This award-winning National Parks board game is fun for the whole family

Amazon/Underdog Games

The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Don't Waste Your Money may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.

Add a new title to your game-night lineup with “Trekking The National Parks,” a family-friendly board game that’s getting high marks from reviewers.

The second edition of the game is now selling on Amazon for $50.

Players start their quest in what looks like southern Iowa or northern Missouri. From there, the contestants travel across the nation, collecting informational photo cards about each national park they encounter. Gemstones collected at the parks get added up at the end to determine a winner.

Amazon/Underdog Games

It seems simple — but apparently tough, strategic decisions must be made at times. The game is intended for players age 10 and up. However, it’s complex enough to have earned an award from Mensa, the club for high-IQ folks.

Amazon/Underdog Games

Reviewers on Amazon are fans, as well. In a five-star review, Barbara Gillespie said, “I purchased this game for my family. But mostly for my 8-year-old granddaughter. I have been to 25 parks and I want to spark a love in her to travel and visit our parks.”

User Wren also gave the game five stars in a review titled “Inspired to visit the parks!”

“We are really enjoying this game,” Wren wrote. “At first the set-up seemed a little daunting, but after doing it once, it’s fairly simple. It was fun to learn about the parks as we played and it encouraged family conversation about traveling.”

Amazon/Underdog Games

Oh, and if the Mensa endorsement and the 88 percent five-star-Amazon-review rate isn’t convincing, the game has received another honor. The Parents’ Choice Foundation bestowed their Gold Award on the game, calling it a “fun-to-play, attractively made adventure game” that’s “nicely educational.”

Amazon/Underdog Games

Holiday shoppers, this one sounds like a winner!

About the Author

Kathleen St. John

Kathleen was born in Iowa, but has spent most of her life in Colorado - with stints in Chicago, New York and Wyoming for variety. She’s written about things like music, food, nightlife, medical news, motorcycles, animals, bargain shopping, strip clubs and plants for publications like The Denver Post, Esquire, The A.V. Club, and Scripps' Simplemost and Don't Waste Your Money. More.

More to explore