Tenpenny Parks live on Kickstarter (with new expansions!)
Tenpenny Parks was one of our favorite games back in 2022. The game was published by Thunderworks Games and designed by Nate Linhart with gorgeous art from Vincent Dutrait.
As we said in our original review: “The gameplay is simple, and you can easily enjoy a game in under an hour. Players each have their own double sided player park board to place tiles representing amusement park rides and concession stands. We like the board sides that have different starts, but you can play the reverse side which are all exactly the same if you like.
As Walt Disney’s brother Roy knew, it takes money to open up a park and keep “plussing” it each month, and Tenpenny Parks has a tight economic engine that you really have to master if you want to do well. You can invest in various attractions and stands that increase your park’s joy, awe, and excitement, and that’s a great way to get bonuses like the first player token or more money or an extra worker, but you really need a money engine established early to do what you want in the last rounds.
Any marketing whiz knows that you can build the best park in the world, but if nobody knows about it, you’ll just end up eating a lot of Mickey bars and stale popcorn for dinner. The more we play, the more we realize that advertising is very important, and yep, that costs money, too.
Speaking of best parks, kudos to the production team for putting together an amazing board presence. There is a carousel at the top of the board which not only gives it that 3D look as in Ulm but is also functional in that it allows the first player to affect the prices of the attractions that are available that round. It’s kind of a drilled down version of the auction mechanic in Castles of Mad King Ludwig, but in my mind, this works a lot better – it’s way more elegant.”
If you missed your chance to get a copy when it came out back then, it’s back on Kickstarter right now and already funded. It’s also got two new expansions for more content!
If you are curious as to the gameplay, here’s me and Jerod and Dave Dugas playing a three player game on our Twitch Tuesday game night:
Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo