TRAILS Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Trails, a cozy board game published by Keymaster Games. Trails is a lighter follow up to the wildly successful Parks and we let you know how good it is.

PARKS is one of the board games responsible for ushering in the current trend of Pleasant Nature Games. Its gorgeous artwork, tactile components, and simple yet rewarding gameplay set the tone for a wave of games trying to replicate that success. Hundreds of games in this space have come out since PARKS, but it has managed to weather that tide and stay relevant to this day.

TRAILS, from the same designer and publisher, is an attempt to re-capture that lightning in a much smaller bottle. Does it manage to re-ignite that spark, or is it yet another hanger-on destined to be forgotten?

TRAILS is a set collection and resource management game for 2-4 players, that takes 20-40 minutes to play.

All players start at one end of the Trail, a line of action spaces randomly laid out during setup. On your turn, you can move your hiker one or two spaces down this Trail, then take the action on that space. Most of the Trail’s actions either gain you one of the game’s three resources or convert your resources to a different type. A fifth space instead allows you to spend a resource of any type to take a Photograph, earning you a card worth a variable number of points and Birds.

The most interesting action spaces, however, are the Trail Head and Trail End—located, conveniently enough, at the head and the end of the Trail. When you reach one of these spaces, you turn your hiker around to face the other direction and get the opportunity to purchase Badge cards. Badges cost resources to acquire but grant you a variety of benefits during or after the game—discounts on future