Thunderworks Games Tenpenny Parks, Red

Product Information

After that players may advertise during the Advertising Step. Each build attraction comes with an Advertising option that lets you convert money into VP. 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.

It is safe to say that this game is certainly a bit of eye candy. But it is also a fantastic family game in addition to that. Personally, it will be a game that I play with my family during a holiday. Or a game I will get out to introduce people to the hobby. OK, it won’t be a go-to for me, but overall, I love PARKS. I think it has achieved a quality balance between, looks and function. Something we don’t often see, or at least to the level that PARKS has achieved. A delightfully looking game, with wholesome gameplay and a game that won’t disappoint! There is a lot to like about Tenpenny Parks. I love how streamlined the gameplay is, it offers up the same worker placement anxiety as something like Viticulture. You will weigh up and prioritise which of the few spaces you want, knowing the likelihood is, what you don’t choose could and probably will be taken away from you. If that sounds like it won’t frustrate you, Tenpenny Parks is an easy game to recommend.After the fifth round, players total up their VPs, including bonuses for end-game goals and secret objective cards. Most points wins. Rides will need to be carefully placed around trees and not touching other rides. Game Experience:

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 Alongside this artwork, you get a production value that is second to none. The first player token is a metal token with an enamel finish, itself being a beautiful addition to the game. The wooden tokens are well-produced, with the 12 unique wildlife tokens being a particular standout component. Everything about this game in terms of its looks and quality has been developed in such a beautiful way. I would say to most that this game is worth getting just for the artwork alone, but of course, a board game has to play well in addition to looking good. So, does it play well? My Comments: I think that worker placement and polyomino title placement is a good combination. Both of these mechanisms are very tactical while still requiring players to think strategically about what is happening next. More than once while playing Tenpenny Parks, someone compared its Tetris-like puzzle to A Feast for Odin, a much heavier game which features polyominoes and worker placement and buying side boards to continue building polyominoes across your tableau.

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 Her Comments: We used to have Steam Park and I think that game spoiled me with its 3D buildings. The theme comes through but I found myself wishing for a little bit more table presence. Again, Tenpenny Parks is the simplest euro style game I’ve played. For the record, I love simplicity in principle, especially when applied with precision, but simplicity can easily suffocate game design, which I will argue happens here. Tenpenny’s worker placement remains the obvious example. Worker placement without a limit of one worker per location is just vanilla action selection with extra steps. Thus, Tenpenny Parks is more an action selection game with a small zest of worker placement for one particular action. It’s got the flavor without any substance, like hotdog water.

But I lean light. I definitely lean lighter than A Feast for Odin (a BGG complexity of 3.85), and I struggle to get games like it to the table when I’m not playing with my heavy strategy gaming friends. 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. Making this activity more interesting: treeples! Yes, trees add not only a nice visual element to Tenpenny Parks, but also a hazard that must be accommodated to get those rides into your park. It’s certainly not a massive mental puzzle, but the different tile shapes add fun planning elements to each of your actions. OK, maybe it didn’t happen exactly like that, but anytime a new theme park board game is published, I immediately must have it. I’m not sure what is about this genre of games that attracts me so much, but I want to play them all. I mean, don’t even ask me how many hours I’ve logged in Planet Coaster… My Comments: I think the theme is delightful. The rides are imaginative with neat card art. The colorful art also helps deliver the theme.

Final thoughts on Tenpenny Parks

In a game with greater complexity, players can experiment with varying strategies and, ideally, leave the game with thoughts about what they would try differently next time. But in a system as simple as in Tenpenny Parks, players can try everything there is to try in only two games. Tiles can be placed differently, and decisions regarding emotion bonuses can differ, but that’s pretty much the fullest extent. Looking at the busy and intricate box art now, I almost feel lied to. We are using a custom rating scale. Each game will be evaluated by both of us on 1 to 10 scale in five areas. When combined, this creates a possible score out of 100. A gripe I have with the game is replay-ability. There is not much variability in set-up (besides the personal goals) and you use almost all attractions cards in higher player count games. Extension boards are also all very similar I feel they definitely could have done something there. After 5 plays the games are already starting to feel a bit the same.