My September Gaming

During September, most of my gaming was playing Roll and Writes. They just fit well into limited time and space needs while still giving me a full gaming experience.

I learned the following games:

Knaster

Trek 12

Super Slopes

Not a big month for learning games but there are some good experiences there.

Knaster is really a revision of Wurfel Bingo and one that does improve on the design. That said, it doesn’t really bring a new experience to the table. It does its job but it doesn’t sparkle.

On the other hand, Trek 12 did sparkle for me. It took the act of writing numbers on the board, which I may well have done in a hundred different games at this point, and made it feel new again. A number of ways to manipulate the numbers and reasons to consider connections. And the different boards really did feel different.

I printed off boards from the publisher’s website so I could play the basic game. And their clever plan worked because I am now seriously thinking about buying the game.

Super Slopes is an 18-card game from Button Shy which isn’t a Roll and Write. It’s a tile-laying game about building ski slopes. I need to play it more to get a real opinion on it but I do think it has promise and I like the solitaire option. It’s biggest ‘flaw’ for me is that you’re building a map brick style and other Button Shy games like Insurmountable and Wild River have covered that ground. That made it harder for me to judge Super Slopes on its own merits.

I also revisited Tanuki Matsuri, a game that I played during lockdown back in 2020. At that time, I quite liked it. And, going back to this simple game of cascading effects, I still find it engaging and it’s back on my regular playlist.

Again, why Roll and Write?

When we lived across the country a couple months ago, I didn’t know how it would affect my gaming habits. Would I still keep on playing games and learning new games?

Well, it seems the answer is yes to both but with an even heavier focus on Roll and Writes lol

Admittedly, there are a number of reasons why Roll and Writes work well for me, particularly under more constrained circumstances.

Many (but certainly not all) are extremely solitaire friendly. Many are played as multi-player solitaires, like Take It Easy, so there’s no mechanical difference between one person playing or a lecture hall playing. It’s increasingly common for any kind of game to have a solitaire option and some are just plain solitaires.

In other words, there’s a lot of Roll and Writes I can easily play on my own while still having the actual experience of the game. 

Roll and Writes also tend to be easy to make via Print and Play. (Again, plenty of exceptions are out there) More than that, the quality of a PnP R&W sheet is a lot closer to publishing standards than, say, my homemade cards.

Roll and Writes also can take up minimal space, particularly if you use a clipboard. I have a little half-size clip board that I can use for smaller game sheets. That ends up taking up just a little more space than playing a game on my phone.

And, frankly, while Roll and Write as a game media doesn’t have doesn’t have as much potential depth as ones with moving parts, there’s a surprising amount of depth in some of them. (Not necessarily the one I casually play, of course)

I recently learned three different publushed games via Print and Play pretty much back to back: Splitter, Knaster and Trek 12. I made copies of Splitter and Knaster because, frankly, it wasn’t likely I’d find published copies. On the other hand, everything I needed to make the basic version of Trek 12 on the publisher’s website. 

Which I think was actually quite canny on their part. Because, having a chance to play the basic game of Trek 12, I am now seriously thinking about getting the full game so I can play the expedition version of the game. Demos can be very powerful tools if the games can deliver.

I found Splitter and Knaster to be solid, workmanlike games and I was happy to try them out. However, Tech 12 was next level. I really liked the different ways to manipulate numbers in it.

There are a lot of decent R&Ws out there, particularly if you’re actively looking for them. Which I obviously am. And they can definitely keep you entertained.

But then there are games that make me feel like I’ve just found a hidden gem at a convention. Trek 12 isn’t the best R&W ever but it is good enough to have that sparkle. And it’s really fun to have find that.

Roll and Writes can deliver under conditions that limit time and space and materials. And sometimes they can just plain deliver.