On Tour - Paris and New York: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Roll and Write, Flip and Write, Route Connection, Bingo
Player Age: 10+ Player Count: 1 - 8 PlayersTime to Play: 20 - 30 Minutes
Game Designer: Chad DeShon, Alban ViardGame Artist: Gwen KeravalPublisher: AllPlayYear Published: 2022BGG Weight: 1.80Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 10+
Game Designer: Chad DeShon, Alban Viard
Introduction:
On Tour is a fun game by Allplay that has already pushed its way into the inner sanctum of my roll/flip and writes for its tough decision-making but easy gameplay. For the full review click the link here. This review will focus on their second release, On Tour Paris and New York. This is a more advanced standalone game that I also see as an expansion to the original that adds two new maps.
New York:
New York has five boroughs, all of which, four of which requires a ferry to connect them to continue the tour. Each card flipped during the game will have 1-3 different boroughs as an option of where the player can place the rolled numbers.
There are four new rules with this map, the first one is if you visit all five boroughs on your tour you score an extra seven points. The remaining three rules will take some more explaining. These correspond to the Central City, the Soloist, and the Ferry.
Central City:
Central City gives the players another way to score one additional wild. This is achieved by filling all five locations surrounding Central City. Immediately after doing this, you get to place a wild anywhere on the map in an empty location.
Soloists:
New York adds a set collection section of four instruments; saxophone, microphone, drums and guitar. Every card played will feature one of the boroughs with a soloist symbol. If this borough is chosen as the location then you mark that symbol with the number.
At the end of the game, you cross off one spot on the bottom soloist chart per symbol marked along your route. Each of the four soloists will score based on the last section crossed off. If you manage to create a route with six of one instrument you will gain 16 points.
Ferry:
To travel across the boroughs you will need a ferry (unless you are travelling from Queens to Brooklyn). Each location either has an opaque white or transparent border. The opaque white represents a landlocked area which the ferry cannot connect to, where the transparent ones are connectable.
Ferry connections can be created when either one of the two ferry cards are revealed from the deck, or the three middle cards will each contain the same boroughs. When this happens players can skip their normal turn (no writing numbers) and instead create a ferry from one connectable location to another connectable location. This location doesn't need to be filled out already.
New York Thoughts:
- I love the bonus wild.
- Ferries are great. They are also an exciting way to skip the turn if the dice are not in your favour.
- The card separation feels much more exciting than directions.
New York is easily the hardest On Tour map to understand but it has a lot of excitement and puzzles going for it. There is a great spread of boroughs throughout the cards, a bonus challenge of soloist, an extra wild, and a tense map that forces you to spread the numbers and utilise ferries in an interesting way. This map is best enjoyed by the veteran players.
Paris:
The Paris map has fewer rule changes than New York but that doesn't make it any less challenging. Paris is a tighter map with more frequent zig zags needed to create a successful tour. There are two interesting changes with this map; the docks and the locations no longer being denoted by abbreviations.
Locations:
Instead of the locations being denoted by specific abbreviations like the original game, it is instead denoted by Roman numerals. Each numeral covers two locations close to each other to create more opportunities for those coveted circled card locations.
Docks:
There is a separation of the north and south section in the form of a river, however, players can use docks to continue their tour. Each dock can only be used once and will not interrupt the numerical flow of the tour. Players also gain more points by having a wider span between the connecting docks. For example, dock B to D would be worth two points and C to I would be worth six points.
Paris Thoughts:
- Very forgiving with the docks if you mess up one plan you can reroute where your dock is going before the end of the game.
Paris is a challenging map as it is quite a restricted map, or it at least feels this way when you play. To be successful you have to create a tour that zig zags its way both up and down the north and south areas. The good news about this map is its very forgiving in two aspects; the circled locations, as well as the ability to redirect where your docks are going before the end of the game. In fact, due to the way the locations are set, it is very easy to redirect your plan constantly as you play. If you like the maps that tend to be tighter like the Europe map in the original game then this is one you will enjoy. Maybe give it a couple of tries first to wrap your head around.
Final Thoughts:
- Unique concepts and game mechanisms explored.
- I prefer the New York map over Paris.
This is an easy final thoughts as both of the maps have already been reviewed in detail in their own sections. All I really have to say is that like the base game, this version is a perfect addition to my collection as it is suited for the more advanced players or fans of the original game. Both maps add great twists and unique elements to their puzzles that I would love to see Allplay explore with more maps down the line.
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