Five Types of Board Games To Play With Non-Gamers

Now, I am going to skip a bit one, mainly because some of these will fall into that same category or they can. But cooperative games are always good. Often times people don’t like games because they played Monopoly and Risk as a kid and had bad experiences with that. So competitive games are kind of a trigger for a bad time, but turning it on it’s head and everyone working together is great.

Escape Room Games

Let’s start out with board games that are escape room or puzzle games. These are going to feel really unique to players. And this is a situation where the games are cooperative as well, so players are going to like it for that, potentially. But it is also going to feel not like a normal experience. A game like Micro Macro Crime City where you explore a map and spot a criminal or crime across a map in a “Where is Waldo?” style experience is going to be unique.

Or there are the Exit and Unlock games. These are going to give you more of the puzzle feeling that an escape room might be. And there are a lot of people who do escape rooms who might not board game. So it’s a good branch between an activity that some people might like and a board game. Or even things like Sudoku and Crosswords and Cryptograms that people do for a brain teaser activity daily will help them be interested in an escape room style of game.

Trick Taking Games

Next up for a type of board games is trick taking games. This one makes a lot of sense because even if people don’t play too many games, they often at least know Hearts from the computer. So trick taking games are a nice safe and soft entry into more board games.

Now it might seem like this isn’t really an entry point, but it is. It is because there are so many variations or board gamer type things done with trick taking games. Things like The Crew make it cooperative, so that is interesting. Or there is Schadenfreude where you want to come in second to score points, but you also don’t want to go over forty points. And Rebel Princess which is just hearts, but there are powers and rules change each round. So it is going to feel familiar but there are a lots of trick taking games that add in more.

Dexterity Games

Next up is Dexterity Games. These are great board games to use when you have a variety of ages and a variety of interest. Why, because they can become a funny good time or a really tense time, it’s up in the air, literally, depending on the game that you decide to play.

A game like Ice Cool or Pitchcar are going to be more on that funny good time as you either have Penguins who are skipping class to get a fish snack and trying to avoid the hall monitor as you flick them around. Or you are racing around a track in Pitchcar. Either way it’s lighter and more of the excitement comes from someone making a great shot.

Then you have a game like Menara. This is going to be a stacking game, but unlike others, say Jenga, where you are removing things and the person who knocks it over loses, this one you are building up the tower, kind of like Jenga, but it’s cooperative. So you want to complete a target objective before it gets knocked over. And that is going to provide that cooperative and dexterity that can make it easier to play.

Roll and Write Games

The next time of board games are roll and write games. Now, with this one be careful. There are roll and write games that are very complex. But there are a lot of easy ones as well. And you want to target those that are a step up from Yahtzee. That is why they are on the list. People know Yahtzee, so it is going to be familiar to them. And a roll and write will seem less intimidating.

I think that something like Ganz Schon Clever (That’s Pretty Clever) can be a great option. There is a bit to learn in scoring, but for the most part it’s a fast and easy teach. Or a game like Metro X where you fill in tracks, that could bed good. And Mind Space or Qwixx over simpler game play but with just that little bit more for it. There are a ton out there, so a lot of good options.

Drafting Games

Finally are drafting games. This, like Roll and Write Games, you need to think about a little bit. I don’t know that I’d jump straight into Seven Wonders. But there are great games out there like Sushi Go and Draftosaurus that work really well. And the themes help those games.

The reason I think these board games work well is that you all go at once. There isn’t that downtime. And you learn as you go, often times with these games. Often, I feel like, for a competitive game, you get the question, what’s a good strategy. Or, I don’t know what to do. Drafting games I often find you get the question, but the answer is pick something for the first card. And as options get fewer it is easier and becomes more reactive. So I say often times the first card doesn’t matter.

And because you play all at once it means that games are often shorter. A game of Draftosaurus, for example, is maybe twenty minutes if people are really slow. So it’s great to play once and then play again.

Final Thoughts

These are just some of the types of games. I think there are a lot of types of games that can work for people to try for a new game. One important thing, though, is to remember that not everyone is going to like every type of game. So try some things and see what works, and ask people why they maybe don’t like board games. And then if you want to try, try and find something that’ll avoid those things they don’t like.

What types of board games do you introduce to new prospective gamers?

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How to Play Delicious

In Delicious you are trying to make your best garden. However there are rules on how you can place things in your garden. Each round you flip new cards and give tokens to them. The flipped cards either need to go on top or on the bottom section of your garden. However, each turn you decide if you want to change the position of those cards for you, or use both cards or just one card. And for each of them you can do it a limited number of times.

So once you’ve decided you fill in spots in your garden. Your garden plots are split into three areas, top and bottom for veggies and then a side area for fruit. Each spot has special rules with how you want to place your veggies for fruit. For veggies gardens are either matching, pairs, or different. And for fruit you get points for the same or different fruit in a row.

The game goes over 12 rounds where you’ll pick if you’re using both, one or switching where cards are each round. And each action has a limited number of times you can do it. Plus there are bonus areas where you can place a veggie or a fruit to add a bonus to your score. However, that takes away from placing a vegetable. At the end of the game you tally up your score from placing fruits and veggies and see who has the most.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a simple roll and write style game. Delicious doesn’t always offer the most choices, but there are some good choices in the game. Mainly around when you use both cards or not. Or when you flip cards from top to bottom for you or not. That is how you are able to focus on different areas. When you place your fruit or veggies that is pretty limited in terms of your decision making. So a fair amount of the game is luck.

Therefore, I suspect that the games replayability is going to be limited. While the tools and fruits, which I’ll talk about more in what I like, come out randomly as do the veggies, generally you understand what the options are. So as you play you likely will find a target path to go each game. With the biggest choices being around if you focus on the top plot of veggies or the bottom.

What Works?

How Many Cards

I like the choice the game does give you. While, yes, it is limited a lot of the time to what you can do, there are also interesting choices. In particular the choice of top or bottom can be interesting. But it’s really the choice of do I use one or two cards in a given around. You choose two early because you aren’t locked in, but it might mean you miss out on two good ones later. But you wait too long and now you lose the ability to use everything.

Fruits or Veggies

And I think the focus on either veggies or fruit can be interesting. And this stems from tools or fruits as tokens from the cards. You pick a card and that is always a veggie. But each card either contains a fruit or a tool. And some rounds you may play with two fruits in a round or two tools. But tools either help with veggies or with fruits. So where do you want to play with your flexibility?

When you play a tool it gives you a symbol. You fill in something you want in a row or column of that symbol. And you choose if you want to match the garden plot (top or bottom) of the card or if you use it for a fruit. And each way, either veggies or fruit is a good way to get points. So what and where you focus is another choice in the game.

Game Speed

The game is also fast once you understand it. I find that it is maybe a bit tougher to teach than the simplicity of the game might suggest. But it is not by any means a hard game to teach. Once you start playing Delicious turns and rounds go very fast. I like that every decision is being made at the same time in the game. When the cards flip you and I both are able to take our turns without waiting for one player to take a complete turn and then another.

Who Is Delicious For?

I think Delicious works well as a casual or family friendly roll and write game. It’s going to feel like just that little bit more than some of the more classic ones like Qwixx or Yahtzee, but not so much it is overwhelming. so I think it’s going to be a nice stepping stone roll and write style game. If you already know them really well and have played a lot, this is not going to be one to excite you. Unless, of course, you want to introduce people slightly more complex roll and writes.

Final Thoughts on Delicious

Delicious is a fun little game. I appreciate that Pencil First makes easy to pick-up games. I know when I pick-up a Pencil First Game it is going to be one that I can probably understand and teach really quickly. And Delicious very much is that sort of game.

The downfall for me, and why it might only stick in my collection for a bit, is the simplicity of the game. I find that the scoring between fruits and veggies is very balanced. And the top and bottom is as well. So it is possible to play a different game each time. But that is three combinations and how you balance them. I expect that I’ll find a rhythm of how I like to play. When I find that, I expect the game is going to start to feel a bit more samey. So if it stays is going to be determined by how well other people like the game.

My Grade: B
Casual Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C-

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May Board Gaming

Paper Dungeons – 10 Plays

This one you can watch over on Malts and Meeples and I’ll put the last video down below. But a dungeon crawl roll and write game. I really like it, and I want more. I want a bigger story, I want different sheets to play off of, more monsters to play around with. And just a few more things to change it up.

Biblios – 4 Plays

Biblios is one that I want to play more of. Four plays were fun and I’ve played it at 2 and 3 players. I want to try it at four sometime. It’s basically a set collection game where you try and get majority in different colors. I like it for that, it has some good choices but is mainly a filler game.

Village Green – 4 Plays

Another one that I believe I played on Malts and Meeples solo in an attempt to “fix” the solo mode. I think I came up with a good way to do that. Mainly, having cards fall off the rows so that the rows change up more as you play the game. Otherwise the solo experience is a bit boring.

Icecool – 3 Plays

Icecool, a game that I am always down to play. I brought it in to work one day and we had fun messing around with it. And all the players had a fun time with it. It’s a nice one as always to just sit around and play and have a laugh with.

Matcha – 3 Plays

Matcha is a fun trick taking game and set collection game. What is really interesting about this game is that some tricks it based off of number and some off of the suit that is played. And the fact that you can win by not winning tricks enough times is interesting. The game plays fast and it’s a solid two player trick taking experience.

Tainted Grail – 2 Plays

Oddly enough, I don’t think that there is any Tainted Grail for June, or there might be a play. One of the players bought a house and has been busy with that. But as always Tainted Grail has been a fun experience of exploration, fighting monsters, and finding out the story. Really it is for the story.

The Quacks of Quedlinberg – 2 Plays

Got to play Quacks of Quedlinberg again, and it was fun. We swapped up the ingredients powers which made it a different game in a good way. Obviously it’s set-up for that, and I’m glad that it does make that difference. I like the push your luck element to it and the catch-up element. I really want to try with more than two player, though it won’t make a massive difference to how I play the game, but it’s just a fun one I want to share.

Quadropolis – 2 Plays

New game off the shelf with Quadropolis. Though, it is one that was published a while ago by Days of Wonder. I really like how it works to put out places onto you board and the placement rules for it. And I think that while the game is pretty straightforward, there are a lot of good decisions that can be made in it. And how you take the tiles and place them just works well. Accessible but thinky is a good way to describe the game.

Incan Gold – 2 Plays

I want to find a push your luck game that I really like. I’m not sure that Incan Gold is going to be that, though I did have fun with it. I think that push your luck is a bit group dependent. Some people are too risk adverse so will drop out early. Others it’s less fun for because they push in too far. But I had a good time with it.

PitchCar – 2 Plays

More dexterity gaming with PitchCar. This one was fun because a couple of kids were playing as well. And they had a solid time with it. Also it was at the GameZenter so we had people coming over to see what we were doing.

Qwixx – 2 Plays

Qwixx is a nice filler roll and write game. I like how simple it is and that element of pushing your luck in hopes to be able to fill in more works well. I think I prefer it at two player just because closing off a row is so powerful, with three or four, whomever doesn’t close something off can’t win, it seems.

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong – 2 Plays

My favorite social deduction game. Won’t say much more on it, but it’s the only one that gives you something real to start talking about from the get go. I’m always down to play it, will hesitate to play any others.

The Table Is Lava – 2 Plays

Another game off my shelf of to be played. This is a silly game of sliding or throwing cards to score meeples. I really enjoyed the play of it, though. Another one of those games that is just a good time and some good laughs as you try and knock over meeples.

Similo – 2 Plays

Similo is a fun party style game of deduction. I like that it is cooperative, so while one person is playing the clue giver, everyone is on the same team. It almost has a little bit of a Codenames feel to it, but because it’s pictures, I think it’s more fun. Plus how do you give a clue if the Little Mermaid is like or not like a Ghost?

Destinies – 1 Play

I want to play more Destinies. I just did a two player game of the introductory scenario. And I loved what I played. The story element is fun, the app integration is slick and adds in good story and adventure to it. And I want to get into the bigger thing where it is all one giant story, with different characters, throughout 3 different parts.

Atlantis Rising – 1 Play

Atlantis Rising yet another one off my shelves for the first time. This one we got a rule or two wrong with it, but got the basic concept of the game right. I really liked it. Firstly, it looks amazing. But also the push your luck element of the worker placement, how far you place out, works really well. And I can see this being a cooperative game that I’d pull out before Pandemic a lot of the time.

Drawn to Adventure – 1 Play

I barely made it through a game of this. Drawn to Adventure, unfortunately, did not impress me. I think it’s cool to do an dungeon crawl or exploration sort of game. But it’s just too limited in what you can do. I wanted more decisions to make and it felt like the game almost played itself. Plus it isn’t a fast game either.

Terraforming Mars – Ares Expedition – 1 Play

I still really enjoy Ares Expedition and want to get it played every now and again. I do want to try, sometime, more than two player. But two player moves so fast, not that more would slow it down much. The card play in this game just works well for me. And once those expansions hit retail, I’ll probably pick up one or two.

XenoShyft Onslaught – 1 Play

XenoShyft is a deck building game that I really love. Again, did not beat the game, but got close. I am not sure if I’ve ever beat the game, maybe once. But I keep on coming back to it because we always get close. And getting close is enough for me to want to try it again and again.

Canvas – 1 Play

Canvas, another one that I’ve played a few times now and at a few different player counts. It’s such a pretty game and while it is very simple, I find it a lot of fun. I can see why some people want to just make the prettiest painting, and that is an option but won’t help you win. But even when going for the best score, it is fun and you get good artwork to look at as well.

The Fox in the Forest – 1 Play

Another trick taking game, this was playing with a different player than the first few times. I need to start adjusting my strategy because I keep on making moves too soon. But I really like this as a fast little filler two player game.

So Clover! – 1 Play

So Clover, amazing party game. Highly recommend finding this one if you like cooperative party games. It’s higher than either Similo or Just One for me. Mainly because while it’s not too hard, there is just a bit more going on with it.

Just One – 1 Play

Speaking of Just One, also got that one played. Back to back with So Clover actually. I still really enjoy Just One. The game play makes it very easy to play with basically anyone. And cooperative, for me, puts less pressure on. Though I know for some people with guessing the word the fact it’s cooperative adds pressure.

No Thanks! – 1 Play

Finally, No Thanks! got played again, and one of the people who played it I believe picked it up to play with her family. It’s a fun game and definitely a different bidding feel than sometimes I’ve played it. The players set the market for taking a higher value card lower than sometimes. And it paid off big time for one player.

Year to Date

So, I’m going to keep this a little bit shorter this time. Mainly because, well, I’m going to be doing this again next week. So all of June’s stats are mixed in now. But 8 new for me games were played in May. And 52 plays overall which is more than I thought there would be. May started out slower with plays, I believe, but then ended strong. So I am well on my way to 365 plays for the year.

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The Criteria

When making this list a few things need to be considered, though. Mainly how long a lunch you get, if it’s an hour, that opens up more games. But lots of times, I think people get 30 minutes. So that’s where I want to keep my game lengths. Even if you get an hour, you need to prep food generally.

I also want to keep the player count lower. Generally you don’t end up with a ton of people who want to play a game. Or at least you don’t start that way. At the one office, I would sometimes start a game of Dominion or Power Grid one lunch and it’d carry over to the next one. But there are other smaller and faster games that work well. And games where you don’t need the whole office to play.

Plus, a game needs to be portable. Even if you could get through a session of Gloomhaven in one sitting, it is too big. So something that fits into a backpack, laptop bag, or whatever you use, that is going to be important.

10 Lunch Break Board Games

In no particular order.

10. Floriferous

Floriferous is a drafting set collection game that could be playable at lower player counts in 30 minutes or less. In this game you draft flowers to get combinations which then give you points. The flowers might have bugs on them, or be certain types or colors, all which can score points. Assuming you draft enough scoring cards as well.

So that is the first fun thing of balancing drafting scoring with drafting flowers. The other interesting thing is how turn order works. The higher you draft a card from a column, the sooner the next round you go. It means that sometimes you might want to take a less ideal card just to go sooner now.

9. Matcha

Matcha is my trick taking game. I could have put a few on here, Fox in the Forest would work here as well. But Matcha is my pick, just because it’s a solid two player option as well, and I think that it probably plays in a shorter time frame. It is interesting too because of what takes precedence of number or color that you are trying to get to.

It also adds in a bit of set collection as well. You are trying to get either different items or all the same or completely don’t match every time. I think that it’s interesting to shoot the moon that way. I like it when a game gives you options for scoring and winning. And Matcha does that so that as you play you don’t fight over the exact same thing.

8. Love Letter

If we’re talking about a really small game, Love Letter is going to be a great option. Technically it does have a certain point that you need to get to. I think it’s one person wins a round four times. In a larger player count game that could take a while. But it’s super small and easy to learn.

This is one that I haven’t brought in or played in ages. But it is pretty welcoming for what a lot of players know as a game. It is smaller than most likely what they’ve played before. The whole element of guessing what someone else has, the few cards, it just feels familiar.

7. Cribbage

But speaking of familiar, we have Cribbage. Cribbage is going to be familiar to some people as it’s been around and available for ages. I need to actually play with my nice Cribbage board. But the game play is fast, and while I do think the rules, or at least scoring, can be a bit tricky for some people to wrap their head around, it is not that complex as to what you are doing.

Now, this might not be as modern a game as you’d be thinking for the list. But in terms of classic card games, I feel like it’s a good one for lunch. The ability to just sit around, chat, and play is very high with the game.

6. On Tour

But now into a more modern game, On Tour, which I played on Wednesday is a solid roll and write game. In it you are playing as a manager for a bad trying to create a path for the band to take a tour on, or something like that. Basically, you want to get numbers in sequential order to make a path around the United States or Europe.

This is limited by cards that are flipped each round and the dice as they are rolled. The cards determine where you can play the two number combinations on the dice. However, if you use East once and have no way to use East again, unless there are two East cards. It’s a clever system that offers fun choices that are tense but never too hard.

5. Hanamikoji or Jixia Academy

This one I put down both versions of the game because some people might not want a game with Geisha at work. But really this is a nice two player tug of war game where you are vying for favor or Geisha by trying to give them gifts. But to do that, you take four different actions.

The actions are what is so cool about the game. Each player, and it’s a two player game, has the same four actions. So you each will take them each once, but when to do that is always a question. And the actions make you have tough decisions. You might be showing your opponent 3 cards and they pick one to take. So how do you create a combination so that you get what you want?

4. Qwixx

Qwixx is going to be up there with the simplest games on the list. It is a roll and write where you are just trying to get numbers in order on different colors. The more numbers you get, the more points you get. But when you skip a number, you can never go back. So if I go from 3 to 7 in red, that means that a red 4, 5, or 6 will never a useful for me.

And the game has an interesting end. It ends when either someone can’t place a number or cross out a number for the fourth time. Or when two dice come locked. The dice become locked, so that no one can add to that row, when you have five numbers crossed off in a color. Then you need to roll a 2 or 12, depending on the color, to clock that row. It’s a cool little element that makes you think about how you push your luck.

3. Ohanami

Ohanami is a card drafting game where you get more points the more cards you have a certain colors. But you also need to be putting the cards into three columns. And the cards you draft need to be higher than the highest card or lower than the lowest, on a given column to be able to be placed.

This game is really nice as casual at 4 players. The randomness of what you draft is interesting. At two players it is fairly cutthroat. In either case, it plays fast. That means that you can get it in during lunch, and it is just a deck of cards and a score sheet.8 Either way or player count is fun, but some people will prefer the more casual.

2. Super Fantasy Brawl

This one is pushing it game length wise. That said, it is doable as long as you can get it set-up fast. Super Fantasy Brawl is a head to head skirmish game with a big table presence. The minis are big, the board is big, but the game play is simple. It is one of those games that has depth and simple game play.

You are just playing down cards of three colors each round. And then you activate the hero on that card with the action on that card. You do that to try and knock out your opponents characters, who can respawn and position yourself to complete objectives. You can play it with mainly just punching, but objectives will hep you get the win.

1. Village Green

Finally, Village Green, another smaller card game. Here you are competing to have the best village green by laying out cards in a 4×4 grid. The top and left edges are scoring cards that you draft and play. The middle and lower and right are your village green.

What I like about this one, and it’s one that I’ve played on stream, is that you need to think about columns and rows for scoring. As you add cards to the top row and the left column, you need to think about how they intersect so you play the best green cards you can. But you can’t just play green cards anywhere. They need to match flower or color to get onto the board of something adjacent to it. Probably 2 player only for work lunch, but a nice thinky game.

Final Thoughts

One game that I thought about for the list but didn’t put on is Magic: The Gathering. I’ve really enjoyed Magic over work lunches. But it isn’t a 30 minute game. It is an hour, especially with more than two. But it is an option as well. I also think that Magic is much more intimidating to try and get someone to play. There is a lot going on if you aren’t that familiar with board games.

And, like I talked about before, you can play bigger games. At that one job we’d have Power Grid or Dominion set-up for two days. But that depends on the business and break room. When you play a game like that you need something that won’t be disturbed. And a lot of offices, especially with bigger companies, will need that space to be used by a number of people.

But let me know if you’ve introduced co-workers to board games. Which ones do you find work well for a lunch break game?

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How To Play Qwixx

Qwixx is a simple roll and write where on your turn you roll six dice. There are two white dice and four dice of different colors. The goal of the game is to fill in as many numbers as you can on the four colored tracks. The red and yellow go from 2 to 12 and the green and blue from 12 to 2. As you fill in numbers, you can not go back on a track, so if you skip from 2 to 5, you can’t fill in the 3 or 4.

Firstly, all players can use the combined total of the two white dice to fill in on a track. That is optional for everyone. Then, the player who rolled the dice, they can use one white die and one of the colored dice to fill cross of a spot on that color row. Then the turn passes and the next player rolls.

The twists for this are that the game can end two ways. Firstly, if you can’t place a combined total, you cross off a -5 point spot. If you get four of them, the game is automatically over. The other way is that once you have five numbers filled in for a color, you can lock the row. To do that you need to get a 12 in yellow or red, or a 2 in blue or green. And when a row is locked, no one can add to that row and it removes that color die from the game. Once two are locked, the game ends.

What Doesn’t Work?

This is a very luck dependent game. You might end up, just so you don’t take a -5 penalty, skipping over a number of numbers. Now, the fact that you don’t need to use the white dice not on your turn, or that you don’t need to use both the white dice and a white and color on your turn gives you some flexibility. But sometimes you just roll all high numbers or all low numbers and end up skipping a lot.

I also think that a lot of gamers are going to find this game too simple. It is very much a filler game. I played it twice last night in under thirty minutes while refreshing myself on the few rules. But it is meant as a family game, and I’ll talk about that more in who it is for.

What Works?

I think that the push your luck element of the game is actually pretty nice. You only roll once, but when do you fill in two things versus one. The more you fill in on a row the more points you get. So do you risk it that your opponent won’t lock things, so you can fill more slowly but with less gaps. Or do push to fill in as fast as you can so you can hopefully roll correct combinations and lock the dice?

I also like that it is a very simple roll and write. I love my more complicated roll and writes, but sometimes I want something that is purely a filler. My shelves aren’t short of filler games, but a lot of them are that twenty minutes or thirty for a single game. Qwixx is going to be a pull out, teach, and play in 15 minutes one for me. It fills a spot in my collection that I don’t need many games in. But Qwixx works quite well.

Who Is It For?

So, I already have talked about this as a filler a lot. But that is really what it is. I think it also is one of those games that you can take home and play with almost anyone. I can take this to play with my family. Or it’s one that’d easily fit into a a pocket for gaming at a brewery.

But this is for having at the non-gamers place so that you have a game to play. Or to have in your collection as a gamer so that you can play something simple with non-gamers. If you only play with gamers who are used to stuff more complex than Ganz Schon Clever, there probably isn’t a need for this, unless you want a really fast and small filler.

Qwixx Final Thoughts

I like Qwixx for what it is. Qwixx, as I keep on coming back to, is a light filler or a roll and write game. It isn’t going to be a game I play a ton of. But it is also going to be a game that I keep in my collection. Why, if it isn’t a favorite roll and write? Because I can pull it out and teach it so fast.

And I think often we get a lot of board games into our collections that are big. But there is generally space in most gamers collections for a few fillers. And Qwixx is going to be one of those for me if I want something really fast. I won’t replace some games, like Hanamikoji at two players. But for a higher player count, it is good.

My Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: C-
Casual Grade: A

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March Board Gaming

1. My City (6 Plays)

So started playing this legacy game last December, I think, maybe it was November. And then we took a long break. But the great thing about My City, besides 6 plays in one evening, is that it is very simple to pick back up again. The game is mainly flip a card, everyone places that tile. You try and cover a few different types of spots to not lose points. Then it’s positive points surrounding others, and other adjacency. Simple but fun, and a game that you need to pace out.

2. Paper Dungeons (6 Plays)

You can watch this one played here. Were mistakes made, yes, but I am really loving this dungeon crawling roll and write game. The game play is just fun and there’s just enough going on in it. I have good decisions to make when it comes how I build up my characters and plan of attack. I feel like I have a decent strategy now.

3. Arboretum (4 Plays)

This is a game that got played at work, and normally I bring in a game, we place it once at work, and then I take it home. But we really liked Arboretum, even one of my less gaming co-workers. This is a good puzzle of a game, and a mean game. You’d think a game about trees not that mean, but most that are about trees are mean that I’ve played. This one I really like that you need to keep cards of the type you are building your row of in order to score. But you can block someone if you have more points worth.

4. Mesozooic (4 Plays)

Another new one on the list, played at work and a game night. Mesozooic is a silly game. It plays in two parts, first you draft 11 cards, then you put them out in a four by three grid and it becomes a timed sliding puzzle. Normally, I don’t love timed elements, but the sliding puzzle piece is fun. The game is light and silly, and it just works well with any player count. Plus you make real choices when you draft cards, so it isn’t just real time.

5. Canvas (3 Plays)

This is a Kickstarter that came in at the end of the month. I need to play with the reflections expansion still, but the base game is fun. It’s a very light game, basically filler level, where you are making three paintings. You do that by layering cards to make those paintings. What really matters are the colors and shapes at the bottom, but what picture you come up with too is great. And then it is just a puzzle with those colors and shapes to get as many ribbons and points as you can.

6. Under Falling Skies (3 Plays)

A solo game that is a new play for me but has been on my shelf for a while. Under Falling Skies is a cross between Space Invaders and Independence Day, and I like the game a lot. No real complaints about it and you can see my review here. The game has smart dice placement and strategy to it, and eventually I will win.

7. Qxixx (3 Plays)

Another new one and a light little roll and write game. Qwixx is just about filling in rows over numbers with different colored dice. The game plays extremely fast, and the strategy is light for it. But, that said, I was worried before I’d play it that it’d be too boring. I don’t think it is, the game has the right time to weight ratio for me. Just enough interesting decisions, and I like the excitement for hoping to get that one roll you really need to score a lot of points.

8. Sleeping Gods (2 Plays)

Another one that I streamed on Malts and Meeples. Sleeping Gods was a campaign game that I just wrapped up. It is a great game, good story in it, amazing artwork. I’ve talked about it a lot, though, I still need to do a full review.

9. Tainted Grail (2 Plays)

And Tainted Grail is another one I talk about a lot. It’s a great campaign game. Only two plays this month because we missed a week with one of the players being sick. Granted, that week we then played My City instead, which was fun. If you want a big campaign game with great story and a lot of survival, Tainted Grail really works.

10. Nidavellir (2 Plays)

I think this game might be a disappointment to me, which is odd because it does a lot of things I like. Nidavellir is a bidding and set collection game. But, at least at two players, the set collection feels less interesting than it might. The bidding is cool with how you do it, and I like being able to level up my cards. Overall, though, just felt underwhelming. I wonder if it might be better at a higher player count.

11. Res Arcana (2 Plays)

Res Arcana is a really cool engine building game. One that I played for the first time this month as well. What is so cool about it is that the cards in your deck that make up your engine, those are determined at the start of the game. Either through predetermined sets or a draft. And drafting is the way to go, but you start with eight cards and you really don’t get more. So how do you build and leverage an engine with just those cards?

12. Dice Throne (2 Plays)

It’d been too long since playing Dice Throne. I really like that game, though, I’ve come to realize I don’t win too often. I thought I was going to with the Barbarian almost taking down the Paladin, but a bad roll at the end. And then the Moon Knight took out the Monk fairly easily when all was said and done, mainly by stopping a few too many attacks.

13. So Clover! (2 Plays)

So Clover, new game, and maybe favorite party game. It’s up there with Just One and Cross Clues. And honestly, it feels a bit like both. You get a clover leaf that you put four cards onto and you come up with one word clues to match up. This one takes a bit more explaining if you can’t read it, so check that out here.

14. Air, Land, & Sea (2 Plays)

Another new game for me to play, you can see I got a lot in this month. Air, Land, & Sea is a two player game where you battle over various theaters of war, air, land, and sea. I am getting rid of it after two plays, not because it isn’t a fun game, I think it’s solid, probably a B for me, the issue is, I have an A+ two player game that feels close enough and actually more challenging in Hanamikoji.

15. Quarto (2 Plays)

Two player abstract game, this one I think is solid. I don’t love it, I don’t hate it. But it might just move to work with me, as it’d be a good one for there. In this game you are trying to get four in a row of shape, color, height, or hollow. But I pick what piece you put down and you pick the one I put down. It’s a good challenging game as you try and puzzle out where you can put a piece to not set-up your opponent or give you options for pieces to give to them.

16. Roll Player Adventures (1 Play)

Second adventure in Roll Player Adventures. This is the one that I played at GenCon, so I sat back some to not spoil anything. But it is still a lot of fun, we made different decisions than at GenCon, not always for the better, or so it seems. But lots of fun to be had, and I really like the story and decisions. A lot of story and just enough decisions to keep the game interesting.

17. Spire’s End (1 Play)

Another one that I played on Malts and Meeples. Spire’s End is a two or one player game where you explore a spire that came up from out the ground and captured a lot of people. It was not a favorable ending for me, but I really like the game, overall a lot of fun. Really, I think that it might be too dice dependent for some people, but I think the dice mechanics are really nice.

18. Fox in the Forest Duet (1 Play)

Trick taking is a mechanic that I like, and cooperative trick taking is fun, yes, I need to play The Crew still. But Fox in the Forest Duet is cool because it is a push and pull of needing to move the fox on the board both directions to collect leaves. And you do that through trick taking, so how you manipulate the tricks is interesting. You most certainly don’t want to always win a trick or you will lose the game.

19. Monza (1 Play)

A kids game, I mainly played it right with my toddler. We moved a bit faster than we were supposed to, but he’s 3, so it is mainly just fun to play games with him. He knows that daddy has his game room and he wants to see the games but he can’t play with him, so now he has a few games to play with. Monza is a simple racing game, you roll dice and move your car according to the color on the die. Simple but fun enough for a kids game.

Year Totals

So if you do the math, that was 49 plays for the month. I should have played a solo game to get to 50. If I could average 50 that’d be amazing, but hard to do some months. So I’m at 133 plays through the end of March, that’s 36-37%, so well on my way. Now, we are getting two kittens tonight, so that might cut into some game playing, but we’ll see, and I need to get through my game collection with my other video series. But I am confident I’ll make 365, my real goal is kind of 100. Plus 12 out of the 19 games were new, and I’m not sure, besides Canvas coming in I added any games.

Which game would you want to play most?

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How to Play Imperial Settlers Roll and Write

This game is a bit of an engine building roll and write. You roll dice that give you resources and then an action die that determines how many actions you can take. The main goal of the game is to get victory points by going down four different paths. At the same time you need to build buildings to improve your engine. After ten rounds, the player with the most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The big thing for me is the decision making space in this game. You start down a path and you just see how far you can get down them. While you do build up a little engine and unlock other things, the engine is so small that it’s practically built for you. If you knock out those few engines in the first two rounds or so, now you just push down the tracks.

Plus, rolling for actions is dumb. It’s limited, and there is a power that you can use as well which might help with that. But I roll a die and get three every time, I’m going to score lower when playing solo. If I roll a five every time, I’m going to score much higher. It feels like randomness added for the sake of rolling more dice. And once in a while you don’t use all your actions, but most of the time you can.

What Works?

I like the three abilities that you pick one of to use each round. Like I talked about, Imperial Settlers Roll and Write is a very basic roll and write game. And you do the basic things that you can do. But the choice of which extra ability you use is a decision to make. There is going to be a better one option, but can you figure it out. And I think it’s the most interesting part of figuring out your engine for that round.

Who Is This For?

I think anyone who wants to play a roll and write game and really loves them? Honestly, for me this is not a great game. I think that it’d be decent for someone who wants to try a roll and write with a theme. But they only have played roll and write games like Yahtzee and Qwixx. Something very simple and they just want to try a game that is a little bit more or a game that has what looks like theme.

Final Thoughts – Imperial Settlers Roll and Write

This is not a good roll and write game. The best part of the game might actually be that the dice are wooden. But that also means that they weigh nothing which doesn’t feel right. Overall, the decision space in this game is tiny. It’s can you pick the right bonus for that round and do you roll to get a lot of actions are not? Beyond that the game basically plays itself. And the buildings that give you bonuses, the bonuses are not that intriguing.

I don’t think that people who like roll and writes and play a lot will like this game. Thinking about the game, I am not sure there is a good game in it or how to make it better. More powers, more bonuses, maybe, but it’d end up being a very different roll and write. Would I play it again, sure, if someone pulled it out. But my copy, I’m going to trade it away, maybe someone else will like it better than me.

My Grade: D
Gamer Grade: D
Casual Grade: C-

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