In alignment with National Park Week, taking place from April 20th to 28th, a new board game titled Lucky Bears is set to launch. The game, which highlights America’s national parks, is the creation of mother-daughter duo Annabelle and Stacy Tornio. It is designed to be educational and enjoyable for a broad audience.
Lucky Bears offers quick gameplay, with each round taking approximately 15 minutes. The game incorporates 64 tokens, each depicting a different U.S. national park. Players compete to arrange their park tokens in sequence, while elements like Lucky Bears, Hungry Bears, and a Sneaky Bear add layers of strategy and unpredictability to the game.
The game was inspired by Annabelle’s senior year apprenticeship, where her interest in game creation and her appreciation for national parks merged. “I love that we have these public lands, and more people should know about them,” Annabelle remarked. She noted the game’s broad appeal, having tested it across a diverse age group, from children to seniors, observing its capacity to bring people together.
Stacy Tornio, who has a background in board games and publishing, including authorship of several books on national parks, collaborated with her daughter to develop Lucky Bears. Their shared objective was to produce a game that is both straightforward and tactical, while celebrating the public lands of America’s national parks.
With the game’s official release approaching on Kickstarter, Annabelle and Stacy are inviting potential backers to participate in the pre-launch to secure early access to the game.