05 April 2025
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Grab your pen, we’re looking at some of our favourite Roll and Write style games. Most often, you’re going to see dice, a pad of paper, and a few pencils (or dry-erase markers and boards for the fancy among us), that have you carefully making decisions to place the result of the die on your paper, building combinations, hopefully not running out of space, and getting the most points at the end.
Written by Charlie Pettit
We’re breaking our own rules straight away by including Flip and Write games within this style, but rules were made to be broken! Except when playing the games, of course…
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Railroad Ink
Railroad Ink is such a popular game nowadays that we’ve seen versions of it played with inflatable dice at conventions. The game itself though, is one of connecting routes effectively to score points, with what you’ll need to place next being determined by the dice. Railroad Ink developed a little further with its Challenge series, which adds in some extra goals and new dice, giving you new structures and opportunities for points. Admittedly, we’re probably all partial to a train game, but this one is a fun puzzle that makes the topic entirely enjoyable.
Related Article: What are 'And Write' games?
Trails of Tucana
A personal favourite – my review of which secured me my first job in board games!– Trails of Tucana is a flip and write where you’ll turn over two terrain cards each turn, and must mark on your map a connection between these two terrains. Building a wider connection of sites and harbours, as well as a ton of sights to see, earns you points, and using the rarer terrains strategically can gain you the win. It’s a great experience to play with a big group, and a satisfying points tally at the end.
Buy Trails of Tucana on Amazon
Ganz Schon Clever
This is one of those classics of the genre, and one that has well earned its place on a Roll and Write list. Designed by Wolfgang Warsch, an industry heavyweight with games from The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Wavelength, and The Mind to his name, you play by rolling dice and marking your selected one on your sheet – however the ones you don’t select of a lower value can be played by other players, so you’ll need to choose wisely. Roll and Write games are often criticised for playing too independently, but you’ve got no choice to interact in this one!
Buy Ganz Schon Clever on Amazon
Welcome To
We’re picking Welcome To… Your Perfect Home for this list, but there are a few different themes depending on the kind of game you fancy – the moon? New Las Vegas? These are Flip and Write games where you’ll overturn three cards to make action sets, adding the numbers to specific areas of your sheet to gain the most points. You’re playing the role of an architect in the 50s, making a perfect neighbourhood, but it’s all down to your careful planning – and clever decision making when presented with sub-optimal results. Welcome To has always felt like a more distinct game to us than other members of the Roll and Write family, especially in the later versions, offering so much that you can do in each turn, and with its own inherent randomness, games are never the same twice.
Cartographers
You are, of course, a cartographer, and the best maps will win the favour of the Queen – something you would certainly like. Each round you’ll have an edict from the queen, prioritising something within the land that’s important for her to see or know, and you’ll need to make your choices of how you fill in the map on scoring points for these edicts. As they change, planning for scores both in this round and later rounds is vital, but as your map fills in more and more, the harder it becomes. Don’t forget to watch out for an ambush though…
Three Sisters
Three Sisters is named after an agricultural technique – yes, we’re learning something! – of planting pumpkin, corn, and beans together to support them best. You, unsurprisingly, are trying to yield the very best harvest, gaining points for your clever planting throughout eight rounds. Roll and Write games will always build as you make choices about how you’ll fill your board, but Three Sisters offers some great combos early in the game that bear fruit (pun accidental but unapologetic) later in the game. There’s a lot to get your head around, but it only takes a round or two to play like a pro.
Rolling Realms
Rolling Realms is a great game in itself, but it’s a lovely story behind it too. Jamey Stegmaier, of Stonemaier Games (think Wingspan), sought to create an infinitely scalable Roll and Write game through Facebook Lives, that could connect players during the Coronavirus pandemic and its associated lockdowns. The endeavour was popular, and it went from an idea shared to a fully fledged game, and one which received a later full print run. The game sees you trying to gain stars in mini games, but it’s absolutely filled with little nods to other board games that are the cherry on top of a fun game to play.
Next Station: London
Another rail-themed game (it’s almost like we have form for them in this hobby), this time you’re redesigning the underground. You want to make sure your route passes through different districts, considering which of them is the busiest, as well as things like getting across the river. The game includes things like tourist sites and other ways to make more points, so you can enjoy traversing around London in a (hopefully!) organised jaunt. This one gets extra points for being smaller, as you can take it with you – ready to play on the train (though probably not the tube!).
Buy Next Station: London on Amazon
Long Shot: The Dice Game
First it was Long Shot, then it became a dice game; it’s essentially a Roll and Write version of placing bets on horses and then increasing your odds – simple, right? Except everyone else has their own agenda too, and you can never be entirely certain you’ll win enough money to make you the victor. Add in some impressive special abilities, and really satisfying interactions, and it would make this list on that alone – but we’ve made sure to include it too, for its more board game-like feel. Sure, at its core, you’re rolling dice and marking it down on your score card in a way that is very Roll and Write, but you’ve also got a fun track and horse tokens to enjoy, making it one that doesn’t feel quite so Roll and Write.
Buy Long Shot the Dice Game on Amazon
Isle of Cats: Explore and Draw
I always wondered if Isle of Cats spawned from saying I Love Cats, but as I do the latter, the former is usually a winner. The main game is a polyomino tile placement game, and Explore and Draw is essentially a flip and write version of it. You’re trying to save cats from Lord Vesh by cleverly fitting them and their odd shapes into a boat, only you now do so by turning over cards to determine the shape, and drawing them directly onto your boat. Much like Patchwork to Patchwork Doodle, these style of games work really well as a and-Write style game – we’re just partial to a cat theme!