Stretching from Acadia to American Samoa – from Kobuk Valley to the Virgin Islands, our country’s national parks

represent a vast assortment of outdoor opportunities for all to enjoy! The Trekking the National Parks board game is your
opportunity to experience and explore these magnificent landscapes with your friends and family in a fun and spirited
way. Collect stones, claim parks, and earn points as you trek across the map visiting all of these natural treasures!

Game Components:
Game Board Trail Stone Bag 17 Postcards

6 Player Markers 9 Bonus Cards 1 Rule Book

42 Park Cards 90 Trek Cards

42 Trail Stones 4 Reference Cards

2
Object Of The Game:
The goal of Trekking the National Parks is to score the most points by claiming park cards and bonus cards.

The golden Players can claim park Bonus Cards are awarded
arrowhead cards for points by visiting at the end of the game
icon shows the park on the map and to players who have
a card’s then spending the required collected the most park
point value. cards from their hand. cards and the most of any
Collect these! (See: Claiming Park Cards.) stone color. (See: Scoring.)

Setting Up The Game: The numbers listed inside the red dots indicate the game components as shown on page 2.

• Place the game board in the center of a table. Each player chooses a marker and places it on the START
location on the board.

2 players = 12 park cards

• Shuffle all 42 park cards . Tip: Place all remaining
3 players = 16 park cards
park cards back in game
• Then create a new deck of park 4 players = 21 park cards box as they will not be
cards dealt face down based on 5 players = 24 park cards used during play.
the table to the right: 6 players = 29 park cards

• From this new deck of park

cards, reveal the same number Tip: Each park is numbered.
of cards as there are players +1. When revealing active parks
(4 Players = 5 park cards) you may find it helpful to place
The revealed park cards become them in order from lowest to
the active parks. highest, west to east. This will
make locating corresponding
parks on the map easier.
• Place the remaining deck of
park cards face down near the
revealed active parks.

• Stones: Place all the stones into the bag and mix.
Then draw each stone from the bag and randomly place one on each of the park
locations marked by the symbols on the map.

• Bonus Cards: Place the 9 bonus cards adjacent to the game board visible to all players.

• Trek Cards: Shuffle all 90 Tip: Each trek card shows two
trek cards . separate values, which are NOT
related to each other!
Deal 5 trek cards to each
player. This is the starting Color Icon- This represents the
hand. currency used to claim park cards.
Deal 5 more trek cards Move Distance- This represents
face up and place them at the movement value and indicates
the south end of the map. the distance a player may move
These cards represent the when playing the card.
draft row.
Players must decide whether to
Place the remaining deck
use a trek card to move about the
of trek cards nearby.
board OR to claim a park card.
• You are now ready to play Trekking the National Parks!

3
The Game Turn:
Randomly choose a player to begin play. Proceed in a clockwise manner.
Each player is granted two actions during their turn. The available actions are as follows:

• Draw a Trek Card • • Move • • Claim a Park Card •

You may choose to do 2 different actions OR the same action twice. These actions may be played in any order.
Some Turn Examples: You may choose to move and then draw a trek card. Or, move, and then move again to a different location.
Or, draw a trek card and then claim a park card. Or draw a trek card and then draw another trek card. Etc...

Action: • Draw a Trek Card •

Draw 1 new trek card and add it to your hand. You may pick this card from the face up draft row OR draw one blind off the
top of the deck. There is no limit to the number of cards you may hold in your hand.

If at any time the trek card deck is fully depleted re-shuffle all the discarded trek cards and refresh the deck.
Replenish the draft row back to 5 face up cards at the end of your turn. If all five cards in the draft row ever share the
same color icon the active player may choose to discard them all and then replenish the row with 5 new cards.

Action: • Move •
The graphic below illustrates how a Move action is conducted: • The distance between parks is
shown on trail signs .

• When moving, the total value

of the trek cards you play must
EXACTLY equal the value
of all the trail signs to your
destination.

• There is no limit to the number

of trek cards you may play on
a move action.

1) You wish to use an action 2) Reveal trek cards from 3) Move your marker to • You may pass through several
to move from Park A to your hand that have a Park C. Since there is a parks on the way to your
Park C. total value that stone at Park C, collect destination; however, you
Announce this move to the EXACTLY equals the it. Ignore all other stones
may ONLY collect the one
value of trail signs along you passed along your
other players and indicate stone at the final destination if
which route you will take. your route. route.
one is available.

• You may never cross the same

trail sign more than once in a
single move action.

• After you have moved,

place all the used trek cards
into the discard pile.

4
Collecting Stones:
When you move to a location with a stone, immediately collect it and place it in your score
pile (visible to all). It is possible to collect up to 2 stones per turn by choosing the move action
twice. Stones are worth bonus points at the end of the game (see Scoring).

Using Airports:
There are five airport locations on the board (including the START location). During your turn you may choose to use an
airport as a portal to transport your marker from one airport to any of the other 4 airports. Airports function as follows:

• If you choose to use a move action to move to

an airport, you may then IMMEDIATELY fly to
any other airport location on the board.

• If at the start of your turn your marker is

already resting on an airport, you may fly to any
other airport location on the board. (Because
you start the game on an airport, this option
includes your opening move of the game.)

• Your move action ends after an airport is used

to fly to another airport. You may move again
only if you have a remaining action to play.

Blocking Other Players:

You cannot land on or pass
through another player whose
marker may be blocking a
desired route; however, you
can land on or pass through an
occupied airport location.

In the example to the right, if

the Red player wishes to move
to Park C, he must take the
top route as the bottom route is
blocked by the Blue marker.

Active Parks:
Active parks are the locations represented by
the park cards that were dealt face up during
setup.

Active parks are the only parks you can

collect points from during your turn.

As the game progresses, the active parks will

change as they are claimed by players and
replaced by new park cards.
(See: Claiming Park Cards.)

5
Action: • Claim a Park Card •
In order to claim a park card and earn its points, your marker must first be on the active park’s location .
You then must produce the combination of trek cards shown on the face of the active park card.
The graphic below illustrates how the Claim a Park Card action is conducted:

1) Your marker is on Katmai, an 2) You reveal 3 trek cards as 3) You collect the Katmai park card
active park which requires payment from your hand and and put it into your score pile
3 icons to claim. discard them. (face down).

Once you have collected a park card place it face down into your score pile. Replenish the active parks row from the
remaining parks deck at the end of your turn. Remember: the number of active parks is always equal to the number of
players +1.

End of the Game:

The last round of the game can be triggered in two different ways:
1) All stones are collected- If the last remaining stone on the map is collected the final round is triggered.
2) Last park card is revealed- If the last remaining park card is revealed from the deck the final round is triggered.
Once either of these actions occurs each player will have one more turn. The player who triggered the final round will make
the last play. Once play is concluded, all players are awarded bonus cards and then add up their points.

Scoring:
Award all bonus cards to those players who have earned them.
A player who has collected the most
of a stone color is awarded the bonus
card for that stone color. If two or
more players have an equal amount
of a stone color then the bonus card
is not awarded. The player who The player who has collected the
has collected the most total stones most park cards is awarded the
regardless of color is awarded the Most Park Cards Bonus. If there is
Most Total Stones card. a tie, this card is not awarded.

Once all bonus cards have been awarded, players then tally their total scores by adding up all the points of their collected
park cards and bonus cards.
The player with the most points is declared the winner of the game!
If two or more players are tied, the player with the most total stones is the winner. If players are tied in both ways, they share the victory!

6
Optional Play: Postcards from the Parks
You can add the Postcards from the Parks cards to the game for a new challenge!
Postcards from the Parks adds 17 new park cards to the play experience.
Postcards are worth points just like park cards. Players can draw
Postcards into their hand and claim them with trek cards. But watch out!
Postcards are worth negative points if not claimed before the game ends.

Setup
• Start by following all of the setup instructions described on page 3.
• Shuffle all 17 Postcards.
Then create a new deck of
2 players = 5 postcards
postcards dealt face down based Tip: Place the
on the table to the right: 3 players = 7 postcards remaining postcards
4 players = 9 postcards back into the game
box as they will not be
• Place this new deck near the 5 players = 11 postcards
used during the game.
active park cards and then deal 6 players = 13 postcards
each player one Postcard to start
the game.
• You are now ready to play Trekking the National Parks with the Postcards from the Parks!

Game Turn:
Player turns are the same as in a regular game except now you have two new actions to choose from:

• Claim a Postcard • • Draw a Postcard •

You may only hold one postcard in your hand at a time.

Claim a Postcard:
Your marker does not need to be at any specific location to claim
a postcard. You may choose to claim a postcard from your hand by
revealing it and then producing trek cards in exactly the same way as
you do when claiming park cards (see Action: Claim a Park Card).
Add the claimed postcard to your score pile (face down).

Draw a Postcard:
If you hold no Postcards in your hand you may draw the top card from the postcards deck and add it to your hand.
If the last postcard is drawn no more will be available for the remainder of the game.

Scoring:
The game’s end conditions are the same as in a regular game. At the conclusion of the game, distribute all bonus cards
to those who earned them. Each player also counts all of their claimed Park Cards and Postcards together when
determining who is awarded the Most Park Cards bonus.

Unclaimed Postcards:
If at the end of the game, your hand includes an unclaimed postcard, the point value of the postcard is subtracted from
your overall point total!

7
 Credits
Art and Game Design by
Charlie Bink
Park Photography by
John Binkele and Andrew Thomas
John Binkele is the co-creator of the Trekking the National Parks
board game. The travels he and his wife Terry have made over the
past several years to America’s stunningly beautiful National Parks
provided the inspiration for this game.

Andrew Thomas is a nature photographer from Ballarat, Australia

who has visited all 59 of our country’s amazing National Parks.
Along the way, Andrew and his wife Debbie have photographed
these natural treasures. Check out Andrew’s photographic journey
of the National Parks of the United States at:
www.andrewthomasphotographer.com

Developed by
Bink Ink LLC
Play Testers:
Terry Binkele, John Binkele, Jessica Divers, Tosha Henderson,
Greg Henderson, Brett Kitani, Josh Funk, Chad Sunda, Amanda Sunda,
Dave Jackson, Tom Columbus, Brian Franklin, Connie Gartner,
Ted Gartner, Sarah Divers, Laura Gartner, Aaron Kelsheimer, Sean Haas,
Ashley Haas, Katie Parkinson, Corey Hollinger, Larry Tamburro,
Paige Walend, Ken Walend, Trudi Walend, Ben Lopes, Ilse Lopes,
Roy Mosel, Micki Mosel, Rilus Graham III

Special thanks to all Mensa Mind Game Judges of 2015 for their
votes of confidence in our game Trekking the National Parks!

Visit us online at:

trektheparks.com
Copyright 2016 Bink Ink LLC
All rights reserved.