Parade

About this board game

Parade is a card game for 2–6 players, with play time of about 45 minutes, in which Wonderland characters join a steadily growing procession. Released in 2007, it challenges players to build the parade while avoiding cards that become negative points.

Each player begins a turn with five cards and plays one card to the end of the parade. The line’s length matters: when the number on the newly played card is less than that length, cards may leave the procession and go to the player. However, not every relevant card is taken. A card qualifies if it matches the played card’s color or if its number is the same as, or lower than, the number on the played card.

This creates a careful balance between adding cards to the parade and forcing unwanted cards away. Characters such as Alice, the White Rabbit, and the Hatter may join the procession, but the cards collected from it will count against you later.

• The draw deck ending triggers the game’s final stage.
• The game also ends when one player has collected all six colors in their point piles.
• After everyone plays one last card, players choose two of their four remaining cards for their point piles.
• Normally, each card scores negative points equal to its number.
• The player with the most cards in a color scores each card of that color as only 1 negative point.

The winner is the player with the fewest negative points. In Parade, timing, card numbers, colors, and the changing length of the procession all matter as you try to make the most of a wonderfully strange Wonderland celebration.