61 feullies d’automne or 61 Autumn Leaves is a Roll and Write that was created as a charity game for the French non-for-profit Accessijeux which promotes assessable gaming. It is part of four games made for Accessijeux, each themed around one of the seasons.
The artwork has since been released into the wild. Since it’s a one-sheet R&W, that means the game is now a free download and there’s even a low-ink version. For those of us who speak French very badly, there are fan translations of the rules. A special shoutout to Benjamin Cronshaw who provided translations for all the games.
61 Autumn Leaves is a multi-player Roll and Write solitaire, meaning that, technically, the number of player sheets you have on hand is the player limit. You do get a bonus for completing a section first so playing with a 100 people might be tricky.
I will also note that the artwork is lovely and thematic. Which is good because the artwork is the only thematic element. Nice warm colors and fall images. The artwork definitely sells you on playing the game.
The play sheet consists of the six mini games, one for each pip of the die, and a leaf track. Each turn, three dice get rolled. You use one to pick a mini game, one to use in that game and one to add to the leaf track.
Each of the mini games is pretty simple, with almost all of them being either filling in numbers that are either all identical or all different. You earn points by completing steps in the mini games and the first person to complete each mini game gets by bonus points.
I find the leaf track to be the most Interesting part of the game. It is cumulative, meaning each turn you add to the total. And if you get exactly 11, 21, 31, 41, 51 or 61, you either get a wild number to add to a mini game or bonus points.
The game ends when either someone hits or exceeds 61 on the leaf track or there have been twenty turns (which is also the end of the leaf track) Most points wins.
The structure of 61 Autumn Leaves is one that I’ve seen before. For instance, the Dark Imp’s Beach Life and Restaurantrepreneur immediately came to my mind. (And I feel Restaurantrepreneur is still the strongest game of this type O’ve played) Compared to the Dark Imp designs, 61 Autumn Leaves is simpler, streamlined.
What sold me on 61 Autumn Leaves is the leaf track. Trying to get those bonuses, particularly the wild numbers, is big. It adds a lot of tension to the game and makes the leaf die not a throw away choice. Compared to some (not all) games made up of mini games, 61 Autumn Leaves is shorter and simpler (shout out to Rolling Realms!) but the track keeps me coming back.
As of me writing this, I’ve only also played the winter game in the series but I’ve also looked over the rules for summer and spring. That said, I feel safe to say that autumn is the simplest, I’d even go so far as to say most basic. I’d also say that you need to prioritize certain mini games to maximize your points.
With those critiques said, I do think that 61 Autumn Leaves is very engaging and accessible. This is a game you can get small children and great-grandparents on board with. Between the appealing artwork and easy-to-learn mechanics, this is a game for anyone.
While I honestly expect to enjoy every other game in the series more, I also expect that Autumn Leaves will see a lot of play from me.
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