Parade

Parade Deep Dive

What the Community Thinks About Parade

Reviewers who cover Parade tend to land on the same word: pretty. Allies or Enemies called it "a beautiful, classy looking card game" set in an Alice in Wonderland theme, and Going Analog went further, naming it one of their favorite abstract games of all time. Before You Play treats it as a genuine favorite too, saying it is one of the card games they bring with them to nearly every convention.

The disagreements are smaller but real. Allies or Enemies admits the game is "a hard one to explain" even while praising it, and Foster the Meeple's Jeff openly admits to not understanding the rules well enough to know whether a game has ever actually been won. Going Analog frames the same card-counting tension as a strength, calling the game "surprisingly mean" for something themed around Alice's Wonderland parade. Ilia and Tyler, picking games to fit on a shelf rather than reviewing gameplay, simply describe it as "a cute card game," which is a much lighter read than the "surprisingly mean" label Going Analog gives it.

Core Mechanics That Define Parade

Building the Parade Line

Before You Play describes the core loop plainly: there is a parade of cards, and on a turn a player adds a card to the back end, then works out how many cards get kicked out of the parade and into that player's scoring pile. Allies or Enemies breaks the same process down further, explaining that a played card ignores a number of cards equal to its own value, then takes any remaining cards that share its color or are the same number or lower. Because the lowest score wins, both channels agree the real skill is manipulating that line so opponents, not you, end up taking cards.

Turning Majorities Into Single Points

The twist reviewers keep returning to is what happens once cards are unavoidable. Before You Play explains that whoever ends up with the most cards of a specific color gets to flip that color over, and each flipped card is worth one point instead of its printed face value, while Allies or Enemies adds that ties in that count mean both players have to score the higher way instead. That rule pushes players toward Before You Play's "kind of a bidding war" for majorities: once you have taken a color, you want to keep taking it rather than spread your losses across multiple colors.

The Parade Experience

A Tense, Escalating Push and Pull

Allies or Enemies describes the feel of a game changing as it goes on, saying the dynamic shifts and gets "a bit stressful" as the parade keeps getting longer and players realize they are taking cards. Near the end, they say, the game becomes a matter of watching what everyone else holds so a strong suit does not slip away from you at the last moment. Going Analog's "surprisingly mean" comment points at the same tension from a different angle, framing the game's politeness on the surface against how punishing its endgame math can feel.

A Quick, Portable Favorite for Groups

Before You Play treats Parade as a travel-ready staple, saying they bring it with them essentially any time they go to a convention or anywhere they think they might get a game in. They note it plays up to six, though they think the sweet spot is probably four or five, and that a six-player game can still wrap up in about twenty to twenty-five minutes when a bigger group needs something quick.

What Makes Parade Stand Out

Its Alice in Wonderland Presentation

The theme and look of the game come up unprompted across reviewers. Allies or Enemies leads with "beautiful, classy looking" as their first impression, tied directly to its Alice in Wonderland setting. On Board to Death TV's convention coverage, a Z-Man Games representative touring the show floor pointed out that the current edition ships in a large box with new artwork, and that it comes packaged with a set of coasters featuring art from the game.

A Clever Twist on Set Collection

Before You Play singles out the scoring flip as the game's cleverest idea, saying it creates "this really neat thing where you don't want to take cards and then you really want to take a lot of one kind of card." That reversal, where avoiding cards becomes hoarding them, is also what earns the game its "surprisingly mean" reputation from Going Analog, who rank it among their favorite abstract games specifically because of that bite.

Potential Drawbacks

A Rule Set That Takes Explaining

More than one channel flags the teach as the game's rough edge. Allies or Enemies calls it "a hard one to explain" even as a fan of the game. Foster the Meeple's Jeff is blunter about it during a head-to-head session, admitting to not knowing how to play well and crediting the opponent's edge to simply being better at math, since the scoring depends on tracking card values and colors across the table.

Not Always Easy to Find

Availability is the other recurring complaint. Allies or Enemies describes the game as "a bit hard to find," noting that it gets re-released with a new edition every so often rather than staying continuously in print. Before You Play backs that up from experience, saying their copy came from a gift after the game had gone out of print, and that they bought a second copy as soon as it came back in print because they did not want to be without it again.

If You Enjoy Parade

Touring the same convention booth, Board to Death TV's Z-Man Games representative paired Parade with Black Spy, a trick-taking game by Alan Moon, describing it as being in the same style as Parade, right down to the big box and the matching coasters included with each.