PocketParks Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Instructions
  • Objective
  • How to Win
  • Scoring Points
• Getting Started
• On Your Turn
  • 1. Play a Set — Show off your parks!
  • 2. Draw 2, then Discard 1 or Play an Event — Discover new parks!
  • 3. Pay to Steal — Exchange park stories!
• End of Turn
• Special Rules
  • Park Tour — Special set of 5
  • All the Parks — Special Set of 9
• Round Modifiers (optional)
  • Round 1: Standard game, rules, and setup
  • Round 2: Featured Park
  • Round 3: Featured Park and Unique Sets
• Helpful Tips / Reminders
• Theme Icons and Data Sources

Instructions

Objective

The player with the most points at the end of three rounds wins the game.

How to Win

The first player to have three sets of parks played out in front of them wins the round:

a set of ≥2, a set of ≥3, and a set of ≥4

Ex: 2-3-4 (illustrated with three sets of 2, 3 and 4 cards)

Ex: 2-4-5 (illustrated with three sets of 2, 4 and 5 cards)

Scoring Points

At the end of each round, all players score:

For every	Round winner	Other players
Set of 2	1 point	-
Set of 3	1 point	1 point
Set of 4	2 points	2 points
Set of 5	2 points	2 points
Set of 9	9 points	-

Note: Complete sets count once per set. Sets within sets do not count for extra points.

Tiebreaker: The player who has the newest park card (the highest park #) among their sets in the 3rd round will win the game.

Getting Started

1. Shuffle the cards together.
2. Deal 6 cards to each player, face down.
3. Put the remaining cards face down in the center to create the draw pile.
4. Place the first card from the draw pile face up to form the park discard pile. If an event was flipped, place that on the side to form a separate event discard pile and continue to flip cards until there is a park card.
5. Select a player to go first.
   • Suggestion: The player who most recently visited a national park site goes first.
   • For subsequent rounds: The player who won last starts the following round.
6. Player one chooses one action (see pg 6) and then play continues with the next player to their left.
7. When a player completes their sets and wins, the round ends. Score all players' points. Collect all the cards, and shuffle together for the next round.

On Your Turn

Choose ONE action (1, 2, or 3).

1. Play a Set — Show off your parks!

A set is 2 or more park cards that all have a matching square theme icon (standard max = set of 4).

Either PLAY one new set of 2-4 park cards, OR BUILD onto ONE of your current sets.

• Your sets are played face up in front of you.
• You can only play or build on ONE set per turn.
• Sets played stay out and there is no set # limit.
• You CANNOT:
  • recall cards or rearrange sets
  • play on other players' sets
  • play a set of 5 from your hand (see pg 8)

2. Draw 2, then Discard 1 or Play an Event — Discover new parks!

DRAW 2 cards total from the top of the draw pile and/or park discard pile, put them in your hand, and THEN:

• DISCARD a park card and put it in the park discard pile, OR

• PLAY an event card and put it in the event discard pile.

• You are allowed to draw 2 from the draw pile, 2 from the park discard pile, or 1 from each pile. You cannot draw from the event discard pile.

• You may draw 1 card, look, then draw another.

• Event cards do not activate immediately, they can be held and used on a later turn.

• When playing a standard event card on your turn, DRAW 2 cards first, then play the event. You do not have to discard a park card.

• Event cards played always activate unless the event card is reactive (purple). These cards may simply be discarded without triggering their effects.

3. Pay to Steal — Exchange park stories!

DECLARE a player, PAY cards to the discard pile(s), and STEAL 1 or 2 card(s) from their set(s) and/or hand.

PAY 2 park and/or event cards, OR 1 dark sky park: STEAL 1 card and place it in your hand.

PAY 4 park and/or event cards, OR 2 cards + 1 dark sky, OR 2 dark sky parks: STEAL 2 cards and place them in your hand.

• All stealing must be declared upfront.
• You can only steal from one player per turn. You can steal from a player's set(s) and/or random card(s) from a hand, but you cannot steal from a set of 5 (see pg 8).
• Any card(s) left from a set remain an active "set".
• Event cards used as payment do not activate.
• Other players may "Park Tour" only off the top card of your payment; however, resolve all stealing first, then continue with the "Park Tour." (see pg 8).

End of Turn

At the end of your turn, adhere to a 9-card hand limit. Place any extra cards to the bottom of the discard pile(s). Any event cards discarded will not activate and players cannot "Park Tour" any park cards. Continue with the next player to their left.

Special Rules

Zero card policy: Anytime a player runs out of cards, they immediately DRAW 2 cards from the draw pile.

Park Tour — Special set of 5

When you have a 4-of-a-kind concealed in your hand and the 5th park card with the matching theme icon is newly discarded to the top of discard pile — either from another player or from an event — yell out "PARK TOUR!"

1. If relevant, resolve stealing and hand limit first.
2. Now, it is your turn, take the 5th park card and immediately play a set of 5. A set of 5 is protected from stealing, but not from "Mosquito bites".
3. Continue the game with the next player after you as if you had just finished your turn.

• If multiple players "Park Tour" at the same time, the player closest to next turn order gets priority.
• You cannot "Park Tour" a card discarded from your own hand.
• When multiple cards are discarded only the last one discarded (top card) is eligible for "Park Tour".

All the Parks — Special Set of 9

If at any time you have 9-of-a-kind in your hand, play your set of 9 and win the round immediately.

Note: You may "Park Tour" the 9th card on anyone's turn when you have 8-of-a-kind concealed in your hand.

Round Modifiers (optional)

Round 1: Standard game, rules, and setup

Round 2: Featured Park

At the beginning of the round, set aside one random park card face up from the deck. This card is the featured park for this round. Sets with any of the same theme icons on the featured park card are worth double points at the end of the round.

Round 3: Featured Park and Unique Sets

Apply all rules from round 2. In round 3, for ALL theme icons, a set will only count towards the winning criteria if it has priority. A set has priority if it is the largest set of a theme icon among all players. In the event of a tie, the set with the newest park (highest park #) has priority. A set with double or triple icons can have more than one priority but will only score once. At the end of the round, only priority sets from featured park icons get double points. Sets without priority do not get double points but still score standard points.

Example:

The featured park is Great Sand Dunes (includes a mountain icon). Jones has a set of 3 mountains. On Linda's turn, she plays a set of 4 mountains and takes the mountain priority, making Jones' set temporarily inactive (will not count towards his round goal). If Linda wins this turn, her set will score 4 points (2x2=4) and Jones' set will score only 1 point because his mountain set no longer has priority.

If Jones' mountain set also contains a complete set of glacier/ice (double set), then his set will retain priority with glacier/ice (assuming there are no other larger glacier/ice sets out). In other words, double/triple icon sets give a set more resistance to losing priority. On the other hand, if Jones adds a mountain to make it a set of 4 and one of his park cards has a higher number than Linda's, then his set reclaims priority for mountains and Linda's set will lose priority.

Helpful Tips / Reminders

1. No player should have an empty hand. As soon as a player's hand gets to 0, they immediately draw two new cards from the draw pile.
2. Generally, event cards are not voluntary. Blue event cards are usually good for you. Red events can have a negative impact. Purple events are reactive cards that may be played directly from your hand on anyone's turn. When taking the draw action, only purple events can be discarded without activating.
3. Event cards may be used as payment to steal.
4. Purple event cards are reactive and may be played directly from your hand in response to another player's action.
5. Set of 5 is protected from stealing but not from "Mosquito bites" event card. If a player only has a set of 5 and "Mosquito bites" is played, then the set of 5 will get reduced down to a set of 4. This set is now vulnerable to stealing.
6. "Let's do it again" can replay any event card including other reactive event cards to redirect a steal or cancel an event card.
7. Sometimes uneven exchanges can occur during "Survival of the fittest" and "Comparing notes" events, if a player only has one card in their hand.
8. During "Make a wish", any player including yourself can "Park Tour" on any card flipped over (including the dark sky park itself). The "Make a wish" event is stopped, and then continue the turn with the "Park Tour". The wish does not come true.
9. Dark sky icons cannot be used to make a set without an event card—"Aspiring astronomer." This card needs to be played first. On a following turn, a dark sky set can be made.

Theme Icons and Data Sources

There are 16 different theme icons as well as a dark sky icon (behind the card number). Theme icons represent the most distinguishing features of each national park. The nine colored icons are based on physical features of the parks and the eight black/white icons are based on statistics or designations from key organizations.

Dark sky designation icon identifies which US national parks have an international Dark Sky Place certification from the Dark Sky International organization. This program certifies communities, parks, and protected areas around the world that preserve and protect dark sites through responsible lighting policies and public education. (darksky.org, accessed August 2025).

Note: At this time, Badlands NP is only nominated for Dark Sky certification, but meets many criteria which compels PocketParks to include it in this category.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a United Nations organization that promotes cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication to foster peace worldwide. UNESCO sites are recognized for their outstanding universal value to all of mankind, and their designation helps to ensure their preservation for future generations. (UNESCO.org, accessed on August 2025)

The newest/oldest parks are based on the order the national parks were established by Congress. Gross area and visitation statistics published from the National Park Services were used to identify largest/smallest and most visited/least visited parks. Theme icons using visitation records consider multi-year averages and trends instead of single year data. (nps.gov, accessed August 2025)