Parks Roll & Hike

We own Parks, which is a lot of fun but not exactly travel sized. This roll and hike game is a perfect blend of parks and travel sized packaging. It was easy to learn and if you don't like to read instructions; there are several how to play and play through videos on Youtube. It has high quality components plus you can sneak an education by talking about the different aspects of the parks (wildlife, climate, flora, survival, etc.)

If you enjoy parks, this game embraces a good chunk of elements from it. It does not have the same depth, but it makes for an easier and faster experience that is still engaging for the time it lasts. The variety of parks you can visit keeps the game fresh.

With the small size and the hiking theme, this was a perfect addition to our camper. It's a great game for a small space (we used a tray table). Our whole family (with kids age 10 & 12) enjoyed it. The first box I received was damaged, but I did an exchange and the second box is fine.

Once you run out of the passport papers there is no way to get any refills. They are highly complex and creating your own would take a lot of time. I contacted Keymaster when the listing for refills because the listing was out of stock and they don’t plan on any restocks. Furthermore, they told me to find the email in the rule book (mind you, they are the ones who created it!) to order more. Problem is, there is NO email in the rule book. But inthe back of the passport is a QR code to order more which brings me to their listing that they don’t plan to restock! UGH This is so unhelpful and so the game plays are limited. Do not recommend. I still love parks but I cannot support this roll and write version. Sad, the art is so beautiful. Aside from that, an absolute deal breaker. The pieces are nice and good quality but the board doesn’t lay flat either which is annoying because they slide all over. Nice concept poor execution and even poorer future proofing. I’ll have to think twice before buying or backing another Keymaster game. I hope you do the same. See the pictures if the complex passport where you write to play the game. And the QR code to a dead listing on Amazon which they do not plan to restock the passport replacements.

This is a great game. It can be played either solo or with up to four people. The little passports or scoring booklets. Make individual scoring so easy. Take a hike and see what you see along the way.

Very fun game! Great artwork and warm feel

Parks and the first expansion was my go to game during the COVID lockdowns, both at two players and solo. It was a relaxing, beautiful to look at, game that was a very pleasant way to kill time and keep my brain engaged during the pandemic. Keymaster makes very high quality games including Parks, the expansions, Space Park and even the new version of Harvest. One of the great things about Parks was the amazing classic art for the National Parks posters used for the cards. Parks Roll and Hike unfortunately does not use these artworks and instead goes for lighter more cartoony art. Take away the great art, this game is a filler simple roll and write with a little bit of the feel of Parks, but not really enough. It reminds me of Dice Miner in a way that it is a simple passable time killer without being overly engaging. It was in my opinion a little better solo, than it was at two players as it was a bit boring. That is the bottom line in my review, for a solo game it is a passable way to kill a little time and keep your brain engaged, but as a multiple player game it was just too simple and on the boring side. Component quality is great. I like dice placement, so that mechanic of picking one of the dice was something we liked. Also, even though the game is simple, the rules for the lead hiker die are a bit wonky, the original parks rule book could have been better, and I think while this game is not overly complicated, the rule book could get a bit wonky with the lead hiker die and some of the end game scoring. We play a lot of Hadrians Wall, which is a heavy flip and write game, we also play a lot of Flip Town, which while not heavy, has a lot going on. This game for us was just to simple filler especially after so much Hadrians and Flip Town. For people new to roll and write and maybe for people who have not played many roll and writes, this might be a good first game. NIce theme, good components, so probably a good intro to roll and writes for people new to them. For an experienced gamer, it really just felt like checking some boxes, filling in some suns, putting some lines in a journal. I really missed that great art from the Parks game, that might have made this better, but still its the mechanics. The journals are good, you get actually good pencils, the card quality is good, but its just too simple for us. Again, might be better for people who have not played these types of games before. And again, for a solo game, its a passable pleasant game.

This is a great game BUT I would not recommend it if you're not an avid gamenight-er. Its a lot more complicated than you would think a Parks game would be. Super fun though!