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Description
Roll Your Meeples, Build the City.
It's the 1920's and your career as a general contractor is about to take off. You have just started your business in a rapidly expanding city.
In Rolling Heights, players roll workers in the form of meeples. Standing meeples work hard that day and provide special actions and building materials, while face-down meeples provide nothing. You can always push your luck for better rolls, but you might lose valuable materials you need to construct new buildings. Completing buildings gains you prestige, as well as new workers to help you construct even larger buildings, including skyscrapers.
Will you construct the next famous landmark?
—description from the publisher
Year Published
2023
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video C8SAQwDrdvw
Let's Table It general_discussion at 16:06 sentiment: positive
video_pk 61771 · mention_pk 154413
Click to watch at 16:06 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Unique, playful mechanic that stands out
- High production quality and satisfying city-building payoff
- Approachable for family play and still engaging for couples
Cons
- Not an intensely deep game for heavy gamers
- Endgame can feel abrupt if not managed carefully
Thematic elements
- engine-building with dice as the primary resource and city development as the objective
- City-building with rotating die-meeple elements and a developing skyline
- light, thematic, crunchy engine-building
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- city-building tableau — Develop a cityscape with resource-driven buildings that interact as you progress.
- dice-building / engine-building — Roll dice (meeples) up to a limit and use them to build buildings and advance the city.
- multi-use resources / building plans — Resources serve as currency to acquire new buildings or to complete plans.
- tableau building — Develop a cityscape with resource-driven buildings that interact as you progress.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is the only game that we like to fight about.
- The kids request it anytime we pull it off their shelves to play two-player, which is how we would prefer to play this game.
- It's brutal when you play four players.
- The premise is actually really interesting where it's based on an actual scientific experiment.
- It's not a real deep game, but it's still really enjoyable.
- Rolling Heights is sticking around for now.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video afc4B8WhT1U
covery rules teach at 0:22 sentiment: positive
video_pk 60432 · mention_pk 152829
Click to watch at 0:22 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Clear, step-by-step setup and playthrough guidance
- Rich decision space with multiple resource types and plan purchases
- Engaging mid-game tension via the risk/rally mechanic
Cons
- Complex rule set may intimidate new players
- Some terminology and name pronunciation may be challenging for newcomers
Thematic elements
- Urban planning, construction, and market-driven growth with a focus on long-term city-scape expansion.
- A modern urban development scenario where players build a city by placing building plans across a grid of neighborhoods, accumulating resources and points as structures rise.
- Mechanical/system-driven rather than story-driven
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Building plans and market strip — Tiles representing building plans are bought from a market strip (level 1 and 2) and placed on land spaces with specific placement costs and adjacency rules.
- Cubes and spending power — Different meeple types produce cubes; spending power acts as virtual currency usable for purchases and actions, with restrictions on its use.
- End-of-turn and market refilling — After each turn, the market is replenished by sliding tiles down and refilling gaps, preparing the board for the next player.
- Endgame trigger and scoring — The game ends when all cubes of one or more colors have been used in buildings; the round ends and an additional round is played to equalize turns, followed by scoring.
- Meeple activation and abilities — During the main phase, players activate working hard or working steady meeples to use their abilities, then place them back to the side to prevent re-activation in the same turn.
- Miscellaneous cubes and substitutions — When a color runs out, miscellaneous cubes substitute for that color and can be used for building if all color cubes are present; substitutions are unlimited and prioritized after supply runs dry.
- Risk phase and rallying — Players may push their luck by rallying exhausted meeples; if all active meeples end exhausted, workers go on strike and are downgraded.
- Roll and resolve meeples — At the prep phase, players roll their meeples and determine statuses (standing, working hard, working steady, exhausted).
- Upgrades and special abilities — Public servants, city planners, and other special meeples upgrade or modify workers to improve efficiency or unlock building abilities.
- worker placement — During the main phase, players activate working hard or working steady meeples to use their abilities, then place them back to the side to prevent re-activation in the same turn.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Rolling Heights is designed by John D. Clair and it's published by AEG.
- That's Rolling Heights how tall will your buildings be?
- Rolling Heights is played in turns each turn will consist of four phases prep risk Main and cleanup.
- you'll gain one Associated Cube if they're working steady and two if they're working hard.
- the game ends when all cubes of one color have been constructed.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 0wC0-9ye6_w
Cardboard Herald general_discussion at 6:40 sentiment: positive
video_pk 10582 · mention_pk 31174
Click to watch at 6:40 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Interesting concept
- Push-your-luck elements
- Smooth city-building engine
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Resource management
- City building
Comparison games
- Suburbia
- Pass the Pig
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- city building — Building and developing a city
- Dice rolling — Rolling meeples in a chamber with different outcomes
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Make a fun game first and foremost
- Treat the source material with respect
- Having guardrails set in place can free a designer to be creative
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 1du26wfPm4k
Going Analog interview at 8:55 sentiment: positive
video_pk 3405 · mention_pk 10065
Click to watch at 8:55 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- clever spatial mechanics
- satisfying city-building rhythm
Cons
- rule explanations can be dense for new players
Thematic elements
- tower-building economy and planning
- urban stacks and skyline construction
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- tile placement / city-building — Players place components to build vertical and horizontal structures, aiming for efficient layouts.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- we're not here to make friends we're here to break people
- one of the biggest personalities in a board game space
- it's a good investment
- the idea and it's it's mostly illegal now I believe
- this version is a ton of fun
- the table presence is terrific
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–4 of 4