Board Game Battles – Welcome To vs Criss Cross vs Second Chance vs Yahtzee
The Granddaddy of roll and write games is taking on a new class as we have a fatal four-way between these games that use a similar mechanic, but are all really different. Will the old challenger be able to hold off the young guns trying to take him down?
Let’s meet the games.
Yahtzee – The granddaddy of the roll and write genre, it’s a good puzzle and push your luck game. You roll the dice trying to get various combinations to score the most points possible. And if you can’t roll what you want, what do you cross off? The game can get a little bit out of hand depending on your luck at rolling dice, which I tend to run either hot or cold. There are some interesting decisions in the game, mainly though, you are figuring out your best odds.
Criss Cross – A much simpler game than Yahtzee, Criss Cross has you picking a symbol to put into the corner of your board, and then you roll dice and everyone tries to use them to put symbols on your board getting connected ones in rows and columns and scoring based off of how many of the same ones you can get in a row. It’s an interesting puzzle not knowing what symbols are going to be rolled and depending on that starting one that you pick randomly, peoples boards look very different. The trickiest bit is that with the two dice, you have to put their symbols next to each other.
Welcome To… – No dice in this roll and write so technically it’s more a flip and write. However, the mechanics are the same in a lot of ways, the randomness of the card flip just means that you can kind of plan if you can count cards, but there are a lot of them. In this game, you are building your perfect neighborhood by building fences, parks, pools, and getting realtors to show off your neighborhoods so that they are worth more points at the end of the game. You’re also adding in house numbers, but they have to go in order, so don’t end up where you can’t add any, otherwise you get a building permit violation. May the best 50’s neighborhood win.
Second Chance – Another flip and write game, this one gives you a grid where you are trying to fill it in with Tetris type shapes so that you have the fewest spaces left at the end of the game. You can flip and orient the shapes in any direction you want, but if you can’t place a shape, you get a second chance, but if you can’t do that, you’re out. It’s a very peaceful game to play and allows you to have a little fun as you fill in areas and how you do that. It’s also a game that allows a large number of players to play all at once without down time.
Let’s Fight!
Alright, let’s see how Yahtzee fairs to start. Unfortunately it isn’t looking great. Yahtzee, like the rest has you playing your own solo puzzle, unlike the other games, Yahtzee has you taking your turn and then waiting for everyone else to take their turn. That’s good for the old game, but it can’t keep pace with the younger counter parts. It does get in a few blows on Criss Cross for giving you a few more decisions at the start of the game.
Now we’re down to the three newer games, Criss Cross is showing it’s simplicity in what it does as Second Chance matches it blow for blow. However, Criss Cross gets the advantage as giving you a few more interesting choices and better scoring than Second Chance does. Second Chance tries for one last counter showing off some more style to it, but then Welcome To… comes in to get the pin, taking out Second Chance. While Criss Cross is resting from it’s fight with Second Chance, Welcome To… shows off a few interesting moves and then goes for the pin…
1…. 2… 3…
We have a winner in the battle of Roll and Writes: Welcome To…
Welcome To.. has theme on it which none of the rest of the games do. It also gives you more interesting decisions and with picking between one of three sets of cards for your moves gives you more decisions to make as compared to any of them. It’s also more of a gamers game as a roll and write while not being too complex. Criss Cross put up a good showing though as it’s a very fast game that offers a lot of interesting choices, especially late in the game, and moments that you can really cause excitement.
What’s your favorite Roll and Write? I have another coming in the mail that just couldn’t quite get into the fight in time.
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