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Rolling America, based on the 2014 release Rolling Japan, is a light "multiplayer solitaire" dice game. Each player has a map of the United States that's divided into fifty (abstractly represented) states, which are then bunched together into six differently colored areas.
On a turn, a player draws two regular six-sided dice from a bag and rolls them; the bag starts with seven dice, six matching the colors of the areas on the map along with a wild clear die. All players now write down each number rolled on any state of the matching color, i.e., if the blue die shows 4 and the yellow a 2, write a 4 in one blue state and a 2 in one yellow state. If the clear die is rolled, you can place this number in a state of your choice; additionally, three times per game you can choose to use a non-clear die as any color. However, neighboring states can't have numbers with a difference larger than 1; if you can't place a number without breaking this rule, then you must place an X in a state of the appropriate color. (If all the states in an area are filled, you can ignore the die or use one of your three color changes to place the number elsewhere.)
Rolling America has a few changes from Rolling Japan. The "guard" action allows you to ignore the neighboring number restriction three times during the game, and the "dupe" action allows you to use one of the active dice twice in the same region. As in real life, Alaska and Hawaii are not connected to the continental United States, so you can drop any numbers you want in those states!
After six dice have been rolled, mark one round as being complete, then return the dice to the bag and start the next round. After eight rounds the game ends, and whoever has the fewest Xs on their map wins.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Flip/Roll and Write — roll-and-write with simple rules and puzzly elements, potentially punishing
- Roll and Write — roll-and-write with simple rules and puzzly elements, potentially punishing
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- october is looking pretty crazy at this point
- i'm really excited to try that one out
- thanks for watching
References (from this video)
- Family-friendly and puzzly; engaging scorecard mechanic
- dice puzzle scoring
- USA theme
- family puzzle
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Drafting — roll dice and simultaneously draft; fill a scorecard with proximity constraints
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Richard Garfield's new drafting game, which is amazing.
- very tense and my review uh it's one of those games where it's hard to give you the feeling of what it feels like just watching an overview.
- Band of Goblins. Good thing there.
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's quick, it's simple
- it's a roll-and-write game
- we're going to get started
- this is a roll-in write game
- it's fast, it's simple, and it's educational
- we're in round six and the tension is rising
References (from this video)
- Simple and fast to learn
- Educational geography component
- Flexible for many players (family-friendly)
- Low cost and accessible (printable sheets work fine)
- Very quick play sessions with high replay value
- Luck-based dice rolls can lead to frustration
- Rule intricacies can be confusing for newcomers
- Requires map sheets or printables; may be less portable without sheets
- geography-themed, map-based puzzle with state adjacency constraints
- United States map divided into color regions
- procedural, instructional
- Rolling Japan
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Adjacency constraint — Placed numbers must be within plus or minus one of all neighboring states that share a border; edges count, corners do not.
- Compound Scoring — Scoring tallies X marks; fewer Xs means a better score; final tally decides winner in multi-player play.
- Dice Placement — A power that lets a player ignore the neighboring-state rule for that placement, for a single die/placement.
- Dupe — Duplicate a die value to place an additional number, increasing flexibility but consuming a power use.
- End-of-round correction — After a round, the map is checked and any incorrect or empty regions get X marks; rounds end after most dice have been resolved.
- Flip/Roll and Write — Two dice are drawn from a bag each turn; players roll them and write numbers on color-mcoded regions of a map.
- guard — A power that lets a player ignore the neighboring-state rule for that placement, for a single die/placement.
- roll-and-write — Two dice are drawn from a bag each turn; players roll them and write numbers on color-mcoded regions of a map.
- Wild / color-change power — Power cards allow turning one die into a wild or altering its color, affecting where a number can be placed.
- X-mark scoring — Scoring tallies X marks; fewer Xs means a better score; final tally decides winner in multi-player play.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's quick, it's simple
- it's a roll-and-write game
- we're going to get started
- this is a roll-in write game
- it's fast, it's simple, and it's educational
- we're in round six and the tension is rising
References (from this video)
- Simple and accessible at scale
- Can feel repetitive
- Process/collection
- Roll-and-write game, United States-themed
- Lightweight filler
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- rolling — Roll dice/dice-like tokens and assign results to actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Shark Park, a memory kind of game.
- they're essentially just more complex versions of the last.
- it feels like it's a bigger game that was streamlined and streamline is often very good, but this one I felt almost a little streamlined too much.
- This one's almost there. And I know a lot of people love the Talisera.