Top Ten Roll and Write Games - Part 2

0:05 welcome to allies our enemies this time we are talking about one of our favorite genres of games rolling rights a little while back we did a top 10 but since then we have picked up at least a dozen more that have found their way into regular rotation so we thought it was time to add to the list here with another top 10 of more terrific roll and write flip and write flick and write just generally and write games number 10 riverside a late 2021 release this is the newest game on the list so we're still learning the ropes but we like what we have seen so far in riverside players are taking a cruise through a scandinavian style winter wonderland and dropping off passengers along the way the boat is shared as are the dice but which dice you choose each round will quickly create very different paths open special bonuses and create combos on combos this is a classic satisfying box checker with a nice theme and some cool twists number nine demeter there are few better themes than space dinosaurs and even if the space part is only vaguely present in demeter the dinosaur part is on full display demeter is a flip and right in which players will choose one of five cards each turn for 12 turns discovering researching and observing dinosaurs there are a lot of paths to victory here

1:36 especially with the various objective cards and when our biggest complaint is that it feels a bit short that is a pretty good sign number eight rolling realms each round of rolling realms features three of 11 possible realms all based on various stone mire games and all with their own mini rules on using whatever numbers come up on the two hefty dice the trick of it is figuring out how to use the realms on hand to create shared bonuses and combo with each other the system does have a bit of an initial rules overhead but with that comes maybe the most variability of any game on this list and that is only going to increase as promo cards keep getting added to the game number 7 explorers phil walker harding is the king of the lightweight games so it is no surprise that he has created another excellent flip and write with explorers explorers has players charting maps in an ever spreading web of discovery as they hunt for food gems keys and lost temples each turn one player flips one of the map cards deciding on a terrain type for themselves and a different one for their opponents there is something about crossing off squares on a map that is just inherently satisfying and that is certainly the case here number six welcome to the moon the original welcome to is still one of

3:06 our top all-time flip and right games and while the first sequel welcome to new las vegas didn't quite tick all the boxes welcome to the moon goes way above and beyond expectations with eight different maps all with their own rules that can be played either as one-offs or as part of a larger campaign experience that adds new cards and twists as you go the genius part here is that all eight maps manage to share a kind of internal logic while also being both very different and equally fun to play pretty much across the board number five harvest dice sometimes less is more as is certainly the case with the smallest box and simplest game on this list harvest dice has players roll and then draft a bunch of vegetable dice drawing veggies into their garden along the way it is ultra simple ultra fast and probably the biggest pleasant surprise for us of any game on this list we never would guess that 2021 would be the year that we got weirdly good at drawing cartoon carrots number four sonora in recent years game designers have been pushing what the and right genre can include but perhaps none have gone as mad science as sonora and it's frankensteining of a light crocodilish flicking game and four different desert theme boards all mushed into one first

4:39 you flick your numbers into different sections then you use those numbers to fill your boards create combos and score points the end result is a surprisingly smooth mishmash that meshes the heads-down solo experience of roland rights was some pretty cutthroat flicking number three dinosaur island roaring right while roll and right games are generally seen as quick fillers the ridiculously named roaring rite is definitely a full experience game this is one of the heaviest games in the genre and it does a pretty terrific job of boiling down what we love about dinosaur island into a roll and write experience that actually rivals the original game players are rolling dna dice hiring specialists creating dinosaurs building buildings and trying their best not to have people eaten over six turns of pretty intense and very thinky game we'll come back to this in a second but we kind of love this new breed of heavy roll and right games number two trails of tucana the key to a terrific light rolling right or in this case flipping right is to find a super simple system that can be explained in a minute but that doesn't lose its luster even after a bunch of plays and that is very much trails of tucana each turn players flip two cards showing regions and then draw a line on their

6:10 sheets connecting two adjacent regions matching those the point is to create connecting paths on their map both to exits and to bonuses within this simple premise is a world of pre-planning risk management and pusher luck and yelling at the poor person flipping cards for drawing yet another santa sand when all you need is forest to mountain and then goofily pumping your fists like you just won the stanley cup when forest a mountain comes up the next round number one adrian's wall while many rowland writes are trying to create a quick addictive experience hadrian's wall uses the medium of paper and pencil to create a very deep fairly heavy and definitely full gaming experience between the two sheets and a handful of wooden meeples you use each turn there is a world of possibilities selling goods hiring guards building buildings temples and theaters fighting in the arena hadrian's wall doesn't just give the opportunity to create combos it immerses you in them this is a heads-down brain burner of a puzzle that will make you lose all concept of time and that is it please check out the first video if you haven't seen that to find 10 more great rolling right or flip and write games and if there's any that we missed please let us know in the

7:41 comments also please do like and subscribe and hopefully we will see you all next time for another game