And if you want to know the criteria that I’m using, or the conversation starting point, you can read that article here.

What Roll and Write Games Do I Own?

Two lists like every time. We’re talking of course, played and unplayed. It’s less likely that an unplayed game is going to be leaving the collection without having been tried first.

Played

• Welcome To…
• Cartographers
• Ganz Schon Clever
• Yahtzee
• Long Shot: The Dice Game
• Twilight Inscription
• Welcome to the Moon
• Railroad Ink
• Fleet: The Dice Game
• Doppelt So Clever
• Three Sisters
• On Tour
• Paper Dungeons
• Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade
• Bargain Basement Bathysphere
• Clever Hoch Drei
• Metro X
• Trek 12: Himalaya
• Sonora
• Super Mega Luck Box
• My City: Roll & Build
• Clever 4Ever
• The Isle of Cats Explore and Draw
• Patchwork Doodle
• Criss Cross
• Knister
• Delicious
• First Class Letters
• Mind Space
• Doodle Dungeon

Unplayed

• Hadrian’s Wall
• Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write
• Silver & Gold
• Get on Board
• Sagrada Artisans
• Welcome to Dino World
• Riverside
• Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama
• Motor City
• Cascadia Rolling Rivers & Rolling Hills
• Pioneer Rails
• Fliptown
• Arabella
• Merchants of Magick: A Set A Watch Tale
• French Quarter
• Zombicide: Gear Up
• Boomerang
• Number Drop
• Vengeance: Roll & Fight
• Lantern Dice
• Astra

Unplayed Games

This list is massive for both played and unplayed. I’m not 100% sure that I own all the ones still that I have yet to play. In particular I think Arabella might have left the collection as might have Number Drop and Kokoro. But looking at that list, is there anything where I think it should just leave? The only one that jumps out at me is that I don’t think I need both Rolling Rivers and Rolling Hills. From what I know they are basically the same game.

There are a few others that I’d want to get played on the list to see if they stay. Those are the ones that I mentioned that I might not have still. Also Boomerang is another one that I need to see about. It looks like a simple little game so that begs the question of if I need to keep it. Getting all these little roll and writes is easy, but often times they need a more limited player count, which means that for game nights even though they are easier to learn games they are hard to get played.

Played Games

So what on that massive list is at the danger of going away. And I think there are a number of them that fall into that category of maybe are similar to other games.

Easy Leaving

In particular I think of games like Metro X, while it’s not too similar, it’s not a game that feels that different any time that you play it. And while I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been in my Top 100 Games in the past, it’s also something that is a less appealing on future plays. Bargain Basement Bathysphere is another one that is going to be going because it’s fine but I have played it.

Another one that might be a surprise is Welcome to the Moon. I thought it is a fun game when I played it and streamed it. But as a campaign game, I now feel like there is only so much interest in going back to it. I haven’t even gone back to it recently on Board Game Arena. And Welcome To… is more fun with the same main mechanism.

I also think that Twilight Inscription is leaving the collection as well. This is one where it could stick around because it is really different. But honestly I don’t want to teach it to someone. And I don’t want to learn it again. I really had a lot of fun with it at Gen Con and if someone is up for teaching me again I gladly will play. But at the same time, it’s that category of I don’t want to do that.

Easy Staying

There are a handful that are staying for sure, games like Railroad Ink, Cartographers, Sonora, Fleet, Three sisters, and Paper Dungeon are all games that I love. And with them also all of the “Clever” games. Yes, they are similar in some ways but they are different in other ways. So that is going to keep them around, plus I like them for that combotastic nature.

Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw is another one where it make it easy to keep. In fact it might be so easy to keep that it spells the end for Isle of Cats. But I want to play that one again at a higher player count. Because I like a lot of elements of the game. I think at two it is possible for it to just get out of balance score wise pretty quickly.

Questioning

So that leaves a handful that are in that questioning range. Some of them like Trek 12, Knister, and Criss Cross I know I like and are going to be kept as well. It is just less of an emphatic keep. Same can be said for at least some of Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade, though I might have sold expansions already and Super Mega Lucky Box.

The ones that I’m really thinking about right now are Delicious, Mind Space, On Tour and My City: Roll & Build. With all of them I enjoy the games. I think that Delicious is leaving because it is just simpler. Mind Space and On Tour are good, but in particular with On Tour it is not the best the score and I can always play it on my phone. So I think both of them are going to leave as well. And that leave My City: Roll & Build. I was through a campaign and half way through another. I think it goes because it is fun but I’ve played it.

What Roll and Write Games Do You Love?

Let me know your thoughts. Do you think that there are any of them that I should give another chance from what I’m talking about getting rid of. Just to recap that list:

• On Tour
• Mind Space
• My City: Roll & Build
• Delicious
• Metro X
• Welcome to the Moon
• Twilight Inscription
• Bargain Basement Bathysphere
• Cascadia Rolling Rivers or Rolling Hills

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

10 More Games to Buy at Gen Con

Honorable Mention

Fika – This looks like a little light set collection game. I enjoy those types of game. And the theme on this one is very fun, I like the theory of Fika. So if it’s a cute little game that I can play with my wife, it’s definitely interesting.

Resurgence – I don’t know a ton about this one, just that it’s supposed to be a solid solo game. And it’s a bigger game, just one that has been talked about in some of the groups that I follow. So need to know more about it.

Glitch Squad – I think that this one mainly hits the list because there is a cat in it. The game is a party game, always interesting to know if it’s going to be that I’ll want to play much. But it’s a cooperative party game where players are trying to complete goals, and the jerk office cat is messing with them. Could be fun, could be a one trick pony, I just need to see.

20. My Island

This one feels a bit like cheating to put it on my list. I like My City, I like My City Roll and Build. Do I think that I want to buy My Island, the hex based tile game that is a legacy game like My City? I think that I do, so for that reason it feels like a cheat to be on the list.

At the same time, while I might not rush to get this one, I won’t rush for any, but it’s going to be a game where I will pick it up, and I might even seek it out the first day, because I want to play it, and I have a group to play it with.

19. Point City

Another one that isn’t really a cheat, but that automatically made it to the list because it’s the same group of designers who did Point Salad, a filler game that I love. If they make an Eevee version of Point City, I’ll swap it out. But my hope is that this is a fun filler of a game, looks like it might take longer or offer a bit more than Point Salad did. But if it can hit that same area, I think that’s where the game can really shine.

18. Halloween

I question if I should put a one versus many game on the list. But for the theme and the designer, the designer of Century: Golem Edition, I feel like I need to. This is a game where some players the survivors (currently) trying to stay away from Michael Myers. The one is playing Michael Myers.

But it’s not just a one versus all game where you know where Myers is coming from, like a good horror movie, he might pop up anywhere. Sure, there are rules for how he moves, but when you can’t see him, you don’t know where he’s on the board. It could be very fun, and I like it for a Halloween season game.

17. Dawn of Ulos

I passed on this Kickstarter, but Thunderworks puts out great games. Dawn of Ulos is an economic game in that world. Basically you build out the lands trying to create areas for the different deities to rule. All the while you win points, favor, money, something that is your currency. And there is manipulation of how much the various gods will give you or how much it’ll be worth at the end of the game when you tally up your points. It sounds intriguing and one that I’d like to try.

16. Number Drop

A roll and write game, that is always going to make me interested. But this one doesn’t have the best reviews. From what I could see, it looks like a Tetris style game where you can manipulate the numbers to get pieces that you might need. So in theory could be a fun one. And it is a solo game, now it might be more fun with more, just for the table chatter. But I’m guessing it’s mainly multiplayer solitaire anyways, which means it could be a nice one to put into my rotation of solo games that are quick to play.

15. Gap

Gap is an interesting sounding game. One of those that says 10 minutes, so hopefully is a game that you sit down and play a couple of times in a row. In a number of games you try and get runs and you don’t want a gap in the cards you have. No Thanks has you score fewer points if you can get a run because you don’t score all the cards.

Here you are trying to create the biggest gap in numbers possible. Is it one that will have legs for a long time, maybe not. But as a simple little filler, I think it could be really cool.

14. Overboss Duel

One gap in games that I probably would like and haven’t played is Overboss. This is a tile placement game where you are building out your board to score you the most points. Will I check that out at Gen Con, probably. But this is the two player game, hence Duel, of that same idea. And that might be more interesting because it might be the type of game that I pull out to play with only two. So I need to see if it’s one for me, but definitely one I’m intrigued by.

13. Bonsai

This game looks like a little game, but I wonder how big it’ll end up being because you are building out Bosai trees. You draft cards to get more tiles to build up your Bonsai tree. And it is a game that you can play solo, which is always good thing for me. One where I like the theme, I love the box cover, and generally looking at the game, it seems to have a fun aesthetic. One I want to checkout and one of two I think there’s a really good chance I pick-up at Gen Con, in this section of the list.

12. Table Golf Association

This is the other game that I think I might pick up. I’m a sucker for dexterity games. It’s only further down on my list because while I love dexterity, those are more impulse purchases or impulse playing. Table Golf Association is a flicking game, the type of dexterity that I prefer.

And you basically play golf. But I think depending on where you are on a given hole, you need to flick it and achieve a certain goal or landing range so that you don’t mess up your shot. You can hit your driver a ways, but not the whole way across the board.

11. World Wonders

World Wonders is just one on the list, and on this second half of the list, because it has been talked up. In terms of games that have a bit of hype from places, I consistently hear it. Last year that was First Rat a game that I really enjoy. This time it’s World Wonders and it looks to hit that lighter weight euro style game again. And while the theme isn’t as exciting as rats building rockets to the moon, I’m generally intrigued by it. And the table presence does look solid as well.

3 Days Until Gen Con

It’s just about time and I’m excited. I’m excited to checkout so many games. I could easily leave with so many games, too many games. But I do try and keep it in check and come in with a plan for what games I might buy. But there is always a sleeper hit as well at Gen Con. Some game that gains buzz, or some game that at least wasn’t on my radar.

In 2022 it was First Rat, it made a lot of lists, but, in terms of a game that people knew much about, First Rat had a lot of questions. Now having played it a handful of times, a game that I really enjoy with a theme that is really fun. What game, when I sit down to play it, is going to surprise me this year? And is it on this list?

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here