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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Catch up on previous videos here

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61
60 through 51

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition – 50 through 41

50. Via Magica

• Published by Hurrican in 2020
• Beat your fellow magic students in a bingo-esque game and utilize your powers best

This is a great filler level game. It’s a ton of fun to collect materials and use them to open gates. And then try and figure out what games and what elements you want to focus on opening first to get benefits from either immediately or throughout the game. As as well you need to grab points, so it’s a fun balancing act in what you’re doing. This is not going to be for everyone as it’s a light game, but I really like Via Magica for a nice relaxing and fun time.

Buy Via Magica

49. Too Many Bones

• Published by Chip Theory Games in 2017
• Chuck dice and battle enemies as you level up your Gearlocks to faceoff against the final boss

This is a fun short campaign style game. It’s not a big story game, but you get that mechanical feeling of leveling up in Too Many Bones that makes it such a fun time. And each Gearlock is unique and plays differently. I think that is part of what makes the same so special. Each characters want to level up in their own ways. And sometimes you just want better stats. But other times, getting and using your unique dice is going to create for some really fun game moments. The game isn’t a story game, but it can provide it’s own story.

Buy Too Many Bones

48. Ganz Schon Clever (That’s Pretty Clever)

• Published by Schmidt Spiele in 2018
• Place dice, fill in spots, and gain combos to get your highest score

I’ve already talked about this system two other times. But this is the original one to use the system and it’s my favorite of them. I really like how clean the puzzle is for trying to solve this game and do best at it. And there are enough combos that you can end up with some awesome turns. But the combos don’t slow down the game too much which is one element that I can really appreciate about this design compared to others. Though the flexibility in how you play is a little bit more limited.

Buy That’s Pretty Clever

47. Dungeon Kart

• Published by Brotherwise Games in 2024
• Rev your engine, take off, and mess with your opponents in this fast racing game

Dungeon Kart is obviously trying to be a Mario Kart style game. And I think it does a good job of it. I’ve played other games that offer some of that, but Dungeon Kart I really enjoy. It does a great job balancing catching up, slinging spells at your opponents and just a fun time. You get behind, no biggie, you get more and better spells. You’re in the lead, well, it’s your own fault you are there and you’re going to get blasted, but don’t worry, you can still catch-up again.

Preorder Dungeon Kart

46. Super Mega Lucky Box

• Published by Gamewright in 2021
• Combo your way into a bingo victory

This is the second bingo like game on the list where something is drawn and all players use it. But this one is a flip and write game that is more bingo like than Via Magica and has you filling in a three by three grid. Of course as you fill in rows and columns you get bonuses that can give you more. And the game provides great offsetting of the luck of the slip with powers from lightning bolts. It’s just a really fun, easy to play and fast game.

Buy Super Mega Lucky Box

45. Cartographers

• Published by Thunderworks Games in 2019
• Draw your best map as you explore the lands in this flip and write game

The theme is only kind of there, but this is a great roll and write style of game. You flip over terrain and figure out how you want to place it out on your sheet. But beware monsters because your opponents get to decide where that’s going to go and it’s going to be the worst spot for you. Plus the game has fun scoring that rotates throughout the seasons so that one of the scoring elements in spring is going to be scored for winter as well.

Buy Cartographers

44. Res Arcana

• Published by Sand Castle Games in 2019
• Can you get your magical engine up and running faster than your opponents in this race to 10 points

I like how simple Res Arcana is, but how thinky it is as well. You need to really figure out how you want to leverage the cards that you have, or draft, in this game. And drafting really adds some strategy to it as you can try and figure out what your best cards are going to be how you can get them to turn out points. The game has this great build to it until suddenly you can get points and then the game just flies to the finish.

Buy Res Arcana

43. Railroad Ink Challenge

• Published by Horrible Guild in 2021
• Can you connect your routes better than your opponents can?

Another roll and write game, last one in this section. Railroad Ink Challenge is a great game of building out routes of both trains and roads and trying connect as many of them as you can together. Challenge adds in challenges that you can push for to score more points. But beware of leaving too many unconnected pieces, those can lead to your doom as they are negative points.

Buy Railroad Ink Challenge

42. Rebel Princess

• Published by Bezier Games in 2024
• It’s Hearts with Shenanigans, in the best way as you avoid proposals you really don’t want.

That’s really what Rebel Princess is, Hearts with shenanigans. But the shenanigans really do make this game. The princess powers are all game breaking in some way, and you want the ones everyone else have. And then the card that determines the special rule for the hand is great as it messes with everything. So you need to be quick to adjust how you are playing every time, and I think that’s great.

Buy Rebel Princess

41. Rock Hard: 1977

• Published by Devir Games in 2024
• Live your best rockstar life as you go from garage band to playing stadiums in this worker placement game

This game is really about living that 1970’s classic rocker life as you build up your band, gain reputation, write more songs all in hopes of playing on the biggest stage. I love how the worker placement is split up over three different times, day, evening, and after hours. And it’s fun that you need to worry about your job, at least for a little bit, and pay your producer as you become more famous because of course, while they help you, they also hurt you. It’s just very thematic for a worker placement game and a theme that I like a lot.

Buy Rock Hard: 1977

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule. It’s not just all my Top 100 Games (of all time).

• Monday night, time varies, I play different small solo games, though I might be looking to start up a campaign again. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to continue my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition for another six weeks. After that expect this to be when I play my small games. Only 5 more weeks left of my Top 100 Games, then likely this will switch to smaller solo games and video games.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

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Top 5 Board Game Apps

Disclaimer, of course, I haven’t played them all. Some are for games that don’t interest me that much. So, like Dominion just has an app in beta or just out on Android, haven’t played it, probably won’t. And list is in no particular order.

5. Fleet: The Dice Game

Let’s start with the one that I’ve been playing the most of recently. Fleet: The Dice Game has a nice and simple app for playing their game solo. No pass and play multiplayer, but when I play a board game on an app, multiplayer is low on the list of things that I care about.

This one takes what’s not that complex a game to run solo in person, but takes up space on the table. So it makes it much more compact. And it makes me want to play the game again, and actually try it multiplayer in person. So that might not be the best sign for the app. But the app lets you get in a game much faster, as an app should, and let’s you mess around with strategies easier.

4. Super Mega Lucky Box

Next up is another roll and write style game. Actually, I could do a top 5, possibly Top 10, on this type of game. Why, because a lot of them end up with simpler rule sets and thus are simpler to program into an app. And Super Mega Lucky Box is another one without a pass and play, at this point, but one that you can play solo.

Now, I give this solid marks as a board game app not because it’s that much easier than the board game. No, I give it that because it’s more portable. I can play Super Mega Lucky Box solo easily enough in person. But there is a minor amount of set-up. With the app, it’s pull it out and play. And they give you a few ways to play which are fun to mess around with. Honestly, it’s a really good way to learn how to play the game.

3. Sagrada

Now one that isn’t a roll and write. Though, Sagrada does have rolling dice as you roll each time for drafting. This one does have multiplayer, which I have yet to use. But it also has a challenge/campaign mode. Not like the Sagrada Artisans legacy game, no, the campaign is just progressively better AI opponents. I like that sense of progression, and it walks you through the different ability cards and scoring cards.

And while the other games on the list are definitely faster in an app, Sagrada flies speed wise. I really like it for that, if I were to play a game of Sagrada solo, well, I haven’t before, but I imagine it might take a little bit. On the app, it’s about five minutes to play a whole game.

2. Railroad Ink

Now, yes, another roll and write game with Railroad Ink. This is another one that take a roll and write game that isn’t hard to play solo and makes it even easier. Railroad Ink is a game of connecting routes, which is not hard in person. But the app highlights were you can put railroad sections and makes it easier for you that way. And it keeps track of your round to help with scoring the challenge cards.

This is another one that is only solo. But it works slick, and games are definitely a little bit faster than playing solo in person. Out of all of these, I think that Railroad Ink probably saves you the least amount of time. But, it’s fun to be able to play it on a small screen in your pocket.

1. Clever Games

Finally, yes, this is a lot of games. Four games actually, though, I hope that they’ve improved the fourth one, Clever 4Ever on the app because, well, it doesn’t size correctly to all screens. But the other three are great ways to play and learn the various “Clever” games. And all of the apps work nicely.

It is only solo play, but it handles some of the solo elements like which dice end up on the platter on the “opponents” turn. No more guessing, though, the rules for that are simple in the real game. The nice thing is that it highlights what you can do when you click on a die, and shows you the options well. It’d be nice if it had a tutorial mode, but the rules are on there so you can read them as well. And mainly, if you know how to play, you just need to learn the scoring and new ability.

Honorable Mentions

Let me wrap up with some honorable mention board game apps.

Ascension – this has a nice app for the deck building game. And it comes with the base game and an expansion. You can pay for more to unlock them. The downside to this one, is it’s small on a screen. So until you know the cards it’s a bit fiddly. But it does have pass and play.

Hero Realms – Another deck building game, Hero Realms is a head to head battler. The AI is strong in this one, and you can set it and unlock more cards as you go. The system works well in this setting and it helps you remember everything, like if you haven’t attacked your opponent or your opponent has a blocker.

Potion Explosion – Finally, I want to end on Potion Explosion. This one you do lose some playing it on the app. Obviously you don’t have the tactile thing of pulling out a marble and watching everything else fall into place. That said, it still is slick and it does some of the work, auto placing ingredients if you want. I like it for that, and I like the challenge it offers.

What are some of your favorite board game apps?

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Catch up on my Top 100 Games (of all Time) 2023 Edition:

100 through 91

90 through 81

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition – 80 through 71

80. So Clover!

So Clover! is a cooperative party game where players are working together to solve a puzzle. Of course, the puzzle is only as good as the person who created it. Now, that might sound mean, but everyone is put into the position of creating the puzzle.

Each player is given a two by two grid of cards that have words on each side of the card, top, bottom, left, and right. On each of the sides of that grid you’ll have two words. So each player writes down a word the best that they can which connects the two. So if you have “hot” and “dog” you might put down “ketchup” for example. Then the cards are removed and players need to try and put it back together.

That doesn’t sound too hard, but what happens if you have “dog” and “marshmallow”? How do you connect those two words? And that’s where the tricky nature of the game comes in. Plus, even if you got the perfect clue for that, there is a mystery card added in that the person writing the clues doesn’t know what that is. So your clue of “ketchup”, in the original example, is now way harder when randomly the new card has “mustard” on it. It’s a fun game which keeps everyone involved and working together.

Buy So Clover!

79. Small World

We go from a cooperative game to a game which is about taking your fantasy race or creatures and smashing your opponents. Of course, as you do that, they’ll be smashing you back in Small World. It’s an area control game where you are gathering gold from taking over areas and holding them. Of course, to get more areas, your friends need to take over your areas.

Now, it might get sucked getting your area knocked off the board. But unlike Risk, you don’t need to hide. Instead your fantasy race can go into decline and you can grab another fantasy race. Then with a new group of characters and a new special power, you can hop back onto the board taking over what your friends have built up.

The game is very in your face, but it makes it not bad because it is for everyone. And when you get beat down, you come back in with a vengeance. And, each fantasy race has it’s own power along with each special power to make them unique and different. So flying giants might work out great one game. And you’ll have underground halflings another time, or you might change from that into bivouacing trolls.

Buy Small World

78. Dice Forge

Now we’re onto a game that dropped a little bit. I think that this one dropped because I haven’t played it in a few years, but Dice Forge is a fun game. It’s a game where you are building out your own dice. Now, you don’t start from scratch you have basic things on your dice. But as you collect resources you can use them to buy cards, often how you get points, or add new sides to your dice.

Now that doesn’t take them from six sides to eight sides or mean that you get a new die. No, you remove the side of one of the dice you have and put a new side on it. It might give you more purchase power or more points, how you build it is up to you. And that is what makes the game fun, it’s a gimmick that really works. And there are a lot of strategies in what you can do.

Another thing that works really well is that when it’s not your turn you roll your dice. So on every other players turn you get a roll and collect resources. So it isn’t a slow build of adding sides. After a few rounds you can start to leap up in what you can buy. I also like that you decide where it goes on your dice. You might get more purchase power and ignore gold and point faces completely on the dice. Or you might load up one die so you always get something better.

Buy Dice Forge

77. Asking for Trobils

This is another one that as I talked about it, I want to play it more. Asking for Trobils is a pretty simple worker placement game of building traps to catch Trobils. All with a familiar but different sci-fi team on top of it. By that I mean that they take a ton of things from popular sci-fi culture and just tweak it slightly. You want classic UFO looking worker ships, you can do that. Or you can get Planet Express for the Serenity.

But I like how this game game is simple. What you do on your turn is place out a worker and take an action. Most of the time that is collecting a resource, like space carrots. Or you might trade in resources for credits or to get a trap that you need to help capture a Trobil. And once all your ships are out, you pull them back for at turn. But the game does add in theme with pirates or characters who you can hire that’ll help you and hurt your opponent. It’s not too in the face though, which is nice.

Buy Asking for Trobils

76. Just One

Now to another cooperative party game. I was going to say it’s the highest party game on my list, but I don’t think that’s right. I’m not sure if Just One is even my highest party game or not on the list. Just One, though, is the party game that I recommend most readily for people who maybe don’t like party games that well but have a group of people who like to enjoy them.

In Just One, one person is “it” they are trying to guess their word. Everyone else is going to write down a single word clue. And from the clues, the person is going to guess their one word. The twist to the game is that there can only be just one copy of a word for a clue. If there are two, or more, all of them go away and those clues will be lost. So you want to be creative, but if it’s too obscure, that might confuse things as well. It’s a great balance that way for the game that makes it better than other party games for me.

Buy Just One

75. Roll Player

Now we’re onto a competitive game where you’re trying to create the best RPG character. Roll Player is a dice drafting game where you use those dice to create the best character. Now, each character has certain things that they want. If you’re a rogue or a wizard, you wouldn’t want 18 strength now, would you? Or you might, but that’s not the stat that you care about the most and you get points for getting it in a range.

But it isn’t just about getting dice in the right places. Because sometimes you might not get the right number. You can also get points for getting the right colored dice in the right places. Or, you get money to buy equipment that gives you points. But some of my favorite is buying spells or traits to get your alignment to the right spot as well as to give you more control over the dice that you’re placing.

It does a good job of taking an element of making a character from the RPG and putting a fun game around it. So it’s two things that I enjoy.

Buy Roll Player

74. T.I.M.E Stories

Now another cooperative game, this section has a nice mix. I know for some people TIME Stories will be lower because they’ve played it all. I haven’t played all of the scenarios, but the ones that I’ve played I really like. TIME Stories is a time travel game where you’re an agent whose consciousness is sent back through time, or across the multiverse, or ahead in time to a point in time where someone is messing with time.

Yes, I said time a lot there. But in a lot of ways the game is like a puzzle or escape room that you can play through multiple times. And while you have to go back and collect items, because they drop you in at a point in time, that you’ve found before, the knowledge you gain stays with you. I really like how that works thematically.

Buy TIME Stories

73. Point Salad

All Eevee is the way to play this game, not really, Point Salad is a great set collection, open drafting game. And it’s really simple. On your turn you take two vegetables (or Eeveelutions) or a scoring card. And that’s the majority of the game.

What works well in the game, though, is that when you take your veggies (or Eeveelutions) those spots are refilled. And the cards that are used to refill it are the cards with scoring on them. The cards have scoring on the back and veggies on the front. So if you take from a column, there are three columns, it’ll flip down that scoring card. You can use that to get rid of scoring card someone else might need, but of course, they can do that to you. So when you take scoring and when you take veggies is an interesting puzzle for the game.

Buy Point Salad

72. That’s Pretty Clever!

Now we’re onto the roll and write game for the list. And the last one of the four Clever games to make the list. I’m not sure if Clever 4Ever will make the list, I need to play it more. But I really like That’s Pretty Clever as a roll and write game. It’s a good balance between a roll and write game that has enough in it and one that is too simple. It does give you a lot of combos to play with.

To me, I think that there might be elements of the others I like better. But in terms of being able to pull this game out and play it solo, That’s Pretty Clever! is the best. And I like that I can play it on an app but also that I can get people up and playing it quickly in person as well.

Buy That’s Pretty Clever!

71. No Thanks!

Finally we have No Thanks! a game about not getting points. You want to pass on the card, you have to put a chip on it, kind of a mini poker chip. But once you run out you can’t pass and you’ll have to take the card. Sot he game is a balancing act of when there are a lot of chips on a card, is it worth taking it?

The chips themselves are worth -1 point, so if you have a lot of them, you’ll counter some of the higher points. Or you can use them to avoid getting other higher cards when someone else might be stuck taking it. I really enjoy how each group sets this market, how many chips is enough to be worth taking a card that has a 30 on it, is it 10 chips or is it 20? That depends on the group you play with. You also can create runs which only score the first card in the run. But there is also a chance that the card you need in that run might not be in the round, so there is a push your luck element there as well.

Buy No Thanks!

Upcoming Streams

I’ll be doing more of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition on next Wednesday and Wednesdays for a little bit. That is always going to be at 8 PM Central. Next week it’s going to be 70 through 61 and we’re getting close to the half way point which always seems like it’s faster than I expect.

And then I also stream on Mondays at 9 PM Central time. That is going to be for smaller solo games. I’m hoping to do Number Drop next week after opening up some Doctor Who Magic the Gathering packs last Monday. So what I stream on Monday is always all over the map.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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Board Game Holiday List – 12 Roll and Writes

12. Super Mega Lucky Box

I talked about this one on Monday with my Top 100 Games list, Super Mega Lucky Box is a bingo style game where you are trying to get a “blackout” on your cards. But each time you fill in a row or a column it gives you a bonus. It might be crossing off a specific number on any of your cards. Or it might be getting you more ways to score points. Either way, it gives a lot of light fun play, but for a very simple game, more choices than you’d expect.

11. Isle of Cats Explore and Draw

Isle of Cats Explore and Draw is the roll and write version of Isle of Cats, which in the US you can find in Target. Explore and Draw takes the same concept but you are activating a column of cats and scoring objectives. Each player is doing that while trying to get families of cats onto the board all of the same color. Pick the scoring cards that work well for themselves. And, at the right times, use bonuses that allow them to break the rule of using only a column to get what they really need.

10. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

A lot of roll and write games are pretty abstract. And this one is to some extent as well, but at the same time, there are also surprisingly strong elements of playing a pinball. You roll two dice and use one of them to bounce around the board in this game. The ball moves in specific ways as it bounces and it’s all about trying to get those combos, complete certain shots and see how many points you can get over two balls. And each set of boards, well, they are a different pinball machine.

There are three versions of the game, I’d probably recommend either the base game, or if you like Star Trek, there is a version like that as well. And, I believe soon, a fourth version, with holiday themed boards from classic holiday movies.

9. Sonora

Sonora is the most different of the “and write” games because it isn’t flipping cards, it isn’t rolling dice, it is flicking discs onto a board. That determines what number and area you get to fill in. Sonora isn’t the best introductory roll and write game. But if you like roll and writes that give you combos, Sonora might be the perfect game for you. Sonora gives you combos upon combos and is amazing for that. And it manages to feel different in the different scoring area. I’m still waiting for a new scoring sheet for this game to give more and different experiences while playing.

8. Paper Dungeons

Paper Dungeons is one that you can see a full playthrough of the game over on Malts and Meeples. I’ll like a video below, but it’s a roll and write with a “campaign”. I say that loosely, but you can play through a story. What Paper Dungeons tries to do, and I think does pretty well, is try to be a dungeon crawler.

You level up your heroes, go fight boss monsters, get treasure, and craft items. All in an attempt to get the most points and not to die. Now if you die, thankfully, you aren’t out of the game, but it is a lot of negative points. It’s a bigger roll and write but a ton of fun.

7. Patchwork Doodle

Patchwork Doodle is on the small side. You are making a quilt in this game. But really you are trying, at the end of each round, to have the biggest square possible. A 4×4 square scores 16 points, whereas a 3×5 rectangle scores 3×3=9 + 2 for each additional row.

I could have picked Second Chance as that game is really similar to Patchwork Doodle, But Patchwork Doodle offers a few powers and a few more choices. Not to the point where it is too complex, but to the point where it feels less like, flip something and fill it in. There are decisions to be made every time.

6. Ganz Schon Clever (That’s Pretty Clever)

I’ll start out by saying, this could be any of the Clever games. They are all a lot of fun, and I like playing all three in an evening. When you do that, well, you can find the “ultimate champion”. But if you are starting with one, Ganz Schon Clever is maybe the easiest to understand.

The mechanics are simple, roll some dice, pick one to use. Cross off something or then fill in a number. But, it does two clever things. Firstly, any number lower than the one I pick goes on a platter. So when you roll next time, you roll three times, you are rolling fewer dice. And those dice on the platter, at the end of the round, your opponents get to pick one of them to use. The game is clever and fewer combos than Sonora but still offers a lot.

5. Welcome To

Welcome To is another bigger roll and write. But kind of a classic roll and write game at this point. In Welcome To you are making your perfect Stepford neighborhood. White picket fences all go in the right spot, and house numbers all counting up the best that they can.

But, really, you are trying to build out neighborhoods, designated by fences, to score points, complete objectives, and build parks and pools. All of which give you points. One thing I like is that you have three combinations. A number and an action on each turn. So while this can play an infinite number, you feel like you can try really different strategies.

4. Metro X

Metro X is a game about building a bus route. Another one that I’ve played on Malts and Meeples, but I’ll let you find that one. In this game you are building out your routes, crossing off stops. But for each route you can only use so many numbers to cross it off. And route overlap. This means you need to plan out your routes carefully.

And as the routes overlap, they create short little bits. If that happens, now you’re dealing with filling in those spots. Because every time you hit a spot that’s been filled in, you stop. So if you fill in three spots and could have filled in six, but you hit a station that’s already filled in, you stop. It’s a light game, but clever.

3. Trek 12

Trek 12 is a game about mountain climbing. Who am I kidding, it’s one of those roll and writes with a theme, but the theme doesn’t matter. It’s about creating sets of numbers and runs. But it does so with a fun scoring way. How you score is based off of the highest number of a run or the number of the set. So a run of 4, 3, 2, 1 scores you 4 points, plus an additional one for each number in the run, so 7. And the same idea with sets, a 4, 4, 4, 4 is 7 as well.

But how you fill in numbers is what makes the game fun. You have a grid of options, and as you pick an option, you cross it off meaning you can do them only so many times. You can pick the high or the lower of the two numbers, easy enough. Or you could do the difference, combined total, or multiplied total on the dice, but each of them can be done only so many times. It’s a great puzzle.

2. Railroad Ink

Railroad Ink or Railroad Ink Challenge are great roll and writes about completing train routes and roads. You are trying to get your area as connected as possible. What I really like about it, compared to say Metro X which is about routes as well, is that Railroad Ink, you are rolling dice and those dice show you the specific type of route that you are adding.

I personally like the Challenge version of the game a ton. While the original is fun as you connect up routes. It’s simpler. The Challenge version gives you goals. If you can complete a whole column by the end of round 4 you get bonus points. Either way, though, I think it’s a simple roll and write that people can really enjoy.

1. Cartographers

Finally we have cartographers. And while most of these games are pretty solitaire, Cartographers has monsters that work best with others. Cartographers as the name suggests is about building out maps. But, as the cartographer, you are also putting where monsters are on the map. It’s silly, but monsters are bad and give negative points. Everything else, they can help you score.

What stands out about this game is the scoring. You score two things in the first round of the game, spring, let’s say goals A and B. But then when the fourth round comes back around, you are scoring D and A. So each goal is scored twice, and you need to balance how hard you go after a given goal. Because after summer, round two, B is never scored again.

Final Thoughts

Roll and writes are a great genre of game. Not all of them will be for everyone, but I really love them. I personally think that there are levels of difficulty for everyone if people gives them a chance. I have heavier ones than I listed, most of these are pretty light or medium weight, on my shelf. And I have ones that are even lighter as well.

Which of these games would you want to get as a holiday gift this year? Or are there any you’d want to give someone because of a theme you know that they’d love?

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The Board Games

All three of these games are roll and write games in a series, connected by some basic mechanics, designed by Wolfgang Warsch. The base mechanics of the games, like I said, are similar across the board, but the games each offer their own twist.

The basic mechanic in the game is that you roll your dice, pick one to use, get rid, to a common pool, all the numbers lower than it, and repeat the process until you’ve used three dice, or fewer. Then the other players use a die from the common pool. Then the next player rolls and you repeat that process. Your goal, get as many points as you can.

There are two other things that are always true. The white die is a wild. And if you use the blue die or the white die in the blue section, it’s always the combined total of the white and blue dice. But the white ie you can use anywhere that you want. I guess a third thing, which is could be an afterthought when teaching is the foxes. If you get a fox, at the end of the game, multiply the number of foxes times your lowest scoring section.

Ganz Schon Clever – Doppelt So Clever – Clever Hoch Drei

Let’s talk real quick about each of them. Mainly compare how they work and actually maybe a slight change in my opinion after last nights play.

Ganz Schon Clever

Ganz Schon Clever is maybe the most basic of the games. Which makes sense being the original one that came out. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t have combos, it has a lot of them. But Ganz Schon Clever, doesn’t have the more complex sections like some others do. It is basically always simple on how to use the dice. It’s the one that I started with and it’s the one I’d use to teach, even if you like others better in the series.

Doppelt So Clever

Doppelt So Clever has always been the toughest for me and been the lowest of the three for me. Now, I’m not sure that’s the case anymore. Mainly, I think I’m seeing the puzzle better now, and I have some ideas of how I want to handle the game as I play. It definitely ramps up the complexity in the game with basically every section. While some, pink and blue might not be too complex, they offer more to think about.

Clever Hoch Drei

Finally we have Clever Hoch Drei, probably the one that clicked with my fastest and the one that I get the highest score on. A lot of the things just make sense to me as I play them. I didn’t do a great job comboing as I could have last night in the game. Mainly not using the yellow section as effectively as sometimes. But you fill in a whole lot more and get many more combos, it feels like in Clever Hoch Drei.

I think that Doppelt So Clever went up in my estimation last night and Clever Hoch Drei went down. Mainly you can do so much in Clever Hoch Drei that decisions matter a little less. Where as Doppelt So Clever being a tighter game, what you do matters more.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I am streaming my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition – 50 through 41. The video down below. So join me on that journey, then the following Monday, the 31st, I might take off for Halloween. I suspect it’d be cutting it close with podcast, Trick or Treating, and getting a kid into bed.

As for my Wednesday stream, next week my hope is to get Chronicles of Drunagor to the table at least for an unboxing. And I know a I have a few other boxes coming in as well. So I might play Final Girl, or we’ll see what my mystery package coming in might be. But soon I will get Chronicles of Drunagor to the table. And next week might be an unboxing of the game and picking out of characters, actually.

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100 through 91 here.

90 through 81 here.

80 through 71 here.

Top 100 Games 2022 Edition – 70-61

70 – Just One

Just One is the first of the party games in this section. This game works well because it is a cooperative party game. And it follows one of my keys for a solid party game, it needs to give players the ability to make choices. Not like something like Cards Against Humanity, where you don’t need to be creative. Here you are trying to give clues but each player only is allowed one word. If you match with another player, both your clues cancel out. So you don’t want to get too obvious, but also a too obscure clue might point them in the wrong direction.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

69 – Cross Clues

Cross Clues is another party game. Again a cooperative game, but this time, you want to give a clue that lets other players figure out the combination of two words. You get a grid of 5×5 (or 3×3) where each row and column has a letter or number assigned. So you might get A3, and if A’s word is wood and 3’s word is flying, you might give the clue kite. But kite might work for something else, say tail and wind. So now you need to figure out if your clue is good or not. It’s a simple, but fun game.

Buy on Miniature Market

68 – Marvel United

Yet another cooperative game, Marvel United is not a party game. Marvel United is a Marvel comics and superhero game where you play as heroes to defeat a villain. The game play is pretty simple, you need to complete two objectives before you can take down a villain. All the while the villain is trying to get you out by causing you to expend cards and lose the game. What works in this game is that you play down a card you give symbols to help the next player. And you also get symbols, punch, move, or heroic action, to aid in what you are doing. It gives that superhero team up feel in a simple game.

Buy on Game Nerdz.

67 – The Reckoners

Apparently this section also has a lot of cooperative games. The Reckoners is another cooperative game and another game with super powers. But the super powered people aren’t the good guys in this, they are known as Epics and bad. You play as a team, the Reckoners trying to take them down and eventually take down the big bad Steelslayer. I like that there is no downtime in this game. Everyone rolls dice at once and discusses as they build up their pool. Then everyone plays out their actions at once. It’s a nice game because of that and being a harder cooperative game.

Buy from Nauvoo Games.

66 – Blank Slate

Blank Slate, we’re back to party games. Blank Slate is not the newest (or highest) party game on the list, but it is new to me this year. In this game you are trying to fill in a word and match with other people. The twist comes that you don’t want to match with too many people. If you match your word with one other person, it is three points, if you match with more than that, it is one point. And all you are doing is a fill in a blank like “Truck______”. You come up with the second half, it’s simple and a lot of fun.

Buy on Miniature Market

65 – Clever Cubed

Clever Cubed is a roll and write game from the Clever line of games, which there are four of now. Clever Cubed is the one that I think gives you the most combos. I like it a lot because it’s fun to get a ton of combos and a lot of points in the game. If there was a knock, it could be that it takes away some strategy. But I do think there are some real things you need to think about as you play. And it does have a lot of combos which I really like.

Buy on Amazon (Note German Edition)

64 – Five Tribes

Five Tribes, maybe my highest of the classic Days of Wonder games, I’m not sure if i have any above it. But Five Tribes is a great game with mancala style movement of meeples. By that I mean you pick up all of them from one spot and drop them off one at a time. I talk about it with Fruit Picking as well.

What makes Five Tribes so interesting, though, is the bidding for turn order. Mainly because money at the end of the game is points. So you are losing points to go sooner. Do you have a spot that for sure is going to get you more points back? Or maybe you need to block your opponent from getting a lot of points.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc.

63 – That’s Pretty Clever!

That’s Pretty Clever is the first of the Clever games and so far my favorite. I need to get and play the fourth more. I have played it on the app. But That’s Pretty Clever I always enjoy because it is a bit simpler. But also because I kind of know how I want to take on the puzzle of the game. I think that’s my issue with Twice as Clever, I haven’t quite gotten clever enough to figure out my strategy, or it seems to score lower. Here I know what combos I want to create, can I do it in a way that will give me the most points is the question.

Not Available

62 – Medium

The final party game for this section of the list. Medium follows a common trend. You want to match words with the person you are paired up with. But with Medium, you do that by each playing down a word. Then you try and come up with a word between. So it might be Mouse and Quesadilla and you need to both land on the same word. You probably could in that time with the word Cheese. But if you miss, you now use your new words and try again. It’s a lot of fun, and leads to a surprising number of laughs.

Buy on Amazon

61 – Century: Golem Edition

To wrap out this section we have Century: Golem Edition. I do think I’d enjoy Spice Road version, but the Golem Edition is just cuter. So that is the one that I want to play. This is an engine building and hand management game. I like how simple the game is, you either play down a card which will get or manipulate the games you have, pick up all your played cards, grab a card to be played, or get a golem. And no action is going to take too long. It’s a very fast moving game with an opportunity to create a really fun engine in your hand.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

Upcoming Streams

Next Monday is the continuation of my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2022 Edition. I am going to be going through games 60 through 51, getting to that mid point of the list. Here is a link to the upcoming video. If you want to catch it live, click that notification bell.

And coming up next Wednesday, I don’t know what I’ll be streaming. I think I have two different options, firstly, Chronicles of Drunagor is sitting on the shelf waiting to be unboxed and played. I could dive into a game of that, or do some smaller solo games. For those I have games like Set a Watch, Black Sonata, and Final Girl that I could get to the table as well.

Let me know what you want me to stream next? I am leaning towards Chronicles of Drunagor, if I have time to learn the rules but if not, what small solo game would you want to see?

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The Roll And Writes

19. Second Chance

If you want to play about the most accessible roll and write I’ve played, Second Chance is that. It is very simple, flip two cards, everyone fills in one of those two shapes on their board. And you try and fill in as much as possible. If you can’t play either, you get a second chance card you can use. If you can’t use it, you are out of the round. So extremely simple, but works well. And it is fun to doodle and fill everything in.

18. HexRoller

HexRoller should be just as simple, but for some reason it a bit more confusing. In this roll and write, you fill in spots with numbers trying to connect paths and fill in hexes. It gets confusing when you try and add in the straights that can score you points based off of the dice you pick. It is a good puzzle of a game, but doesn’t feel like it has that much diversity to how it’ll play.

17. Cat Cafe

Cat Cafe I think should be higher on my list. It just isn’t one I pull off the shelf all that often. It is a fun roll and write game about building cat towers to attract cats to your section of a cat cafe. And it has drafting in the game. I really like the everyone goes at once but everyone is slightly different. The die you draft determines half of your action. And there will be one die left that determines half of everyone’s action. So there is strategy in how you build things out. Plus it’s about cats.

16. Criss Cross

This one is also on the list this low, like Second Chance, because it is so simple. Now, that simplicity means that it gets played often, or did. But it also means that it isn’t as interesting as some to play over and over again. Basically you want matching symbols in rows and columns. And you need to put two dice adjacent to each other as they are rolled. More more likely symbols you have adjacent in a row or a column the more you score. I like this on also because it’s very easy via Zoom/Hangouts/Facetime, even if you don’t own the game.

15. Yahtzee

The OG roll and write game. Yahtzee still works well as a game. It is a simple push your luck rolling game to get as many points as you can. But it works. And it works well for people who want a bit more casual of a roll and write. It is another one that I don’t need to play a ton more of because I already have a lot. But it is also one that I can play with anyone. Some because they likely already have played it, and some because it is that easy to teach.

14. Floor Plan

This one has dropped a fair amount since my Top 100. I actually got rid of it from my collection. Granted, that’s to make room, eventually, for Floor Plan: Winchester Mystery Mansion. A theme that I think works better for this game. In the game you make a floor plan. It is fun because you end up with crazy houses. The downside is you end up with crazy houses. I wish the rules made it so you built more of a house. Like negative points if you didn’t have a living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom all with doors. But if you want to build a crazy house, it is a lot of fun.

13. Deadly Doodles

This one is another one that I feel like moves around. I like it as a dungeon crawl roll and write. Basically, you go into the dungeon every day, fight some monsters, and get weapons and treasures. All of that in a goal to get the most points possible. The expansion makes make the game more difficult or give more options, but the base game is a lot of fun. It is another one of those games that I really like because of how fast it plays. And you get a story as you play of what is happening in your dungeon.

12. Patchwork Doodle

Now to move away from theme again, Patchwork Doodle is a very abstract roll and write. It is about trying to create the biggest quilt that you can. It reminds me a ton of Second Chance, you start with a shape and then add more adjacent to it. Patchwork Doodle, though, has more going on with it. And that little bit additional just adds enough to the strategy that it make sit more fun for me. And the big thing that Second Chance has going for it is how relaxing it is to play, I think Patchwork Doodle is just as relaxing.

11. Doppelt So Clever

One of a few combo focused games coming up on the list. Doppelt So Clever is my least favorite of the Clever trilogy or roll and writes. And it’s not because it’s the only one that I don’t own in German. It feels like it’s just the most punishing and locks you into lower scores a lot of the time. But the mechanics are great, and you do still get a lot of combos to play around with.

10. Clever Hoch Drei

Now we’re up to another Clever game. As compared to Doppelt So Clever, Clever Hoch Drei is the easiest to do well at. That means you get even more combos going, and that is because a lot of the tracks are so littered with combos you can’t avoid them. It feels good to get a lot of combos and all of a sudden what looked impossible to do is possible.

9. Super Mega Lucky Box

This is the newest roll and write on the list, and Super Mega Lucky Box is one that I wasn’t sure how high it’d get when I first played it. It is a very easy game to play. A card is flipped, you fill in that number on one of your bingo cards. But the more you play it, the more you can see how there are interesting decisions and combos as you finish off rows and columns. Whenever you finish a row or column, you get a bonus, and how you leverage those bonuses really matters for the winner of the game.

8. Metro X

How do can you maximize your bus routes, or subway routes, is what this game is all about. But it is clever in what it does, and I really like it for that. Multiple routes might go through the same station. And you are just trying to fill in stations. But you always fill in from the first empty spot down. And you can’t skip over filled spots. It’s hard to explain, but it works well, and makes you think about how to optimally fill in your routes so you can complete as many as possible.

7. Ganz Schon Clever

The final of the Clever games, and the original. I really like Ganz Schon Clever. This is even with knowing generally how to optimize the puzzle. I always push to see if I can do a little bit better. And the app for the game works well. I might not play it as much as I used to on the app, but it is still the one I go to first when playing any Clever game. And in person, I think it’s even more fun. There is something about hoping for the perfect die rolls in person that is more compelling than an app.

6. Welcome To…

This, I think, was originally at 10 in my Top 100 Games (of all time) and clearly with five more roll and write games above it has slipped. I really like Welcome To still. It mainly has slipped because I haven’t played it recently. And while I enjoy it every time I play it, I also do think I want to start mixing in the expansion maps. I think that it’ll change up the game enough that it’ll feel refreshing. This is also a roll and write with a theme that I like a lot.

5. Sonora

This is the final one that is all about the combos. And compared to any of the Clever games, this one has more combos. Plus Sonora has you flicking discs around a board to determine how you fill in things. Each quarter of the board fills in a specific spot on your scoring sheet. And as you fill in spots you get scoring bonuses, but then, basically, extra discs that you u se as well to fill in. And that can lead to more. Sonora gives you a great rush of feeling like you can do almost everything, every time you fill in on the board.

4. Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade

Probably the most thematic roll and writ eon my list, Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade and the expansion(s) give the feeling of playing a pinball machine. Everything bounces in a way that makes sense, and while your flippers are limited, which isn’t the case in actual pinball, for a game it makes sense. And the boards are all so different. I really like the hacking board and the special that is on there. It can ramp a score like crazy, but will you fail because you push your luck too far?

3. On Tour

On Tour maybe should already have been in my Top 10 Roll and Writes and Top 100 Games, but I held off on ranking it until I played a physical copy. Why, because sometimes that’s different. And with On Tour, where you are making your best route for a band tour, I was worried it’d be hard to score the best route. Turns out, it isn’t that hard. But let’s talk about the game.

You make a route of low to high on states, but depending on what is rolled and cards flipped out that becomes tricky. You are limited to where you can play down the numbers. And everyone is limited in the same way. And as you fill in more and more spots, you become more limited. I think that is one thing I like best, the game becomes so much more tense at the end of the game, and each decision matters so much. But because you have fewer available spots, the game doesn’t slow down. It’s a great game arc.

2. Railroad Ink/Railroad Ink Challenge

So, in my Top 100 I had these two games separate. Now I put them together because they really can be together in that their mechanics are mainly the same. In both you build out train and road routes and your goal is to connect exits. Railroad Ink Challenge adds in challenges that you want to complete at certain points to score more points. Some people find it more complex, or too complex, but I like that it gives an additional thing to focus on. It makes my decisions faster generally as well. Really good roll and write with a very high production.

1. Cartographers

At the number one spot, not a big surprise, is Cartographers. The theme is a lot of fun in this game. I like making a map. There is player interaction as you put monsters on my board. But what really makes the game is the scoring. You score for A and B the first round and then going through rounds, in round four you score D and A, so you come all the way back around. It makes for an interesting puzzle to solve and try and optimize your points. And like most games on my list, everyone goes at the same time, so nice and fast to play, while offering great decisions.

What is Your Favorite?

I have so many that I need to play still. I own Copenhagen Roll and Write, Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write, Imperial Settlers Roll and Write, Welcome To Dinoworld, Welcome To New Las Vegas, Fleet: The Dice Game, and more on my shelf that I need to pull out. A lot can be played solo, so maybe I’ll do a big solo roll and write stream or day of playing coming up here.

Let me know what your favorite is down in the comments below. Or you can let me know on Twitter or Facebook as well.

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Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game – 16 Plays

No surprise here that Orchard was my most played for the month. I suspect it’ll have another strong showing this year. But it still holds up after all of the plays. The choices are interesting in the game, and it’s the right level of light but challenging as you play it. This is my solo game of choice for sure right now.

My City – 6 Plays

One of four new games to the list, and this one got played a lot of times. My City is one I’ve wanted to play for a while because it seemed like a good, light, legacy game. And thus far it has been. The play is simple, flip over a card and everyone places their matching tile like it onto their board. But the game is adding in more challenges as you go. I think of it as a legacy-lite game. With legacy I want story, and this one doesn’t have any. But the game play is so fast that it was easy to table.

A Gentle Rain – 4 Plays

Another solo game on the list. I didn’t enjoy A Gentle Rain as much my last few plays. I think that the game is still good, but there is definitely a limited decision space. This one is less when I want a distraction for my brain, and more something fairly mindless to do. I definitely want that at times, but there are a number of other games I’m looking at trying solo. So A Gentle Rain, I expect, will see less play in 2022.

Kohaku – 3 Plays

Another one of the new games, Kohaku is a tile selection and laying game. You draft each turn a tile with a koi fish and one with a scoring objective. It was a lot of fun, and the game looks amazing on the table. You can read more about Kohaku here. It is a nice game, simple and easy to play, but feels like good decisions.

Super Mega Lucky Box – 3 Plays

Yet another new to me game, this one is a 2021 release, which I believe Kohaku is as well. This is a very simple roll and write game, Like Kohaku you can find an article already on it here. I actually got it to the table a few more times yesterday, and it is improving for me. The game play is so fast, that I can knock a game out in minutes. And it is one that fills that spot with solo game play where it it requires just enough brain effort to feel like a good refreshing activity.

Tainted Grail: The Last Knight – 2 Plays

I forget what chapter of Tainted Grail: The Last Knight we are on. But we are making our way through it and I am still enjoying the game a lot. Tainted Grail is one of those games that is just a bit messy but also so thematic that the mess makes sense and is just enjoyable. And I feel like three is a great spot to play it at where we can all work together, and make decisions together. And the game keeps moving along well, granted, we do party up most of the time.

Just One – 2 Plays

I did play this one previously this year, but it has been a while. Just One is definitely, after these plays, one of those good party games that easily gets to the table. And it is always a good time. A simple game where one person is it and trying to guess a single word based off of one word clues. But any duplicate clues are thrown out. And it is a party game where everyone is working together. One that works really well.

Hanamikoji – 2 Plays

Still my favorite two player game. Hanamikoji is so fast to play and gives you such good decision making. I didn’t do great the last few plays, but I still had fun with it. Mainly because everything you do matters, every action you take matters. And most of the time, you are done after a single round, you shuffle up and play again.

Cross Clues – 2 Plays

Another game that hadn’t gotten played in a while, Cross Clues is another cooperative party game with a one word clue. Here you are trying to get people to guess the intersection of two words. This again works so well with almost any group of people. And the game play is fast, even without using the timer which would make it incredibly hectic. A good fun time.

The Reckoners – 1 Play

I got The Reckoners a long time ago. If I remember correctly, I ordered it the day my son was born as it was on a good post Thanksgiving sale. And it has sat on my shelf for a few years, waiting to get played. And now it has been played. It is a game that was worth the wait. Cooperative game play, trying to keep epics, evil super heroes in check, and then take down the big bad guy works well. I want to play it again soon, either in a group or solo.

Medium – 1 Play

This is a great little filler game. And I really like playing and teaching Medium, mainly because I don’t teach Medium before I play it. If someone else knows the game, I just start playing with them and explaining as I go along. It is so simple, like Cross Clues, trying to come up with the word between two words. But now you are matching up, or trying to, with the person you are paired up with. Great fun, and offers some good laughs and absurd word combos.

Sagrada – 1 Play

Finally a game I haven’t played in a very long time but I still love it, Sagrada. The game play is so simple and enjoyable. And this time, we played with the private dice pool to draft from. I don’t know I needed a 3 player game of Sagrada to go faster, but it works well. Definitely with four or more people I’ll be using that new thing. I still need to mix in some of the expansions as well.

Yearly Board Gaming Stats

Alright, let us see how the year ended. A total of 421 game plays were had with 77 different games, which is great. Considering that I played Orchard 116 different times, and Tainted Grail another 38, I got in a lot of different games. I had 9 games that I played over 10 times, so including Orchard and Tainted Grail, Dice Throne, Ohanami, A Gentle Rain, Deadly Doodles, That’s Pretty Clever, Metro X, and Hanamikoji. Generally short games minus Tainted Grail. And then 19 total games I played at least 5 times.

That is a great amount of gaming. And I think it is a number that I can push even higher in 2022. I think that some things, going to GenCon for example, and more in person gaming to start the year will push it clover to 475-500 range for plays. And I’m excited to try new games that will be coming in as well. So yes, I will be back with more of these recaps in 2022.

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Quick disclaimer, I use the term roll and write for all sorts of “blank” and write games. This can be a flip and write or a flick and write and or whatever mechanic is chosen. Roll and Writes were just more of a thing first, with Yahtzee so the term got coined that way.

Cartographers

Cartographers might be my favorite roll and write game. It’s a bit more complex but not that hard to play. The basic idea is that you are creating a map, putting in forests, lakes, villages, and fields. But the game really shines with how you score points in it. The game has a creative way for it with playing four rounds, and each rounds scores differently. Spring scores A & B and Summer B & C and so on but Winter then scores D & A, so each scoring things gets scored twice.

Plus there are monsters in the game. When you draw a monster, you pass your sheet to someone else draws monsters in the least useful spot. The game plays fast that is a lot of fun and you get to draw a map. This might seem more complex when you start but it’s really not that hard to play.

Railroad Ink Challenge

Railroad Ink Challenge is a route connecting roll and write. You try to get as many of them connected as possible. There is Railroad Ink where that is about it, but Railroad Ink Challenge adds in, well, a challenge. And I think the challenge is more fun because it gives you something more specific to go for.

This game comes with really nice components. The box has a magnetic clasp, the dice are really nice, and the boards are dry erase. This is a bit more of a brain burner, I would say, of a game. Getting all the routes connected and optimizing your scoring can be tricky, but it’s a lot of fun.. And if you want to give it a try, there is an app.

Second Chance

Second Chance is the easiest of the games on the list. All you are doing is filling in shapes on your board hoping to have as much filled in as possible by the time you can’t place another shape. That’s all there is too the game, but it’s really a relaxing game to play.

Plus, it’s a game, like Cartographers, that allows you to be creative. As you play and fill in areas, a lot of us like to doodle in the different shapes. If you don’t rush through it and just enjoy that process, it can be a very relaxing game to play with anyone.

Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade

Now we’re onto the most thematic of the list, I’d say. This one feels like you are playing pinball as the ball moves in certain ways around the board as it bounces off things. It also is probably the longest of the roll and writes, but the different boards, pinball machines, you play on are a lot of fun.

The game basically has you picking dice to use to bounce off of different bumpers, knock down targets and score points. You can get a bonus ball in play or score double points. It’s another game that works great solo and there are a lot of different maps, four in the base box, that are a really fun time to play.

Ganz Schon Clever (That’s Pretty Clever)

We go from the most thematic to the most abstract. Ganz Schon Clever is all about maximizing the points that you score by filling in spots and numbers. This game shines with the combos that you can create though. Filling in a spot in one section can link to another section so you fill in there, and you can fill in a lot of things.

The game play is pretty easy, but compared to some of the more thematic ones it might be harder to teach. Still, it’s a great puzzle for players to try and figure out. And even when you figure it out, you still want to optimize the puzzle so you can score the best you can every time. Plus there are two more games in the series once you feel comfortable with this one.

These are just some, I wanted to give a good variety. I have 28 different ones on my shelf and I want to get and play around with more. So there are ones for everyone. Love cats, Cat Cafe, Jurassic Park, Welcome to Dino World, build a house, Floorplan, and more. So pick your favorite theme, so some are better than others, I will say. What is your favorite roll and write? And which one would you give or want to get this Holiday season?

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