On Tour: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Roll and Write, Flip and Write, Route Connection, Bingo
Player Age: 7+ Player Count: 1 - 8 PlayersTime to Play: 20 Minutes
Game Designer: Chad DeShonGame Artist: Anca GavrilPublisher: AllPlayYear Published: 2019BGG Weight: 1.45Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 7+
Game Designer: Chad DeShon
Rundown:
On Tour is a unique blend of both roll and write, and flip and write. You and your band are going on tour! The aim is to track your tour route across different city/state/country locations. This is done by creating a line between locations, where each state/country’s allocated value is equal to or larger than the value of the previous state and without visiting a location a second time. When the route is created players score one point for each state plus one point per circled state.
During a turn two dice are rolled to determine the two numbers that have to be written. If 4 and 7 are rolled then the numbers to be allocated to a location will be 47 and 74. Three cards are flipped showing which region the players can allocate these numbers in (two out of three will be used and the same card cannot be chosen twice).
Each region card has a specific location depicted that a player can go to. If a player uses this depicted location it will be circled, creating what I like to think of as a sold-out show, and will earn an additional point during end game scoring.
If the same numbers are rolled or all three cards have the same region then both players will instead receive one wild location that is circled and can be placed anywhere in the regions displayed.
The rules are that easy but planning the routes and trying to push your luck in designing multiple smaller routes to combine later is where the real challenge of the game comes from.
Alteration:
Every game starts by marking off four starting locations. This is done by rolling the dice twice and flipping four cards. The first two cards will have the lowest and highest combination entered in the circled state and this will be repeated with the new roll. This creates ideas and inspirations for possible routes and, even though both players have the same start locations, their routes will turn out vastly different.
In this version, there are two maps (America and Europe) each with their own decks. Rules-wise there is nothing different about them but when playing they are vastly different in optimisation. America is the easier side as most of the states have various access points, so the routes are easier to plan. In Europe, the map stretches out much wider and has multiple locations with very specific passageways that make it a bigger challenge to plan an accurate route from the start.
Production:
The production of the game is fantastic with high quality dry-erase boards, large chunky dice that add table presence and even designs on the board to track scoring. One of the key production choices I really appreciate is how easy it is to identify the region and location from the card to the board. Each region is colour coded to make them easily distinguishable, but additional to this, regions that get paired together like a west region that is split into northwest and southwest have two shades of red but remain distinguished from each other. Each state is also quick to identify on the cards as they maintain their actual location on the card but even better, they are abbreviated for the state that matches.
Interaction:
The game itself like a lot of games in this genre doesn't have a large interaction between players. Instead, the interaction comes from personal point optimisation. The game is perfect for this as the route you are working on is always visible and the main challenge is getting the numbers you need. In the early stages of the game you are trying to create the largest route by making several smaller routes that will connect later. At first you leave a decent gap between these routes to try and give yourself opportunities but as the game continues and luck works against you, you begin to scramble and end up making shorter connections, cutting corners and connecting routes by any means necessary.
Determination:
- Gateway map and a brain-burning map.
- Combines both roll and writes and flip and writes in a way that makes both vital to this game.
- Easy to teach but hard to master.
- Quick playtime.
On Tour has easy rules that can be taught in minutes but this isn't an introductory roll and write, it can be quite hard but ultimately rewarding in the attempt to perfect your route. You will constantly be working on separate segments based on the numbers and regions you randomly get but it gets harder over time to turn these routes into a cohesive route that will be scored. Two unique parts of the game are the combination of roll and write and flip and write, and the surprising complexity of map #2. Firstly, I haven't seen the two mechanics in the same game meld so well. Often in these games you curse the luck you receive and have to mitigate it and find the silver lining. By combining the mechanisms it somehow leaves you with the same bad luck but also something you can use, even if it is setting up back up options for your route. The other unique part is how America can be played as a gateway game quite easily but Europe is filled with more brain-burning decisions. This occurs in a lot of games with multiple maps only the difference with On Tour is that no rules are changed, it is simply the construction of the map that makes it so much harder. This is a great roll/flip and write that has me itching to play more so has earned a Go-To Golden Seal.
Click...feed the addiction:
Comments
Post a Comment