PARKS FAQ
137 questions players ask · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
- How many Park cards are in PARKS, and why are some parks duplicated?
- Is the Waterfall trail site used in 2 or 3 player games?
- Do you reshuffle the face-down Advanced Sites before each season?
- Do you still use two Hikers per player in a 4 or 5 player game?
- How many Parks and Gear cards are face up at setup?
- Are Photos counted as tokens?
- What happens if the Photo tokens run out?
- Do the raccoon and fox tokens from the promo packs have special abilities?
- What changed between the first and second English printings (rulebook v1.0 and v1.1)?
- Are there rulebook errata in the first printing?
- Can first-printing base cards without icons be mixed with the expansions?
- Can I play the base game with both Nightfall and Wildlife?
Taking Turns and Campfires
- Can a Hiker skip sites, pass other Hikers, or move backward?
- Can I move the same Hiker on two turns in a row?
- Is turn order always clockwise, or does the rearmost Hiker go next?
- Can more than one Hiker be on the same site, and how does the Campfire work?
- Can I spend my Campfire to stay on my site and take its action again?
- Can I use my Campfire twice in one season?
- Can I visit a Trail Site if I can't take its action?
- If the Canteen deck is empty, must I take the Photo at the Vista?
- What happens when only one Hiker is left on the trail?
- If a Hiker can't take any site ahead, must it go to the Trail End?
- Does the First Hiker Marker stay with one player all game?
- When is the 12-token limit checked?
- What if I'm over 12 tokens when both my Hikers are at the Trail End?
Trail Sites
- How does the Lodge work, and can I gain the same token I turned in?
- Does a Season-effect bonus token at the Lodge have to differ from what I turned in?
- Does the Lodge trigger Season effects, and can a Season bonus happen more than once a turn?
- Can Wildlife be spent to pay the River's Water cost?
- How does the River work, and what can it copy?
- Can the River copy the Trail End action?
- Does copying a site with the River give me its weather token or trigger gear that names that site?
- Can I reserve or visit a Park, or buy Gear, somewhere other than the Trail End?
- Can Wildlife be turned in at the Lodge or gained there?
- How does the Vista work?
- Do I collect the weather token when I visit a site?
- What if a token type runs out of the supply?
Seasons and Weather
- Where does the Weather Pattern start on the trail?
- How do the tokens that Seasons of Rain and Splendor put on Parks work?
- Can I use the token sitting on a Park to help pay for that Park?
- Do Season tokens apply to my reserved Parks, and does a Season discount apply to them?
- Do gear discounts reduce the cost of Season of Chance?
- Does a Season's Sunshine discount apply when I pay with Sunscreen for a Park with no Sun?
- Do trades and Canteen fills count for 'gain a Mountain, gain a Water' Season effects?
- Are Park cards refreshed at the end of a season?
- Does the Camera holder still get the end-of-season Photo in the fourth season?
Canteens
- When can I fill a Canteen?
- What happens to Canteens at the end of a season?
- Do tokens on Canteens count toward the 12-token limit?
- Can Wildlife fill a Canteen?
- Can water from the Lodge, a trade, or the Water Bottle fill a Canteen?
- When a Season effect says to gain a Water when you gain a Canteen, can I use that Water to fill the new Canteen?
- Can I wait to see the replacement Park before filling a Canteen?
Photos and the Camera
- How much does a Photo cost, and do I need the Camera to take one?
- How do I get the Camera, and can it be taken from me?
- Can I take more than one Photo in a single action, and does the Wide-Angle Lens add one?
- Do Photos I spend count toward a Year card's Photo goal?
- Do solo players get the Camera's end-of-season Photo, and once per hiker?
Gear
- When is a Gear or Park card replaced after it's taken?
- Can I buy more than one Gear card in a single Buy Gear action?
- How does the Buy Gear discount work, and does the Lookout give it?
- Can I buy two copies of the same Gear, and do Gear effects stack?
- Does a Gear discount (Map, Compass) apply to resources I substitute with Sunscreen or Rain Gear, or to brown any-token boxes?
- How do Sunscreen and Rain Gear work, and can I use them repeatedly on one Park?
- Does the Park Pass chain into unlimited Park visits?
- Does visiting a Park at the Lookout trigger the Park Pass?
- How does the Tent gear card work?
- What does the Water Bottle do?
- How do Binoculars work at a trail site?
- If two Gear cards both let me take something instead of a Tree, can I use both on one visit?
Tokens and Wildlife
Trail End and Parks
- What can I do at the Trail End, and must I take an action?
- Do Trail End actions happen immediately when a Hiker arrives?
- Can several Hikers share the same Trail End area?
- Can one Hiker take more than one Trail End action, or visit more than one Park, per arrival?
- How many Parks can I visit in a game?
- Is there a limit on reserved Parks, and do unvisited ones cost points?
- Can I reserve the face-down top card of the Parks deck?
- Do I gain the token on a Park when I reserve it, not just visit it?
- Can I visit a reserved Park as soon as I have the resources?
- When is the Park row refilled after a Park is visited or reserved?
- Do I get the First Hiker Marker for reserving a Park elsewhere, such as the Lookout?
- What do the PARK symbols with a hand or a circle mean on Canteens and instant actions?
- Does the last Hiker still get a Trail End action?
Year Cards and Scoring
- How is the winner decided, and how are ties broken?
- If I meet two thresholds on a Year card, do I score both?
- What do Year card goals count on my visited Parks?
- When are Year cards scored, and when are they revealed?
- How does the Year of Plenty card count symbols?
- Do the corrected Arches and Great Basin cards replace the originals, and do other duplicate Parks?
- What does a camera icon on a Park's instant bonus do?
Solo Mode
- How do the Rangers move on their turn in solo mode?
- In solo mode, does the Trail End count as part of the trail for Ranger movement?
- In solo mode, what if an Event says to move my back piece to the closest Ranger down the trail and none is ahead?
- What do Rangers collect in solo mode?
- How do Events trigger in solo mode, and do tokens carry over?
- What happens when a second Ranger reaches a Trail End slot?
- What does a Ranger in the top Trail End slot do in solo mode?
- Which 3-cost Gear is shuffled back when a Ranger takes the bottom Trail End slot, and can I buy any Gear?
- When a Ranger discards a Park at the Trail End, is it refilled right away?
- How many Trail End actions do I get when the Rangers finish first in solo mode?
- Can I use the River or Campfire to join a Ranger in solo mode?
- What do I start with in solo mode, and what happens to the Camera and First Hiker Marker?
- What does an Event mean by 'discard down to 4'?
- When an Event moves my Hiker or a Ranger to the same site as another piece, do Campfire rules apply?
- How many Rangers are there in solo mode?
Parks: NightfallExpansion
- When I land on a Trail Site with a Tent, can I take both the site action and the Campsite action?
- Do I need to use a Campfire to camp on a site another Hiker occupies?
- Can the River copy a Campsite (Tent) action?
- Can I use a tent site's action when no Hiker is standing there?
- How does the Campsite Board work?
- How many Tents are set out in Nightfall and where do they go?
- Does a Campsite photo action need the Camera or give it?
- Do Gear cards that name a Trail Site trigger when I camp there?
- Can I use a campsite if the supply has run out of one of its tokens?
- When a Park's instant action lets me visit another Park, is the row refilled first?
- How does the Traveler Year card score?
- How do the Collector and Photographer Year cards score?
- Does a Wildlife count as two resources in Nightfall?
- How do solo Rangers deal with Tents in Nightfall?
- How do I mix the base game Parks with Nightfall Parks?
- Can I discard a Gear or Year card to draw a new one?
- Does the Nightfall campsite action that moves all Water refill Canteens?
- How does the Campsite action that recycles the Gear row work?
Parks: WildlifeExpansion
- When does the Gear row change because of the Bison?
- In Wildlife solo, what happens to the Bison when a Ranger discards its Park?
- With Wildlife, is the Parks/Gear (Lookout) site always used in Season 1?
- Do open Trail Site actions in Wildlife include the weather token?
- What does the Mystery Cache Gear do?
- In Wildlife solo, what happens to a Season tree when a Ranger lands on the Trail End?
- Can the Highway tile be used to take the River action?
- Can I use a Wildlife site that uses a Canteen on my first move?