Trekking The Nationwide Parks: Trivia | Nationwide Parks Trivia Sport for Adults and Children | Giftable Trivia Sport for Household Sport Night time by Underdog Video games

A (rare) super fun trivia game where everyone can have a great time regardless of parks knowledge!
PREFACE
Let me start by saying that I really love board games, but I don’t usually like trivia games. They mostly seem to rely on a grab bag of knowledge that maybe one person at the table will know while everyone else is just left waiting until a card comes up that they happen to have the answer for. That is NOT the case with this game. There is one very simple but brilliant twist that makes this game for EVERYONE at the table. And box is filled with thoughtful touches that really make it shine.
PRESENTATION
First off, the art throughout is absolutely lovely. I did some hiking in my time, and this scenery makes me want to go back. When you first open the box you see a card telling you to “Start Here,” which contains a link to learn the rules by video. I love reading rulebooks so I didn’t check out the video, but I like that the option is there. It really shows how much Underdog Games (the publisher) cares about their audience. And then under that is just a nice piece of art with an ad for their board game, Trekking the National Parks, on the back. Again, what a nice touch. It could have just been an ad, but instead it doubles as a frame-worthy piece of art to decorate your home with. (I’m putting mine on my bookshelf.) The insert itself is also well thought out, with a place for everything and everything in it’s place. This is a game that you can transport easily without everything on the inside of the box getting jumbled up. The game comes with six white boards with six different scenes printed on the back, so every player has a unique board. I really love that each one is different. They could have made them all the same (it would have been cheaper), but they went the extra mile to give you a quality product. The decorated card holder is also lovely in it tells you exactly which side to draw from – ensuring that you won’t see the same cards again until you’ve run through the entire deck.
RULES – Setup
So how do you play? Setup is super simple. First, everyone gets a white board and a dry-erase marker. Then you decide how many points it will take to win the game. The rulebook has a nice chart that determines the amount of points needed based on the number of people playing. Now you can start playing!
Gameplay
Each round, one player will draw a card and read it aloud. It starts with a fact relating to national parks (this will be important later) and then a related question. (You can see an example of the first card in the picture.) Now, here comes the brilliant twist. Every answer to every question in the game is a NUMBER. In the case of the first card it asks, “What year did was Yellowstone established as a national park?” Now if you’re like me, you don’t know, but could make an educated guess. And that is what this game is all about. Unlike other trivia games, you don’t need to be exactly right. You just need to be close enough. Here is where it all gets very interesting.
Whoever drew and read the card out loud makes the first guess. They write a number down on their white board and then show it to everyone else. Then everyone else makes their guesses at the same time, secretly on their white board. Making the reader guess first gives everyone a baseline for making their own guesses. How much does THAT person know? Would they be close? Once everyone else has written down a number, everyone reveals their answer and the reader flips the card to find out the real answer. Whoever is closest to the real number without going over (Price is Right style) wins and the gets the card as a point!
Bonus Point Round
Then the winner gets a chance for a bonus point. The reader will draw another card, but this time flips it over and reads the question on the answer side. These bonus questions are harder because the answers are not numbers. These are facts you need to know to get right. But remember when we first read the card at the beginning of the round? Before that first question we read a fact. The answer to all these questions are highlighted in red in those facts (see picture). So as you play the game, you start learning about the parks, and then you get to use that knowledge in the game! I’ve never seen a trivia game that actively teaches you about its subject, especially one that rewards you for paying attention. These are bonus points after all, and no one is going to get them right all the time. It’s super clever and makes you feel really good when you finally get one right. It also makes it so that you only see one out of two questions form each card – so when you run through the entire deck and shuffle it back together, you’ll see different questions!
Then the next player draws and reads a new card out load to everyone and play continues until someone has enough points to win.
REVIEW
This game is a blast. It’s great for parks enthusiasts and even for people who’ve never been to one. Because the answers are all numbers, it’s all things anyone could guesstimate about (distance, height, weight, speed, years, amounts, etc.). And just in case you aren’t great at any of these, the game comes with an amazingly helpful fold-out that gives you exact measurements of things to give you a baseline for some of the questions. You can see this in the picture. If you can’t even imagine what square feet look like (like me), you can look and see how many are in a football field, and use that to help you guess the answer. Everyone can look at this fold-out at any time. It really helps when you are just super stuck.
And because some of these questions are so specific, it’s super funny when someone is just waaaay off. You can’t really feel bad about it because how are you supposed to know how many feet a tortoise can walk in an hour? It’s even better when a far out answer wins because everyone else was even more off! I also absolutely love the idea that I will learn more about our national parks playing this game and that it will help me when playing it the future. This game makes you feel smart, clever, or just plain lucky – all of which are great feelings when playing games.
FINAL THOUGHTS
All in all, this game is really fun with family and friends, and makes a great gift for the adventurer in your life. It’s thoughtfully produced down to the smallest detail, and despite it being about National Parks it really can be played with anyone. This is a game where three or four generations can sit around the table and have a really fun time, and all of them actually have an equal chance of winning. That is a rare and beautiful thing.

It is an easy-to-learn, fun educational game for the whole family.
It is an easy-to-learn, fun educational game for the whole family. Our family loves the National parks. This game is a great way to remind us about our trips and educate us in a fun way to learn about new adventures. This is now one of our family’s favorite games.

Fun to play but difficult questions
Fun to play with the family. Parents love reading signs at national parks so I figured they’d love this. They do! But we ended up learning more and not knowing the answers to the trivia for most cards.

Great game for family
Xmas gift for a family and they loved it!