helps to remind you of the things you can do there's also solitaire mode in here which is very nice its pleasant you know it isn't revolutionary but it does its job well it's it's neat how I liked it all right and then lastly tactics and strategy and luck yes there's actually not a ton of luck here besides things being taken before you're ready for them to be taken and so that goes away and you flip over a new card right other than that you know exactly what you're getting when you go to a tile so there's a nice amount of strategy quote-unquote but it becomes tactical because of other players getting in your way and I like that I like seeing the path and then having jerks mess with it having the idea of of players blocking you jumping to places you were hoping to go one turn before you did it things like that so it feels interactive but in a generally in dire act way and that jives with me I like that style of play so overall I really like parks like I said beautiful game one that you kind of want to keep around just cuz it's it's a stunning game and it feels like I said charming and like in celebration this game feels celebratory and I like that very much about it so my bottom line is as follows a stunningly produced game that manages to feel both personal and like a communal celebration of national parks this is gonna get an 8 out of 10 from me very high marks here and therefore it's gonna get a seal of approval I definitely recommend you check this one out it's a loving lovingly produced and lovely game that I think would fit into a lot of people's collections and then it's one that feels just right there's an intangible sense of family that comes in this box I think you're gonna enjoy it with your loved ones so there you go that is parks again seal of approval from me I'm Zhi Garcia everybody thanks for checking this out I'll see you on the next one thanks so much for watching another diced our video if you enjoy our videos subscribe to the channel for more fun comprehensive board game coverage also consider joining us at one of our events come to diced our retreat a small intimate gathering where gaming is king join us for diced our cruise the largest board game cruise attended ice tower West in Las Vegas for gaming fun on the west coast or diced our East in Orlando in sunny Florida diced our conventions the friendliest gaming conventions on earth I'm Eric summer and you've been watching the dice tower

Channel: The Dice Tower

Views: 78,042

Rating: 4.9466667 out of 5

Keywords: board game, board, game, dice, card game, cards, catan, monopoly, tower, dice tower, vasel, review, tom vasel, vassel, settlers, gaming, board game review, boardgame, uno, ticket to ride, apples to apples, educational games, educational, top 10, GeekUsername: zunyer

Id: hG8VtH4mnoc

Length: 17min 27sec (1047 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 31 2019