Cartographers Review | A Satisfying Map-Building Puzzle

Hey, I'm Ryan. This is my brother Daniel and this is Rolls in the Family and today we are going to be reviewing Cartographers, a flip and write puzzle game about making fantasy maps. >> Yeah, there are a lot of flip and write games, Ryan. There is a lot of flip and write >> of flip and write and all that, but I think this is one that has kind of risen to the top for us a little bit of and has both of us own it, correct?

>> Yeah. >> You've got even some of the expansion content to it. >> the collector's edition at one point which has got some fun stuff to, you know, make >> You're flaunting your >> Yeah, with [clears throat] like golden inlay [laughter] text. >> Yeah. So, we are excited to excited to talk about this one.

We will have a link to Cartographers down below if people want to pick that up for themselves. Let us know down below if you've played Cartographers, what are your thoughts on it? And in this review, we will have there might be some laminated sheets, maybe some expansion content. So, just FYI when you look at the pictures of what we are showing >> not get some of >> You might Yeah, you're Don't be We don't want them to be disappointed, Ryan.

>> They're not pre-laminated. >> into the review. In Cartographers, you and the other players are simultaneously drawing shapes of different terrain onto your map, rotating and placing them to score the most points from the queen's edicts. At the end of each season, two of the four edicts are scored and after four seasons, the game ends.

>> Since all four edicts are known from the start, there are interesting trade-offs in how you place your shapes. Do you set yourself up to score big in future seasons or focus on this season before those objectives rotate out? >> Each card gives you a choice between two shapes or two terrain types making every turn a small but meaningful puzzle.

Sometimes, you can choose a smaller shape to gain a coin which scores a point every remaining round. Coins can also be earned by surrounding mountain spaces, adding a secondary goal to weave into your overall strategy. Occasionally, a monster ambush appears, and another player gets to draw that shape onto your map in an inconvenient spot.

Now, you're balancing your scoring plans that need to contain those monsters or take penalties each scoring round. As the game goes on, your map becomes more and more constrained, and you'll often have to gamble on what shapes might still come out. Each season also has a variable length, ending once the total time value of drawn cards reaches a threshold, so you're constantly making decisions without knowing exactly how much time you have left.

Cartographers is one of those rare games that supports a wide player count and genuinely plays well across all of them. Around 10 to 12 players is probably the practical limit since it gets harder to see the cards, but we've had great experiences even at higher player counts. The fantasy map-making theme is a fun backdrop for what is ultimately an abstract pattern-based puzzle, but creating your own hand-drawn map has a lot of charm.

While the card draw can disrupt your plans, there's plenty of room to play the odds and optimize your placement, so skill still has a big impact on who wins. Outside of the occasional ambush, this is mostly a solo puzzle experience alongside other players. Setup is very simple, though some players may get distracted by the optional tasks of naming cartographer and designing a family crest.

The core gameplay is easy to grasp, but a few elements like coins, ambushes, and scoring may need a bit of clarification for new players. And each game uses the same small deck of cards, but the variety of scoring conditions keeps things feeling fresh. And expansions add even more maps, scoring cards, and variability.

The combination of scoring conditions, flexible placement, and card choices makes every turn interesting. You can rotate and flip shapes freely, placing them anywhere, which gives you a lot of control. But, as the game progresses, your map fills in and options become more limited. That creates a really satisfying arc with tension steadily increasing toward the end.

>> And it is really the variety of scoring conditions that gives the game its excellent replay value. One game you might be trying to place trees on the border of your map and complete full rows of terrain. And another, you might be trying to grow two large sections of village terrain while also leaving single space holes across your map.

Even the order the scoring conditions are drawn has a big impact. For example, the edict placed in the B slot will only score in the first two seasons. Whereas, the edict in the A slot will score once after the first season, but again at the very end of the game. This shakes up your strategy based on the timing of each scoring card.

>> With everyone playing at the same time, there is no waiting between turns. The game moves at a steady pace, and there's an almost addictive rhythm as each new card is revealed and you immediately apply it to your map. At higher player counts, especially, this is a huge advantage compared to games with traditional turn structure.

>> One of the game's biggest strengths is how well it scales. It works great as a two-player game, but also handles large groups with ease. If you had to trim your collection down to just a few games, a strong case could be made to keep Cartographers simply because it fits so many situations. >> Each player handles their own scoring, and it is easy to miscount, especially as some of the more complex objectives.

Most of the time, players just have to take each other at their word, which may bother those who realize how common the errors will be and prefer more precise and verifiable scoring. >> Since you're physically drawing your map, changing your mind means erasing and redrawing. That can be a bit cumbersome compared to games where you can just move a piece.

You could play with no take-backs, but sometimes the mistakes are actually illegal placements that need to be corrected, like forgetting to cover a ruin space when required. Each season one ambush card is shuffled into the deck, but it may or may not be drawn. I've had games with no ambushes at all and others where all four come out, even three in the same round.

I personally don't mind this, but it can be a downside when introducing to new players, since I have less control over the type of experience they'll get. The best I can do is set expectations. Sometimes monsters have a big impact and sometimes they barely show up. And now, let's get to our personal ratings for Cartographers.

>> Well, Ryan, I'm going to be coming in with an eight out of 10 for Cartographers. Uh this is one that has been super enjoyable. Um and as we mentioned earlier, it feels like one of those uh kind of staples in the collection purely because of how versatile this game is, you know? >> Yeah. >> It is uh there's a ton of games that have been released.

There was a whole feels like a wave of games where it's the flip and write, the roll and write, like all we've and we've tried a decent amount of them, you know? Uh we've played like Welcome To, I know you now have Welcome To the Moon. >> Mhm. >> You know, have played this one and >> Mhm. >> I'm sure there's others as well.

Uh but this one it feels like has really landed as just the one that works well in almost every situation that we that we want to, you know, bring it to. And that's that's part of the reason that I think both of us have acquired it is it's uh you can play it with a wide range of people. I mean, the fact that like I could sit down with my wife and play a two-player game of this and have a blast and >> it's very good.

>> very good. What's just It's funny as even we're like saying this, I don't often think about this game >> Yeah. >> as a two-player option. >> Like let's pull it out. >> it's a great It works great and it works great with 12 people, you know, it's So that's just crazy to have a game that works that well across all of all of those player counts.

And then the other reason it works well is obviously the um the simultaneous nature, right? So you're not you're the time's not going way longer because you're playing playing with more people. Um and I think one one thing I really love about this one is the way those scoring cards, you know, you see them at the start of the game.

So you can see right at the start kind of the the arc of the game of where it's going and but the but then each, you know, season you only have, you know, two that you're kind of working towards. And so it's it's always this kind of tension of do you Are you based off the options of what you can do playing for like the immediate scoring card there versus setting yourself up in the future?

That mixed in with the obviously all the shapes and like trying to fit things together and and even the uh the monsters that get drawn, you know, obviously one it's just kind of fun to draw a monster on somebody else's board. I don't know. I think people kind of >> Just don't even match their drawing style at all.

>> Oh, yeah. You got to make it look horrible. That's key. Um but even that like it could have it could feel like a negative thing, but I think people actually it's kind of just fun to like draw it on someone else's board. >> Yeah. >> And and yet that adds a really interesting variable challenge into, you know, you've got this perfect thing coming together and now suddenly, oh my gosh, I've got this really inconvenient shape.

>> Yeah. I could see some people hating that part of the game. Like if they just really love the the perfect puzzle piece of it and it's like Um but it does add a lot of interest into the puzzle cuz now there's this new thing that you got to kind of work work with. >> Yeah, that's a good point. Not everyone not everyone's going to like um like that one that part of it.

But I don't know the game's super simple. I mean the fact that like it's which of the two things do you you know want to pick and and draw it on your thing and yeah, maybe like you know one thing is the sometimes it can just keeping you know you're drawing all the terrain and out there and so you got to make sure like the way you're drawing it is clear.

>> Otherwise it can get just kind of you know hard to >> as it's clear to you. I've played with some people that I'm like I don't think any of us could look at your map and know what's going on but as long >> As long as you know what's going on. So so overall really really enjoyed this one and yeah, it's kind of just does feel like feels like one of those games that again like if you had just a you know a small collection this is one that would make it purely because of just the wide wide range of circumstances that it could could work well for so.

Those are my thoughts Ryan. What are you coming in on Cartographers? >> Yeah, so this is one that honestly at this point I think has grown into my favorite in the the flip and write genre. And so I'm actually going to be coming in at an 8.5. Um and I I have played this one more than more than you have.

>> content than me too. >> And I've got more content and I will say having played it so many times it is fun to be able to mix it up with another map. Like I've played a couple times on the volcano map that now you might draw a lava shape and like there's lava coming out from the volcano. And it's little twists but like you know when you've played the game it's it's fun to mix it up and do that.

And then you can still play with any scoring objectives on those maps. Um so that's fun. I have the when I got the collector's edition it came with the heroes um set which is essentially a stand-alone set. Like you could just buy that as your first entry point to the game. but if you it's also like a very natural first expansion cuz it adds more scoring cards.

It adds a secondary deck for the shapes. You can pick which deck you play with, which just mixes up like the kinds of shapes you know, that deck's not that big. So which shapes you're seeing and and kind of things come up. But yeah, I think for me like the puzzle of it has not gotten old at all. And the scoring cards are huge part of that cuz every time four of them that are different and they're the order you know, really does change the feel of it.

Like you get you have the category of scoring cards that's more the spatial like you're either completing rows or diagonals or leaving holes. It's like something related to that. Well, there's a big difference if that's going to you know, complete scoring earlier in the game or if you have the whole game to work on it.

You know, if it's in that B slot and you're trying to complete rows, you're like you'd have to really go for it to be able to be completing some rows after just the first two you know, seasons. But yeah, so it's just very interesting what that adds, but then I think just the individual turns and how each piece gives you a choice.

Like it's always either these two different shapes or these two different terrains. But then it's this optimization puzzle of how do I get this piece to score for more than one thing? How can I get it to help with this objective, but also help with this or also help with surrounding this mountain or and I think that's just what makes it so satisfying for me just that optimization is very interesting as a puzzle um cuz it isn't just you're trying to do one thing.

It's you're trying to do a bunch of things that are kind of overlapping and can you do a lot of them well at the same time? Um you know, you touched on the sometimes like you play go after a goal that you know is going to score later even though there's ones that are going to score right now. You know, and it's very fun to be like, okay, I know at the end of the game I'm going to score for my second biggest village.

I'm just going to start building. You know, from the beginning these really big villages so that when that comes I'm just going to cash in huge points for two seasons in a row. Um, it's just interesting and fun. >> Yeah. >> Um, you know, we we talk a lot about how it works so well at really big groups.

Admittedly that doesn't happen that situation doesn't come up that often cuz the bigger the group is the more likely there's one or two people that I don't think have been played it or I just don't think are going to be a good fit. You know, that's often why you end up more in party games that are a little less >> is yeah, it's strategic.

This is a step definitely a step up from just like a light-hearted party game. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Um, but if you have a group a bigger group, you know, you're getting past six people and want something that's kind of a little bit more meaty. >> Mhm. >> Like your options are not There's not a lot of good options out there.

And so that's where a game like this is suddenly like, oh man, I'm so glad I have this cuz it fits this this situation so well. Um, so yeah, this feels like the kind of evergreen >> Yeah. >> at least spatial flipping, right? Like it's kind of like it's own category like the polyomino puzzling things in.

It's definitely the one um, that I've enjoyed the most. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> Yeah. >> Yeah, I don't know. Do you have any closing thoughts here, Daniel? >> Well, I was trying to think cuz so I'm a a little bit lower like I was at eight versus your 8.5. I think probably the the only things that maybe I don't love about it are one, I don't know, I'm someone at at the start of a board game I like to have a like clear sense of direction.

And I sometimes feel like in this one, you know, you can you obviously you can see all the scoring objectives. >> Yeah. >> Um, but oftentimes like the opening things, you know, the opening terrain it's kind of just like, okay, which way do I want to go? So yeah, yeah, yeah, so you kind of you just arbitrarily kind of pick and then sometimes like, oh, maybe that wasn't a good choice.

Um, and whatnot. So that's just a tiny thing. You also have to know that the round can end at a different, you know, it's it's got the whole like, you know, a season could rapidly end and you're like, "Oh my gosh, I was expecting way more time in that game." >> later seasons get shorter. Like I think the last winter one is something like six time.

>> Right. >> And if you get three cards that are all twos, like it could be over in a heartbeat. >> had a game like that recently and I can just a little bit feel at the table a little like >> Uh I wanted a little bit more. >> ended quicker than we were all So, so that can maybe, you know, throw people off a little bit with that, but those are all minor things.

But overall, yeah, this one's a this one is a solid one. >> Nice. Well, those are our thoughts, but the real question is Cartographers a game you should check out. >> If you don't enjoy spatial puzzles, want more player interaction, or start sweating at the idea of drawing tiny trees, Cartographers might not be for you.

>> But if you're looking for a versatile game that works across a wide range of player counts, [music] enjoy puzzling shapes into a grid, and want something with strong replayability, Cartographers is a great choice. >> Thank you for watching. If you want [music] to pick up Cartographers, which I don't know how you want after hearing that review, we've got a link down below.

We've also got a whole playlist of all the games that we have reviewed. We're slowly moving through, so if you want to check out other games we've reviewed, click that playlist there, but we will see you in the next one.