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I love LOST CITIES the 2 player card game. It hurts me in all the right places 😊 The directness of it. The knowing that any card you give up is open to your opponent to take to further their own expeditions. The realising that you started an expedition you can’t hope to finish. The beautiful pain of scoring time! But that perfect push your luck race/reverse racing maxes out at 2. Or does it? Now let's get into Lost Cities Roll & Write.
Rolling With The Crowd
Lost Cities Roll & Write is an adaptation of Mr Knizia’s OG designed by the puzzle master himself. And this time, you aren’t just going head to head with another plucky adventurer. You can compete against an entire island full! Okay so that might be stretching your game group a little, but definitely more than 2!
The game is played with each player having a small sheet showing 6 different potential expeditions. There’s also a column filled with artefacts (urns) and one with dice. Each round, the starting player rolls the 6 dice and selects one for number and another for colour. The remaining players get to select from the rest. Then everybody simultaneously writes their chosen number in the corresponding colour column on their sheet.
Bottoms Up
You must begin at the bottom and can only add a number above if it is equal to or higher than the one below it (NB: this is a twist on the OG where you must always lay higher as there is only one of each number in the card suits). Zeros are special as they are the only way you can gain a “handshake” that will double (or devastate!) your score at end game!.
As you go up the columns you’ll hit icons that let you accelerate up a column by duplicating a number elsewhere. Or run up past a pot and you can cross off an artefact icon that again rewards points at end game. You’ll also be hopefully climbing your way out of negative scoring territory and into positive points! I don’t want to say combo-tastic yet but I’m sure you can see how rewards might roll into each other! Haha
If you don’t want to use a dice on a turn, you can pass. But beware! Use it too many times and you’ll take a huge hit when it comes to end game scoring. Although it is also worth noting that if you don’t use it at all, you’ll also take a hit at VP time! Sneaky!
When anybody gets past the 7th box in a column, they pass a bridge and get an exclusive bonus 20 VPs. Top out past the 9th box in any column and you’re considered “exhausted” in that particular expedition. Don’t worry though as you have others to be carrying on with! When the 8th bridge is crossed or everyone is “exhausted, end game is triggered and it’s tallying up time!
Final Thoughts
As mentioned at the very beginning, I love LOST CITIES. It’s simple but incredibly crunchy. Push your luck crashes headfirst into take that and it’s brilliant. The panic of the race/reverse race when you switch from wanting to add cards to wanting more time to collect and lay them is inspired. It’s an elegant design that makes every decision feel like a mental wrench.
Lost Cities Roll and Write isn’t the same as the OG but it is inspired by it. The theme is a little lacking - the colours match the OG suits and that’s about it. But that doesn’t bother me as it’s great fun! You’re still racing/pumping the brakes to try and complete your expeditions. You’re still trying desperately to get out of negative scoring territory and into a place where points mean prizes! And you can still hate-draft like a demon if you want to! Which I always do! Haha
The ability to place numbers equal to those before them in columns is a little bit of a pressure-off moment. And being able to combo moves to trigger urns and accelerators to gain more points is very satisfying. Likewise, being able to pass but having to balance crossing off dice just enough to get you out of negative scoring is another lovely twist. Because although it feels like the game is inviting you to take it easy or even cheat, the dice you want is going to come up at the point you need to pass. It always does!
The card counting and memory element of Lost Cities OG is absent. But that’s fine with me. I can never remember what has been discarded and snatched up again anyway. And I definitely can’t work out what is likely to be in the deck with my opponent drawing cards face-down. The dice bring an unknown quantity to the game play that feels fresh and allows for combo moves which makes me happy indeed! The only aspect that makes me a little glum is the lack of solo mode. Given the nature of the dice drafting, it would have been nice and probably possible to have a way to play on my own.
Standalone, Lost Cities Roll & Write is a super fun, quick, multiplayer, budget friendly small box game that’s easy to teach and fun to play!
