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I love roll and writes and flip and fills. They’re quick to the table, they’re often able to play anything from 1 to whatever you like, and most of all, the best ones do a really clever thing. They take a traditional big box board game and distil the gameplay into something punchy without losing any of the crunchy! And dare I say it…….but some actually do it better! So here are 5 roll and write games that not only roll all over the OGs upon which they’re based, but smash it out of the park when it comes to flipping fun!
My City Roll & Build
Starting with a strong contender here, My City Roll and Build is absolutely brilliant! If you don’t know about My City, it’s an awesome have-your-cake-and eat it tile laying, polyomino puzzling, legacy game that combines surprise content with a forever replayable experience. One side of the board develops over a series of chapters and the other is an eternal game to play and replay at your leisure. This year, Mr Knizia has gone-done-it-again but this time in roll and write form. A shorter 4 chapter campaign, each one is broken down into 3 episodes giving 12 individual games. 12 games where new and unique things happen but also build upon what has gone before. All the placement restrictions of the previous sheet apply, and it gets crunchier and crunchier as the campaign progresses. What’s also great is that it’s portable size, small footprint, and soloable option means that there’s never a reason not to roll and build My City!
Rajas Of The Ganges; The Dice Charmers
Wealth and fame are up for grabs again in the phenomenal roll and write version of Rajas of the Ganges; the Dice Charmers. Using 8 gorgeous custom dice, you’ve got a sheet (well, actually two; day and night for added variability!) where you’re building a network to gather up goods, selling stuff at market and cashing in favours from influential palace dwellers! Dice picks from the lead player affect what other players can pick, and this game is all about the combos (oh and the cute cardboard elephant dice stand! Haha). In fact, I think it was the first game where I heard and used the phrase “combotastic”! Because everything you cross off has the potential to cascade bonuses and goodies down the line. Seriously, one move and you could be crossing off boxes for days! Haha. Well not quite, but it’s so satisfying! And it’s a good thing you can unlock jubby stuff because this is a two aspect race; you need be first past the post in both coin and celeb status if you want to win!
Kingdomino Duel
Bruno Cathala’s domino style Kingdomino and Queendomino are both excellent games. And Kingdomino is one of those elegantly simple to learn but hard to master beauties that become evergreen games in board game collections. And this two player only Kingdomino Duel roll and write version uses coat of arms adorned dice to replicate that tense double-ended domino style placement puzzle! You’re still trying to build territories which will score depending on how many dignitaries live in them at end game. But this time, there’s a spell book full of special powers which, if you get there first, will award bonus powers to help when things get a bit squeezy on the sheet!
Isle Of Cats: Explore & Draw
Isle of Cats is one of the heaviest games we own. Not in terms of complexity, but in sheer heft! The box (and now a bunch of expansions) is seriously weighty. It’s full of gorgeously illustrated and produced components but I need 3 Weetabix to get it to the table! And with time usually against us when gaming, being able to get the same polyomino placement puzzle in a faster-to-the-table format is always going to appeal. And that’s exactly what Explore and Draw does. It cleverly replicates the tense tile picking and placing of the OG by using a tableau of cards from which to select cats, jewels, and point scoring lessons! It’s also got a few special bonus powers up its sleeve, and its drywipe which always gets a bonus star from me! The gameplay is actually so good that we now save the big box for special occasions. And I’m always up for cracking open this flipping fantastic version whenever our weeknight gaming itch hits!
Lost Cities
Have you played the insanely tense and terrific Lost Cities by Reina Knizia? If you have, you know the exquisitely cutting set collection, take that, race-reverse-race card play that goes on between you and your opponent. If you haven’t, then I would HIGHLY recommend it. It’s ruddy awesome! But, if it’s a wee too intense, or you like to play with more folks around your table, Lost Cities Roll & Write is a great option! Playing up to 5, you’re still racing to build up expeditions by collecting incremental numbers, and boosting (or completely decimating!) scores by pushing your luck on the funding side. But in this game, you’re using dice with symbols on them to work your way up the temple. Plus there are bonus powers that let you duplicate numbers and collect point scoring artefacts along the way!