It’s Rotten does a strong job of being ‘just okay’

I have very conflicted feelings about Alexander Shen’s It’s Rotten. On the one hand, it is the absolute epitome of adequate. It uses ideas and mechanics that feel like dead horses of Roll and Write. On the other hand, it does that adequate very well.

If I handed you a play sheet without the rules, you’d be up to speed and playing within a minute. It is Tetris as a Roll and Write. It is so Tetris as a Roll and Write that there’s a note at the bottom of the play sheet that says ‘Not Tetris’ and we all know that’s a lie. 

You’ve got an eight by eleven grid. You roll a six-sided die to determine what shape you’re adding to the grid. Shapes drop straight down and can be rotated but not flipped. Game ends when you reach the top.

Score is based on completed rows.

I honestly cannot remember how many times I’ve seen Tetris as a board game. Sometimes even officially. It feels like it has become one of the basic templates for Roll and Write. Heck, Shen’s earlier Blankout has some Tetris in its genes. (More Blokus but still some Tetris)

So why do I have anything good to say about It’s Rotten?

Well, first off, it holds up mechanically. In this particular case, that’s a fairly low bar. It’s based on what is arguably the most successful video game in history and Alexander Shen has a solid track record so I expect their games to work. Still, it’s something.

It’s also very low ink-friendly and has four boards per sheet. That makes the game very convenient to make and, if you play Roll and Writes on clip boards like I sometimes do, very convenient to play.

However, it’s the scoring that I enjoy. You see, each row isn’t worth the same amount of points. Some are even worth negative points so you have an incentive to not fill them. And each board lists what the maximum points are so you can easily figure out how well you’ve done. I like that better than just beating your score.

And the full set of It’s Rotten is 200 boards.

It’s Rotten is not a game for serious play. However, it gives me a lot of content for casual, sleepy time play while sitting on the couch.