Thunderworks Games Tenpenny Parks, Red

Product Information

Also stated on the Season card is an effect that comes into play for this first season alone. It could be something such as gaining extra resources in particular circumstances. Or, some Park cards could come with token discounts if claimed this Season. But more about that later! Relight My Fire; That Park Card Is My Only Desire There is a slight question mark over the replayabilty of Tenpenny Parks, I could see it becoming a bit repetitive if it wasn’t mixed in with plays of other games, but as it doesn’t take too long, it will always be welcome at my table. Tenpenny Parks is much simpler than your typical euro game, and plays in roughly an hour. Also unlike many euro games, the rules are crystal clear and concise. In fact, this might be the simplest euro-style game I’ve played – more on that later. Tenpenny Parks breaks its five rounds into five steps: income, actions, bonuses, advertising, and cleanup. Players can then choose to pay money to advertise their attractions. Each attraction has a different advertising cost and each attraction can only be advertised once per round. Advertising attractions will generate points.

And if I play Tenpenny Parks with core gamers, they will still enjoy themselves. I’ll just expect them to label the game as too light. No problem. I’m going to put it on the table because lighter games like this balance a night with heavier content nicely.

Disclaimer

Before we start, what’s the aim of Parks? It’s always wise to establish how to win a board game, when digesting the rules – or explaining them to others! Parks is a worker placement game for 1-5 players, with elements of set collection. The game lasts for four rounds –‘Seasons’– and during this time, you’ll aim to visit national parks. You’ll earn tokens, take photos, use hiking gear, and spend tokens to claim park cards. The player with the most points at the end of the fourth season wins the game. Sigh With Happiness During Set-Up

My Comments: A lot of the variables change from game to game so that the puzzle the game offers will always be different.

Key Facts

After that players may advertise during the Advertising Step. Each build attraction comes with an Advertising option that lets you convert money into VP. Remember that Season card you flipped over? Sat in its bottom-right corner is a weather forecast. This is a pattern combination of Sunshine and Water. Ignoring the first Trail Tile (and the Trailhead and Trail End), place one token per tile, left to right. Match and repeat the weather pattern according to the Season card. You should now have single tokens across five of the six Trail Tiles. (Or six of seven, if playing with higher player counts, as stated earlier.) In Tenpenny Parks you have five rounds (months) to transform the humble town of Fairview into the home of the world’s greatest theme parks. During the Actions Step players take turns placing their workers onto the main game board. By doing so players may remove trees, expand their property, gain money and build concessions and attractions.

As long as you tailor the experience to your audience, Tenpenny Parks will land well. Hardcore/serious gamers will want to look elsewhere. For everyone else, let’s talk about why I think Tenpenny Parks works so well! At the time of writing, we’re still in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Trips away and idyllic plans got put on pause. We’ve had to cancel holidays, and travelling to far-flung places is a case of fuhgeddaboudit. It’s fortunate then that Parks allows you to visit national parks around the US, from the comfort of your own home. If you’re not familiar with this game already, fear not. I’ll be explaining how to play Parks from set-up to conclusion. You have two Hikers, remember. Once your first hiker reaches the Trail End, you get to flip your Campfire token alight again. (So once again, if you want, you can visit an occupied tile). When it comes to moving your Hikers, you can move one on one turn, and the other on a later turn. Or, you could move one again and again – the choice is yours. Once both of your Hikers reach the Trail End, you’re done for the Season.

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At some point, you’ll either run out of Trail, or you’ll opt to move one of your Hikers to the Trail End. When you move here, you’re presented with a few options, and you can perform any one of them. You could decide to Reserve a Park. To do this, you place your Hiker in the top space on the Trail End. If you’re the first player to place in this option this season, you also claim the First Hiker Token for next Season. Later players can also Reserve Park cards too, but not with an extra benefit.

Tenpenny Parks is a super tight board game. Lots of options that are limited by other player’s choices and the relatively constrictive gameplay. There are so many things you would like to do, but so few workers to do them with. Some may find this restrictive gameplay too much, especially at three or four players. Construct rides through the stone age, the American old west, the age of fantasy, the cosmos of space, and the depths of the sea! A Feast for Odin is a classic. A Feast for Odin is ranked as the #22 game all-time on BGG; it might be the best game of its type ever made.The second option is buying a Gear card instead. Remember you dealt three out during set-up? Gear cards provide game-long benefits in Parks, or provide immediate rewards. They might be permanent discounts off Visiting Park cards. Or they might be means to fill your Canteens at certain points. There are 36 of them, so plenty of variety! Gear cards cost a range of Sunshine tokens. Are you the first player to place in this option this season? You gain one Sunshine token (so a -1 discount, if you like). Later players can also buy Gear cards, but don’t get the Sunshine token benefit. Your goal? Build the best theme park. A heavier design might turn Tenpenny Parks into a simulation with lots more nuts and bolts around staffing, or ride maintenance, or events that might change the rules of a particular round. In my opinion, it does, to a point. In terms of the game itself, you will find a worker-placement game at its core. Players control two hikers that must hike across a seasonal trail that changes each round, becoming longer each season. Along this trail, players will be able to take actions, such as obtaining resources or taking photos for points or filling canteens to activate abilities which will benefit them throughout the game. The resources gained during the walking of the trail can then be used to visit certain parks that are available on the board. Filling parks with attractions is perhaps the heartiest puzzle in Tenpenny Parks, but takes only one or two tries to solve. Players, myself included, usually fall for the trap of using concessions to grab early placement bonuses, before realizing there’s no longer any room for attractions. Once you’ve learned from that mistake and familiarize yourself with the placement rules, you’ve mastered Tenpenny Parks. At the end of each month, rewards are given to the player with the park that best exemplifies raw emotions (Thrill, Awe, and Joy). After five months, the player with the most VP tokens wins!