Trails: A Parks Game

Lately, I’m finding that lightweight, quick to set-up and play games are my idea of relaxation. Throw in the beauty of Trails, a stand-alone game from the makers of the stunning PARKS, and I’m all in.

Trails is a two to four player resource management and collection game from the makers of Parks. Similar in theme, this more compact, travel friendly game offers interesting choices, stunning artwork and gentle, well-themed play.

Get Up & Go

For many of us, in our busy lives, a quick and simple set-up is welcome, and with Trails, you’re ready to go in a few minutes.

Each player is given their canteen, their hiker meeple, one of each resource and one secret badge card that only they will be able to obtain during the game.

The board pieces are shuffled and drawn at random to create the trail, with trailhead and trailend always being at the beginning and end respectively (the rules offer a set-up for first play through). The photo and badge decks are shuffled, and two badges are drawn and placed at either end of the trail.

The wooden components are placed nearby and the wildlife bear on the central board piece.

The sun is then placed at Trailend and you’re ready to hike!

Points are earned in three ways – by collecting badges, taking photographs and winning the Bird Trophy.

Badge Collecting

As you meander toward trailend and trailhead, you’ll have the opportunity to collect resources. These resources can then be exchanged for badges once you’re at either end of the trail. What makes the movement choice interesting here is that on occasion you’ll have to forego collect resources in order to reach trailhead/end first – however, if you’ve not collect enough resources along the way, you’re limiting your chances of being able to earn badges. It’s a delicate balance that can be easily thrown if you’ve not prepared as well as your competitors.

Acquiring badges can sometimes reward that player with an addition action – this can mean stacking more resources and having further opportunity to earn another badge, and can only be used at the moment of acquiring the badge.

Picture Perfect

Along the trail is a photo stop. When you stop at this point you may take a photograph – this is done in one of two ways. You can either:

Take the top two cards and choose one, discarding the other face up, or take the first photo from the deck.

Whichever way you choose, the photo you select to keep cannot be seen by your fellow players, and personally I don’t find players knowing which photo you discarded to be a detriment to your game.

The bonus to collecting these beautiful photographs is, if you’re lucky, you’ll have caught some birds in your images. The player who collects the most birds, either from photos or badges, will earn the bird trophy, worth four points.

The Hike End

Once the first player reaches trailend, the sun begins to set. From then on, every time a player lands on trailend the sun token moves one space to the left, and the tile the sun left behind is flipped to it’s night side. Night-time trail spaces offer different rewards, often in the way of more resources, but you need to be careful to manage your hand as you’re only able to carry eight resources with you by the end of your turn. This means the need for careful planning if you’re going to collect the badges you need and take advantage of their bonus actions without discarding resources.

When the sun reaches the final space, that player takes one bonus photo for free. Each player then gets one more turn to carry out final moves, before points are tallied and a winner declared!

Let’s Go ‘Round Again

A game of Trails offers a first play through set-up, and from there players shuffle the board pieces to form the board. Though the choices don’t vary greatly, this, the wildlife dice roll and the differing badge cards available according to the draw mean each game feels slightly different.

Where the game potentially lacks in wildly differing games, it makes up in ease and speed of play.

Another big plus for me is the gentle competitive style of the game – whilst you may collect a badge before someone else who was planning and saving resources to collect that badge, it doesn’t feel malicious and those resources are likely to be useful elsewhere. Whilst it may string a little, it’s clear that all players are working on collecting badges and so doesn’t have the ‘take that’ element.

Beautiful Nature

I do have to admit, I look for beauty in a game. Great artwork will always capture my attention and one thing I love about the game is the components, cards and colour palette enrich the theme – each game feels like a mini adventure and I’m always excited to relive the trip through the photos I collected. The card stock is decent quality (fsc certified) and the wooden components feel like the naturally belong in the the game – though I do wish rather than cubes the wooden pieces were shaped for the items they represent (an upgrade is available to purchase with Keymaster games).

Overall, I find the game extremely aesthetically pleasing.

Though the components aren’t necessarily element-proof, I can definitely envision this being played whilst camping or after a long hike, in the comfort and warmth of a fire-lit cabin (or pub!) Its travel friendly size means it has joined my list of holiday games.

My Thoughts

For me, top marks are given for how easy it is to transport and set-up this a game of Trails. It’s a great addition to the travel friendly collection we’re working on, as gamers who like to play on our adventures – and thematically it really works for this!

Whilst definitely a light game, there’s enough strategy and forethought needed to successfully manage your recourse and collect the badges you need to win. Personally, I enjoy calmer games where working independently on your own objectives, is more important than being competitive – of course, when I want to collect a certain badge I’ll be sure to try to outwit my competitors and get there first, however I find the gentle race more enjoyable than beating people to the finish.

It’s a calm and relaxing journey, which I find entertaining with or without the win.

This game feels like a streamlined version of Parks, so if you’re already a fan of the concept then you’ll likely enjoy Trails.

Strap on your boots and let’s go for a hike. A hike through iconic sites and national parks across the US. Observe beautiful landscapes, nature and grab a photo or two whilst you are at. Trails is a standalone squeal (of sorts) to Parks. In Trails, players will be hiking back and forth along a trail, collecting rocks, acorns and leaves, taking pictures and encountering wildlife to gain bonuses. At the end of the trail you can exchange your resources to earn badges and then head back down the trail.

The trail are made up of different tiles. On a player’s turn they can move one or tiles along the trail in the direction you are facing. Where you stop will dictate the action you can perform but they involve gathering resources, exchanging resources and taking photos. Photos will grant you points at the end of the game. Once you reach the end of the trail you can exchange your resources for badges which count towards end game scoring. As the sun sets throughout the game it moves from the end of the trail to the beginning of the trail and makes the action spots on the trail more powerful.

Players have a resource limit of eight and the game ends when one player reaches the trail end and the sun token is on the leftmost spot on the sun track. Each other player gets more turn. Points are awarded for the player who has the most bird icons (gained from photos and badges), from badges earned throughout the hike and photos taken. The player with the most points is the winner.

The above is an overview of the rules and hopefully gives you a good idea of how the game plays.

Final Thoughts

There is one thing for sure about this game and that is that the artwork is gorgeous and the overall presentation of the game is very nice indeed. But what is the gameplay like, well, lets find out.

First off, Trails is a fairly straightforward resource management, set collection game. The action spaces themselves are very easy to understand and the gameplay is light and breezy. Combine this with the lovely looking artwork and you have a game that is accessible and nice to look at. Parks is ideal for family gaming time or an end of night filler.

The decisions you have to make in the game are relatively straightforward with respect to what you can do on your turn. This keeps the downtime to a minimum and keeps the engagement levels high. I enjoy the changing action spots as the sun sets and the spaces get more powerful on your return trip. There is some luck involved in drawing the photography cards, but you have the option to draw from the discard pile or draw two and discard one which adds some nice decision space in the game.

The badges are on display so you know what you can aim for with respect to resource gathering. You can also see what your opponent has and is possibly aiming for. This adds a race element to the game which can be quite fun. Players can get lucky when new ones are revealed that perfectly match what resources you have (or not) which can make it feel a bit swingy. There are ways to mitigate this so I would not consider it a major issue.

Overall, Trails is a light, accessible, lovely game. It is quick to play and easy to teach and you can’t go wrong really. It may be too light for some but taking the game for what it is, it does what it sets out to do very well.