It has been many years since I last played On the Underground (although I wouldn't mind playing it again) but the element that has stuck with me is the lazy passenger mechanic. The idea of a passenger who will always take the route that will involve the least walking. And really, who can blame them?
Sketchy Ski Lifts is a free PnP R&W that is pretty much built around that idea. I don't know if On the Underground was any kind of inspiration, but it takes the most memorable element of that game and focuses on only that. And, just in case you don't read any further, it works pretty well.
There are multiple maps of increasing difficulties. Each one has a grid of three pairs of destinations and clumps of trees, along with a fairly simple tech tree/bonus track. Your goal is the create the most efficient routes between each of the paired destinations and you will be scoring the routes twice over the course of the game.
The game is played on 8 x 10 grid, which does give it the benefit of being bigger than the 6 x 6 grid which sometimes feels like the standard for PnP. Each turn, an eight-sided die and a ten-sided die get rolled. One for the columns and one for the rows. Actions include setting up a ski lift station, adding a ski lift pole and knocking down a tree so that lines can pass through that square. You can also spend a die to make a check mark on that tech tree/bonus track I mentioned.
I quite like a tech tree and I admit that I might be pushing a little heavily to make Sketchy Ski Lift's bonus track count as one. Squares on it can give you a bonus action on any square in the grid or let you get an upgrade, like taking out whole groups of trees in a go or adjusting the die when you place a ski life pole. None of the upgrades have any prerequisites so the tracks in Settlers of the Stone Age have a better claim to be real tech tree. Still, getting those extra little abilities makes a real difference in your play.
You will notice that actually running ski lift lines doesn't actually show up on that list of actions. That's because you draw those in at the halfway point and the end of the game. You create the infrastructure for the lines during the actual turns and then you get to turn them loose twice in the game. With each ski lift route counting as one and each empty square that your poor ski customers have to hoof as one, you figure out how many points it costs to travel between each paired destination. And you are going for the lowest score possible.
As I've already said, Sketchy Ski Lifts clicks for me nicely. While it uses ideas I have seen before, they aren't ones I've seen too often. More than that, it pairs them with a theme that makes them make sense. There is an intuitive quality to the game. You get enough turns to get some things done but not enough to get everything done. Your decisions will matter.
I think that Sketchy Ski Lifts gives you an interesting experience for a very low cost. (As someone who has lived through every edition of Dungeons and Dragons, I assume everyone has d8s and d10s lying around) However, as I explore the different maps, it may turn out to be a hidden gem.
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