Reviewing PARKS and Cartographers

 Rounding Out Reviews

This Friday I thought I would take the time to review two games that have hit the Quarter (25 plays; almost) and Dime (10 plays) status for me this year. While that might not seem like much for many people who have over 1000 plays logged here on BGG (a number I'm expecting to hit in November this year based on 2 plays per day), it's quite a bit for me as I only really started to log plays here on BGG back in September/October of 2023.

It's been a really interesting experience logging my plays and seeing what games hit the table more often than others. Additionally, I think that it's also resulted in me pushing myself to play at least one game per day since I like seeing that number go up. I generally find that I play games in spurts, such as 9 plays of Cascadia in December 2023 after I had given it to my wife for her birthday, or 10 plays of Friday in October of 2023 when I had borrowed it from a friend for Solo-Tober. Usually games sit on average around 4-5 plays per month, unless I've really gotten into them or Sarah wants to play more.

Play logging is a fun way for me to look at the trends of what I've been playing and also combined with a few outside sources, visualize what has been hitting the table more often. I'm a statistics guy at heart and love seeing the trends that appear in the data set that has been entered. Because of this, I attempt to be as accurate as possible when logging everything as I know that bad data in results in bad information out. Getting an accurate representation of time spent on games, times played and who I've played it with is all important to me as I'm able to get an idea of what the best representation of my likes is.

It's also been interesting to continue working on my game as I was frustrated to see that there was Stonespine Architects that was recently released by Thunderworks Games. It contained a lot of what I had been planning on adding in my own game, but while much of the idea of building your own dungeon remains the same, my implementation of some of the ideas and the end-goal of the game is significantly different. I'll probably pick up the game at a later time to not let it affect my development of my own personal game that I continue to work on, but it was still slightly disappointing to see that my idea was not as unique as I had thought it was. I actually did some digging and realized that while the game was announced some time ago, I think I missed the announcement and began work on my own personal game at about the same time without knowledge of what was coming.

Why do I bring up Thunderworks Games you ask? Because one of the games that I plan on reviewing today is Cartographers and I want to make sure that I'm coming at the game review without any malice against Thunderworks Games for having part of my idea for my game implemented quicker than I could get it prototyped and completed. I know that with reviewing, there can be a bit of a bias towards games based on the publisher and I'm attempting to address my frustration with the company here and then come at my review from as much of an unbiased standpoint as possible. The creative realm, and board games especially, is one of copies and reintegration of ideas over and over, so it shouldn't be of much surprise to me that my idea was implemented before I could even get it pitched. I'm hoping that what I have is unique enough that publishers will be interested, but now I'm worried that it might be just viewed as a clone of what Thunderworks has done on their own.

With that being said, let's get on to the games:

Hiking through PARKS

Game Name: PARKS

Publisher: Keymaster Games
Year Released: 2019
Mechanics: Contracts, End Game Bonuses, Events, Modular Board, Solo / Solitaire Game, Track Movement, Turn Order: Claim Action, Variable Set-up, Worker Placement
BGG Score (Overall Rank): 7.7 (#140)
Expansions: PARKS: Nightfall, PARKS: Wildlife

Times Played: 10
Josiah's Score:  9 

What I Liked: PARKS is one of the most beautifully illustrated games that I've ever had the opportunity to play. The artwork on the cards is especially incredible, as the designers took each of the 59 parks included with the game and had them professionally illustrated by various artists. Each park has its own distinct feel and even multiple cards of the same park have differing gorgeous illustrations. Paired with the rest of the cards having incredible artwork and the "board" (really a set of tiles that makes the trail for each season) consisting of the high quality artwork, the game looks amazing on the table.

The included trays (made by GameTrayz) perfectly house each of the wooden components and "photos" that are taken throughout the game. Wooden animals and resources are beautifully designed, the player tokens (represented by colorful hikers) are also well designed and the metal first player token has a fantastic heft and weight to it. Coupled with the board for where the cards sit during the game and it all lays out very nicely on the game table, creating a beautiful tableau of color that takes the players through the journey of hiking through the national parks of the US.

The gameplay is similarly well designed with players moving along a one-way track each season. With slight worker-placement mechanics, each location can only be visited by one hiker at a time, unless players choose to use a one-time campfire that can be relit once their first worker ends their season on the trail. Each location allows players to obtain a resource, park/gear, or exchange resources for a photo/gain a canteen that can be filled for an additional effect. With only three parks available at one time for players to buy, there's a constant push and pull between players to obtain the necessary resources to purchase a park, all in the hopes of completing two end-game goals that award points in two tiers.

Every time that I have played through PARKS, I find myself stopping and admiring each of the incredibly designed cards for the park and appreciating how each one beautifully captures a moment based on the park they represent. While I feel like the game sometimes does end far too quickly for my tastes, it definitely does not overstay it's welcome and achieves an excellent balance of resources and points. Every time I play I feel like my score should be higher, but upon final completion of totaling points, I find that they are generally lower than I expect. PARKS doesn't feel like there's ever not anything that I can't do on my turn, allowing me to plan ahead, but also allowing me to pivot my plans if I need to.

Cards generally are well balanced as well, with no one card providing more benefit than the others with a very minor exception (the "visit an extra park when you visit one" card is slightly OP). Resources that are more readily obtained are more prevalent on the park cards and more scarce resources are represented less, resulting in a balancing act that is well achieved during the game. I also appreciate that the wild tokens are referred to as "Wild-life," a pun that took me far longer to get than I would care to admit.

When putting away the game, it becomes even more apparent the time and energy that went into creating this game. Everything slots nicely into the included tray in PARKS and fits without any additional wasted space. There is a slight concern that pieces fall out if the game is stored vertically, but I have mitigated that concern by placing the included rulebook before the GameTrayz and that helps keep everything in place.

What I Didn't Like: I'm going to be a bit of a stickler here and note that while the solo mode included in the base game of PARKS is very well done, there are a few complaints that I have about it. It was mentioned somewhere on the forums here on BGG that after you complete the solo mode, you'll find yourself vehemently hating park rangers, and I would heartily have to agree. If I felt like the multiplayer game was over far too quickly, then the solo game feels like it's over in an instant, especially later seasons, while using the included rules for the rangers.

It's a clever implementation using the gear cards to determine how many spaces forward that the park rangers move forward on the track, but sometimes it can feel wildly imbalanced. A season might last three or four turns less because I drew three "three sun" cards in a row to move the rangers, and especially when they reach the end of the season track so quickly, there's significant detriment to the solo player. I know that it's designed to provide a challenge, but a simple house rule to replace the park card that was removed makes the solo mode significantly more enjoyable.

Like I noted above, PARKS just feels like it's over far too quickly. The game is incredible and beautiful, but it's so fast. I suppose that's what makes it so good as it leaves me constantly wanting more, but that's also a detriment to it for me. I also wish there was a slight more bit of variation in some of the park tiles, but understand that for the sake of the game, there couldn't be too much variance to ensure balance.

Overall Thoughts: I love PARKS and while the solo mode does need a few tweaks to make it more fun (for me), I still find myself wanting to return over and over again, especially since the game is beautiful. There is so much to find and explore in this game and the modularity of how the board is set up each game makes it feel different each time. The game is excellently balanced and never overstays its welcome on the table, often leaving me wanting more after I finish.

It has been a nice fit for my plays lately and the cozy nature of the game is really fun. While I technically don't own the game (it's on long-term loan from my wife's parents who have lent it to us until we "teach" them to play), I expect that it will be played quite a bit and when I do officially own a copy, I'll get the expansions to see what they add to the experience.

Squares and Maps

Game Name: Cartographers
Publisher: Thunderworks Games
Year Released: 2019
Mechanics: Bingo, End Game Bonuses, Grid Coverage, Line Drawing, Paper-and-Pencil, Simultaneous Action Selection, Solo / Solitaire Game, Square Grid, Variable Set-up
BGG Score (Overall Rank): 7.6 (#144)
Expansions: Cartographers Heroes (standalone sequel that integrates with base game), Cartographers: Skills Mini Expansion (+Skills Mini Expansion 2), Cartographers: Map Pack Collection, Cartographers: New Discoveries (and two additional map packs)

Times Played: 24
Josiah's Score:  8.75 

What I Liked: I love the simplistic nature and design of Cartographers. The idea of using Tetris-like tetrominoes to fill in a map to accomplish various goals feels like it shouldn't work as well as it does and yet Cartographers manages to make it feel fun and new almost every single game. Players are tasked with filling in a map using predetermined shapes, looking to accomplish various goals each season. The caveat is that each season only has two active goals and a limited amount of time (as indicated by an hourglass symbol) that the cards can take, and each season is shorter than the last, allowing for fewer and fewer shapes to be added onto the map. Additional ambushes by monsters add some stress to the mapmaking process by requiring the monster squares to have each orthogonal edge covered by another type of square (mountain, house, water, field, forest) in order to prevent the loss of a point per round left uncovered.

Each type of terrain has four separate objectives to work towards that award points at the end of the round, with water and field objectives being tied to one another and the fourth objective type related to area. Each objective is randomly assigned to a letter (A-D) and each letter is scored twice (for example, Objective A is scored in the Spring/Winter, while Objective B is scored Spring/Summer) per year (end of game). With four objectives and four potential placements for the objectives, there are a lot of different ways that objectives could be placed (I attempted to do the math but it escaped my grasp; I believe it's 96 potential permutations, but I'm a bit fuzzy today).

I also appreciate that the game can be combined with Heroes for the same experience and with additional mechanics. There's a simplicity to the game that makes it easy to teach and add onto with expansions that don't need to add to much to even add a bit of variability. Additionally there's an online map generator that has been created that allows fans to make their own maps to print off and play with. With that level of infinite replayability, Cartographers really brings a lot to the table.

The included solo mode is also quite good and while it is a "beat your own score" type of mode, it also adds in a few "titles" to work towards with your maps, pushing the players to get better and better for higher overall scores. Additionally, the solo mode is printed directly on each of the objective cards, making the box feature fewer cards overall, keeping it nice and compact within the box. With how quickly it plays, I can usually go through a game in about 15-20 minutes, making it a nice easy one to play solo at the end of the day. There are also several digital implementations available for free (Tabletopia and Happy Meeple) or through the app store for a small price, which make it easy to play on the go.

What I Didn't Like: This might be the result of playing the game too many times over the course of several weeks, but after 10 or so games, I found it to be a bit "samey" with what my maps were feeling like at the end of the game. The objectives became something that I were starting to anticipate and especially with the same card set each time, even with randomized shuffling and monster ambushes, I still found myself getting a bit bored of the game. It did help to use the randomized boards that can be generated by the game, but overall, I think that an addition of new objectives from either the map packs or Heroes sequel will help with staving off that "samey" feel.

I'm also slightly frustrated that there's not any way to get a new set of sheets for the base game without purchasing a new copy of the game or Heroes/i]. I did note that there's an online map generator, but that doesn't easily allow players to get a pack of 100 sheets of the basic "A" and "B" sides for the game. Additional map packs and laminating/3D-Printing your own boards is an option, but for those that want to purchase additional pads, I haven't found anything available through the publisher.

Overall Thoughts: I really like [i]Cartographers, enough to the point where I expect that I'll be getting the Heroes sequel and a few map packs to really round out my game. Its a fun diversion and I want to add a few more objectives into the game to make it a bit more replayable and I'm hoping that the sequel/expansions will help with that desire. Additionally, I do like the quick nature of the game and how easy it is to teach. Especially while I'm playing solo, I love to take time to illustrate my maps vividly and some of the maps noted here on BGG look incredible. If you're looking for a nice Flip and Write game, Cartographers is definitely one that you should look into, especially since the cost is fairly minimal.

Final Thoughts:

Both the games that I reviewed today have been staples in the last few months of playing, especially since I introduced Sarah to them both in the last year. While one tends to hit the table slightly more than the other (Cartographers vs PARKS), they are both enjoyable experiences in their own right and I know that I'll probably be playing them for a long time now.

Give me your thoughts:What are your thoughts on the two games that I reviewed today, if any? Does visual presentation on a game, like PARKS, help sway you towards more positive feelings on a game, or are you all about how it feels? When you encounter rules or modes that don't really fit the game, do you try to make your own house rules, or come to BGG (or other website) to find an alternative ruleset?

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*Originally published on BoardGameGeek on 3/5/2024*