This came in through support (see Desk 1134).
The user was trying to do this in Tangram Play at the top of the yaml file
global:
sdk_mapzen_api_key: 'mapzen-api-key-here'
and not realizing that url_params was necessary under sources. The user kept getting a warning about missing an API key.
Discussion from support chat: "sdk_mapzen_api_key works when you’re using mapzen.js but Play never learned that trick"