"Trekking the National Parks" is a board game where players "trek" to Yosemite and other national parks. (Photo by John Binkele
People love to hike our national parks. People love to play games. How about a board game about our national parks that allows you to do both? There's actually a successful Kickstarter project called "Trekking the National Parks" that is an excellent way to entertain and inspire people to appreciate our natural wonders.
The concept is a simple one developed by a family of dedicated hikers - The Binkeles. There's the son Charlie, who serves as the creative artist and board game designer, mom Terry, the chief of finance and shipping department and there's dad John who handles the marketing and photography - all passionate outdoor enthusiasts.
"The idea behind developing the game was to create more awareness of the amazing resources we have in our backyard and to encourage people to take advantage of them," said John.
As for the game, here's how you play. Each Player chooses a wooden "meeple" or Trekker, which will be used to "hike" across the board to the different parks. The object of the game is to visit Yosemite, Arches, Glacier, the Everglades and any of the other 59 major parks represented on the game board and collect the brightly colored "trail stones" along the way. The trail stones and park cards are worth valuable points and the player with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner.
Sounds simplistic right? However, there are many layers of complexity to this game. It's easy to learn and easy to play, yet the game won the coveted Mensa Mind Games Competition this past May.
The game includes a six-panel game board map, trek cards, park cards, bonus cards, stones, six custom made Trekkers, a leather bag, advanced play cards and rule book.
Charlie, Terry and John Binkel
What's also very cool is the game includes a 32-page Park Guide Book, which tells you a story about each park. So while you are playing, you can also start planning your next vacation to visit one of these incredible locations and get the authentic park experience.
Sure the game is educational, but it's also very entertaining. You can tell by some of the player comments:
"Hey, I got a chance to play this game this weekend with some hiking buddies. Had a great time. Fun game"
"Trekking was played at our monthly gaming gathering. As this group tends toward heavy Eurogrames, I expected a mediocre reception to the game. Boy was I wrong! The gang really liked Trekking and immediately recognized that there was a bit more to the game than seems at first glance."
"Got mine yesterday. Awesome. Really enjoyed the Parks book. Now I have places to plan for vacations."
"Just wanted to tell you that I played the game with a group of board game geek friends last night and we had a blast."
"Trekking the national parks has become one of my go-to-getaway games. I love telling people that its creator went on many trips to national parks as a kid and that his dad took many of the pictures. It's really a pretty inspiring story."
Family insists game is made in the US
As you can imagine, while creating a board game might seem simple, putting it all together is not, There are many moving parts that take a concept to completion. First was the initial inspiration for the game. While showering after trekking about their 42nd national park, John thought, "You know, we need to get Charlie to create a game about our country's national parks!"
Charlie loved the idea and began developing the layout, artwork and mechanics of the game. The next phase of the project was 16 months of extensive play testing. Once all the "bugs" had been worked out, Charlie created a Kickstarter crowdfunding project to help raise start up money for the production of the game.
Trekking the parks game piece
Just prior to the launch of their Kickstarter Project in July, 2014, the family took the concept to the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH, to "test the waters." The Binkeles wanted to see how gamers would respond to the concept.
"People just loved the idea," said John. They had 50 people commit funds for the game even before they launched their Kickstarter campaign.
Their Kickstarter campaign launched on July 9, 2014 with a funding goal of $10,000. Within the first week, the project achieved its goal and in the end, 524 backers fully embraced the idea and pledged a total of $37,230 to help fund the project.
Their Kickstarter campaign included some clever "Stretch Goals" designed to enhance the quality of the game. The stretch goals achieved were the cool custom wooden "Trekkers" with backpacks instead of ordinary game pieces; upgraded linen playing cards and a linen game board; and a custom plastic insert to help organize all game components.
All of these upgrades cost significantly more than standard game components. John, with a background in sales and marketing, came up with a clever way to help generate some extra seed money to fund them..
He told family and friends that for a small fee they could be listed as sponsors on the website or for a few dollars more, they could be posted as sponsors of their favorite park inside the Park Guide Book. Now photos of those families reside on living room tables or inside Trekking game boxes across America.
"We had a huge positive response and those park sponsorships were gobbled up quickly," he remembered. "In fact, people come up to me today and say they wish they had known about that opportunity."
Because the game is about national parks in the United States, John and his wife Terry "were staunchly in favor of working with domestic (US-based) suppliers for all of the game's components."
As it turned out, this was one of their biggest challenges. Making the game in the US pushed up costs. Yet they were not deterred and were determined to get that "Made in the USA" label on the game box.
After extensive searching and negotiating, the family was able to find the right domestic suppliers. The first shipment of games came off the presses and was delivered to the Binkeles on Dec. 3, 2014 - a little over three months after the conclusion of their Kickstarter campaign. Trekking has been a big hit ever since.
Next year is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The organizers are really trying to emphasize the grandeur of these national treasures and to encourage people to visit them and protect them.
There's a bigger picture here. It's no secret, in this age of the Internet, park officials are concerned that upcoming generations will have their eyes glued to a screen instead of the wide open spaces of Yellowstone, the Everglades, Grand Canyon, Yosemite or any of the other nearly 60 major national parks and hundreds of national historic sites.
These natural wonders are precious. When you can't get outdoors to your favorite park, here's a way to celebrate and enjoy their majesty from inside your home. Every move you make to a park on the game board is going to motivate people to put those parks on their list of places to go.
People have asked John if he planned to create an app or online version of the game. He responds to these requests by stating that the game was designed to be entertaining, educational and engaging. It is meant to get friends and families together in a fun and spirited manner and to get them away from being "glued to their iPad or smartphone."
For the Binkeles, John said just watching an idea go from concept to reality has been extremely satisfying. Plus the fact that they now have an extra reason to keep visiting our national parks. So far they have been to 52 out of 59 and they plan to get to all of them soon.
"Trekking The National Parks" is certainly an interesting and fun idea for a game. But there's a greater benefit here - to keep American families excited about the outdoors, to recognize the incredible natural amenities this country has to offer and to protect and preserve those treasures.
At the end of the day, that makes our parks and citizens the big winners.
For more information on the game click here. http://www.trektheparks.com/
Note: Speaking of parks, since 2001 The Park Catalog has been supplying national, state and local parks with an array of top-grade park benches, picnic tables, bicycle parking racks, trash cans and thousands of other items.