Objective:

Score the most points by visiting national parks, taking photos, and completing your personal year-end objective throughout the four seasons.

What you'll need:

• Parks game board

• Four Season decks (containing park and resource cards)

• Park Reserve deck (for storing visited parks)

• Player boards (one per player)

• Wooden tokens (representing resources: Sun, Moon, Mountain, Tree)

• Wooden hiker pawns (two per player)

• Camera token (one per player)

• Year cards (personal objectives)

• Dice (one per player, optional, depending on the version)
  

Number of Players:

Parks can be enjoyed by 1 to 5 players.

Setup:

1. Unfold the Game Board: Place the game board in the center of the playing area. The board showcases a trail with camping spots and national parks to visit.

2. Separate the Season Decks: Shuffle each of the four Season decks (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) separately and place them face down within reach of all players.

3. Prepare the Park Reserve:  Shuffle the Park Reserve deck (containing visited park cards) and place it face down near the board.

4. Grab Your Player Board and Tokens: Each player receives a player board to track collected resources, visited parks, and score. They also get a set of wooden tokens representing the four resources (Sun, Moon, Moon, Tree) and two wooden hiker pawns.

5. Choose Starting Player: Determine who goes first (randomly or by specific rules depending on the version).

6. Deal Year Cards: Each player draws a face-down Year card that specifies a personal objective for them to achieve during the game (e.g., visiting a certain number of parks with a specific symbol).  Keep these cards hidden from other players.
   

Gameplay:

Parks is played over four rounds, representing the four seasons. Each round consists of several phases where players collect resources, visit parks, take photos, and move their hikers along the trail. Here's a breakdown of a typical round:

1. Resource Acquisition Phase:

• Each player reveals the top card of their chosen Season deck.  These cards depict national parks or resources.

• Players collect the resources shown on the revealed cards (Sun, Moon, Mountain, Tree tokens) adding them to their supply.

2. Park Visit or Reserve Phase:

• Players can choose to:**

  • Visit a Park: Spend the required resources (shown on the park card) from their supply to "visit" a park from the revealed cards or their face-up Reserve deck (if they previously reserved a park). They take the park card, placing it face up in their scoring area, and gain the points listed on the card. Visited parks are then shuffled into the Park Reserve deck.

  • Reserve a Park:  If a player doesn't have enough resources to visit a park outright, they can choose to "reserve" it.  They discard one resource and place the chosen park face up next to their player board, indicating they intend to visit it later.

3. Photo Taking Phase (Optional):

• Players can spend one resource token to take a photo using the camera token. This allows them to draw a card from the top of any Season deck, potentially revealing a valuable park or resource.

4. Hiking Phase:

• Players roll their dice (if the version uses dice) or take turns moving their hiker pawns along the trail on the game board.  Landing on specific camping spots might grant bonus resources or other benefits.

• The first player to reach the "Trail End" with both hiker pawns triggers the end of the season round.  Other players get a final chance to move their remaining hiker(s) as far as possible.

5. Season End:

• All players reveal their Year cards and score points based on their visited parks, photos taken, and the completion of their personal Year-end objective. The Year card itself might also grant bonus points.

• The player with the "First Hiker" marker (earned by being the first to reach Trail End in a season) scores an additional point.

• Discarded resource tokens are returned to the supply, and used Park cards are shuffled into the Park Reserve deck.

• Prepare for the next season by refilling the Season deck (if needed) and revealing new cards for the next round.
  

Winning the Game:

After all four seasons are played, the game ends.  Players reveal any remaining unvisited parks in their Reserve deck and score points for them. The player with the most points at the game'