Out for a Day of Solo Theme Park Fun with Tenpenny Parks
Build an exciting theme park filled with unique attractions that inspire thrill, awe, and joy in Tenpenny Parks.
My love of the theme park genre is mostly limited to the tabletop nowadays, courtesy of motion sickness. So when I spotted Tenpenny Parks and all of its vintage rides, I couldn’t wait to experience all the fun! The actual construction of polyomino pieces made it seem even more real, although I got lost in the awesome artwork. Onward to the table!
Disclaimer
I received this copy in exchange for part of my time demoing games for the publisher at Gen Con 2022. Such a great time, during which I met the designer, too! The opinions expressed below are my own and entirely independent. There was not any expectation to post about the game, but you put theme parks in front of me… And I will post. Ha ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: Tenpenny Parks
Publication Year: 2022
Designer: Nate Linhart
Artist: Vincent Dutrait
Publisher: Thunderworks Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Over the course of 5 in-game months, or rounds, a theme park takes shape. Trees can be cleared to make room for new attractions and concessions. There are all sorts of unique rides that provide income and attract visiting people, all while contributing to thrill, awe, and joy!
First Play
September 24, 2022
Complexity
2
Latest Play
September 24, 2022
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
30 Minutes
High Score
36
Game Area
32" x 20"
Low Score
36
Round and Round
The first order of business was to punch the components and assemble the carousel. This was a little trickier than I anticipated, and I recommend the publisher’s video.
But the effort was worth it, since this sits inside a circle in the board and rotates! The spaces affect the costs of the various cards, sometimes adding or subtracting money.
I loved this thematic element, particularly since the sides had such detailed artwork… Hidden in this photo. Ha!
The rulebook was much shorter than I expected it to be, and I was ready to start building my theme park!
Track Management
I fiddled around with the board placement a few times to find the best arrangement for solo. The thrill, awe, and joy tracks built away from me, which worked out well.
This trio of tracks was where the solo opponent had to be managed the most. Gaining an edge in any of these provided bonuses that could have major impacts.
It wasn’t easy to stay ahead, yet there were victory points to earn based on making it to a certain point.
Wait… Victory points were actually cleverly disguised as visiting people. Same initials, but more thematic!
A Meager Plot of Land
My starting area didn’t look all too exciting, although I chose to use the standard map. Asymmetric, unique ones exist on the back of every map for more options.
Trees provided obstacles that could be cleared, yet with so few actions, it was important to plan the removals.
Adjacency was exactly the opposite of what I expected. Tiles matching attractions would be added, but these had to be entirely separate, or only touching on the diagonal.
Much trickier! Expansions could be added to either side, yet again, there were only a limited number of actions.
FAIRLY ADVENTUROUS
This was my initial attempt, which wasn’t too terrible! I met my unique goals and put together a pretty fun theme park, filled with nautical fun! Or so I thought…
My management of the solo opponent was atrocious. Becky, as the builder was called, picked up attractions with a set sequence of play. And I didn’t stop her!
I could see how I needed to have some control over which cards she picked up. It wasn’t just about my own park.
Judging by what I saw as decent scores, I wrote this one off as a learning game. Ha ha! Still, I had a lot of fun.
Player Focus vs. Solo Opponent Focus
In a lot of solo modes where an opponent exists, gameplay exists in a couple of key ways. First, the solo opponent can mainly block actions or other options, thereby creating an unpredictable challenge that requires constant adjustments. The focus remains on the player, though: It’s all about carefully crafted moves and being able to react to changes.
Second is a solo mode where the opponent takes on more of a focus. In these instances, gameplay is split between making the best decisions to earn victory points and managing the solo opponent. Effectively, there’s more to think about in terms of possibly making sub-optimal decisions in order to limit victory points that are given away.
This solo mode gave me a chance to think more about this, mainly because I wasn’t expecting Becky to be such a challenge! My first play was partially unsatisfying because I was learning the rules, but didn’t focus on solo opponent management. I had to adjust this thinking in order to make sure I split my strategic decisions accordingly.
Focus is a concept I haven’t really looked at before, at least in terms of where it gets the most attention. Maybe that’s another element to keep in mind as I figure out why certain solo modes work well for me, and others feel a bit overwhelming. All part of the board game journey that always has something new to teach!
Advertising and Art
Although the polyominoes played a more active role in actually being added to the theme park board, the cards were simply amazing. Look at this fun and colorful art!
These weren’t just there to look good, though. Each showed either final victory points or extra money earned as income. My Deep Sea Souvenirs were lucrative!
Rides themselves could also attract more visiting people, or victory points, by spending money on advertising.
I personally took a moment to imagine myself trying out every ride. This is why I always appreciate fun artwork.
Calling in the Tricycle
If there was a better place for my popcorn tricycle to appear, I couldn’t think of it! This rolled on through like it was made for the theme park. Concessions, too!
The subtlety of artwork that matches a theme so well is easy to overlook at times. But the bright and fun colors were so nicely done here. I felt like I was in the game!
Alas, I wasn’t so sure if I had the strategy down. Becky was already poised to beat me before I finished resetting.
My expectations adjusted a bit as I looked at this more as a puzzle to limit the solo opponent’s bonuses.
Different Decisions
Inevitably, my next play resulted in a smaller theme park as I focused on controlling the market a little more.
My concessions, or single tiles, were carefully chosen. Rather than a more haphazard approach, I focused on income generation and a few specific tracks.
Try as I might, though, it was impossible to keep up with Becky! There was a marked improvement in my own decisions, yet she proved to be a challenging adversary.
It was interesting to see all of the different choices, too, since it wasn’t always about choosing the cheapest ride.
Money in a Basket
Well, I found a way to drive around most of my money I collected. Ha ha! It was a scarce resource that I always needed more of, although I managed it well.
Since extra money wasn’t worth anything in the end, I spent it all on advertising during the final round.
Ironically, my own score stayed exactly the same, but Becky’s score dropped by almost 20 victory points. I was getting somewhere! Yet it required a lot of planning.
Many solo modes involve managing the solo opponent’s bonuses: I just had to figure out what to do about Becky!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Standard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 36-77 and 36-58 (2 Losses)
I just couldn’t quite reliably pull ahead on any of the tracks, despite some better moves. My theme park did end up being the most awesome, though. I’ll take it! There were some great moments when I ensured that Becky wasn’t able to advertise nor gain the bonus for a track. Yet this one is going to take some more puzzling through to figure out the best strategy to pull off a solo victory!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
6
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the attractions feature beautiful, vintage artwork with exciting scenes and unique sorts of rides.
- Only 3 actions happen during every round, which makes every choice extremely important to the end game.
- The sequence of play is easy to follow with clear summary cards and an intuitive sort of flow.
- Avoiding adjacent tiles provides an extra challenge since this spaces everything out and feels rather uncommon.
- Thick punchboard provides high quality components that all add to the atmosphere of the theme park genre.
- With a very short rulebook, the rules are easy to learn, clear, and simple to reference during gameplay.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The carousel can be tricky to put together the first time, and also blocks the far spaces that can affect prices.
- Expansion boards are interesting, yet they all use the same layout for the bonus spots near the main board.
- Some of the solo opponent’s actions provide random bonuses, so it can be hard to maintain top track positions.
- There are a lot of components to keep separated, and sorting these in bags takes extra time during cleanup.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 0%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 40 victory points.
Win at least 1 game at the standard difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Tenpenny Parks? I had a lot of fun, despite playing rather poorly and ending up with the world’s most mediocre theme parks! Are there any other solo games that have a theme you love? My guess is that I’ll return to this in the future, but Becky has officially bested me. I’ll ease my sorrows by driving the popcorn tricycle… Ha ha!
Great review as always! I’ve been playing a lot of Cape May and it’s got me intrigued to try this. Thunderworks makes such beautiful games and it sounds as puzzly and action efficient as Cape May.
I love a game with a challenging solo enemy and tight actions. Whenever I lose I can usually trace it back to a poor decision I made early. I’m going to add this to my wishlist.
Plus my partner might play it because of the theme, although it looks a little complicated to learn.
Thanks, Oli! It wasn’t too bad to learn: The rulebook was much shorter than I expected. I don’t have it with me, but I think it was only 4 or 6 pages, and 1 of those is for the solo variant. Flows quite smoothly! Plus, there are reference cards. The strategy definitely takes some time to master, yet I thought the rules were pretty quick to pick up. That will be different for everyone, yet you’re not looking at a 10-20 page rulebook with extensive edge cases. Hope you enjoy learning more about it to see if it’s for you!