Tag: Paper and Pencil

Games with a Paper and Pencil mechanic typically require players to take notes of actions during a game to keep track of resources and scoring.

Green Team Wins

| OTSG Staff

The game is played over 15 rounds, where players will simultaneously answer one question at a time.

There are three types of questions: Fill in the Blank, This or That, and Multiple Choice. To set up the game, randomly choose 5 cards from each type and shuffle them.

Everyone will be asked the same question, then writes down their responses at the same time. All players with the winning answer join the Green Team and score points. If your answer is not the most popular among the other players, then you join the Orange Team and score zero points for that round. Players joining the Green Team from the Orange Team will score one point. Players who are on the Green Team and stay on it will earn two points.

But it’s not about having the best answer, or the smartest answer, or the funniest answer. Only the most popular answer wins – the one that the most players at the table wrote down.

To win, get on the Green Team, stay on the Green Team, and win – because that’s what the Green Team does. They win.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 12 Players
  • 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.05

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

| OTSG Staff

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write is a roll-and-write version of the critically-acclaimed game Dinosaur Island.

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write is a unique game in which players draft dice and then use those drafted dice as workers in a worker placement phase. Then, a fun polyomino puzzle ensues as you try and fit all your attractions and Dinosaurs into your park while buildings roads and routes to the exits for bonus points. At the end of the game, have more victory points than your opponents to win!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Network and Route Building
  • Open Drafting
  • Paper-and-Pencil
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.84

Decrypto

| OTSG Staff

Players compete in two teams in Decrypto, with each trying to correctly interpret the coded messages presented to them by their teammates while cracking the codes they intercept from the opposing team.

Each team has their own screen, and in this screen they tuck four cards in pockets numbered 1-4, letting everyone on the same team see the words on these cards while hiding the words from the opposing team. In the first round, one team member from each team takes a code card that shows three of the digits 1-4 in some order, e.g., 4-2-1. They then give a coded message using synonyms of the code words so that their teammate can guess the sequence. If the teammates guess incorrectly, the team receives a black mark of failure.

Subsequent rounds have the same structure, except now the other team can attempt to guess your code. If they’re correct, they receive a white mark of success; if not, then the first team must guess the number correctly or take a black mark of failure. (Guessing correctly does nothing except avoid failure and give the opposing team information about what our hidden words might be.)

The rounds continue until a team collects either its second white mark (winning the game) or its second black mark (losing the game). Games typically last between 4-7 rounds. If neither team has won after eight rounds, then each team must attempt to guess the other team’s words; whichever team guesses more words correctly wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Communication Limits
  • Paper and Pencil
  • Team-Based Game

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 8 Players
  • 15 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.83

Clever Cubed

| OTSG Staff

Clever Cubed is a fun dice rolling game, where you’ll carefully choose dice to place them in matching colored areas to hopefully create chain-scoring opportunities! But be careful when you go big – your opponents can use your discarded dice if their value is lower than your chosen dice. May the cleverest player win!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Paper and Pencil
  • Re-rolling and Locking
  • Solo / Solitaire Game

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.38

Anarchy, The 🟠

| OTSG Staff

At the end of 1135, Henry I, King of England, died unexpectedly leaving no male heir to reign in his stead. Henry’s daughter, Empress Matilda, believed she should rule by succession. However, the late king’s favorite nephew, Stephen de Blois (“blue-a”), was quicker to the throne, and with the help of his brother, the Bishop of Winchester, was crowned king.

Those loyal to the empress were enraged by Stephen’s coronation and would not accept him as their new ruler. Over the next eighteen years, England saw a breakdown in law and order as civil war spread throughout the country. This conflict came to be known as “The Anarchy”…

In The Anarchy, players take on the role of English nobles loyal to King Stephen. Over five rounds, players must build their domain, defend their castle from attacks by the approaching Angevin armies, and storm strongholds loyal to Matilda with their own crafted siege weapons. The player who can accumulate the most bravery, loyalty, influence and might — while avoiding discontent — will prove to King Stephen they are his most loyal ally, thereby earning his largest earldom.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 4.00

Cartographers Heroes

| OTSG Staff

The expedition to the Western Lands is the kind of honor that comes once in a lifetime for a royal cartographer. But these are dangerous times. War ravages the land, and you are sure to encounter Dragul forces determined to thwart Queen Gimnax’s plans for western expansion.

Fortunately, brave heroes have risen to the defense of Nalos. Chart their deeds alongside the queen’s edicts and secure your place in history.

Cartographers Heroes is the sequel to the critically acclaimed map-drawing game Cartographers. It includes all-new map sheets, scoring cards, explore cards, and ambush cards with unique abilities.

Cartographers Heroes can be played on its own or mixed with components from the original game for a greater variety of gameplay possibilities.

Game Mechanics:

  • Paper-and-Pencil
  • Pattern Building
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Take That
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 100 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Cartographers

| OTSG Staff

Queen Gimnax has ordered the reclamation of the northern lands. As a cartographer in her service, you are sent to map this territory, claiming it for the Kingdom of Nalos. Through official edicts, the queen announces which lands she prizes most, and you will increase your reputation by meeting her demands. But you are not alone in this wilderness. The Dragul contest your claims with their outposts, so you must draw your lines carefully to reduce their influence. Reclaim the greatest share of the queen’s desired lands and you will be declared the greatest cartographer in the kingdom.

In Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale, players compete to earn the most reputation stars by the time four seasons have passed. Each season, players draw on their map sheets and earn reputation by carrying out the queen’s edicts before the season is over. The player with the most reputation stars at the end of winter wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Paper-and-Pencil
  • Pattern Building
  • Solo / Solitaire Game
  • Take That
  • Variable Set-up

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 100 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.87

Battletech: Beginner Box

| OTSG Staff

In this introduction to the BattleTech game and universe, players each take control of one giant walking war machine (a BattleMech, aka ‘Mech) and battle until one is destroyed or until the scenario objectives being played are completed.

BattleTech is the world’s greatest armored combat game, filled with a myriad of epic stories and gaming experiences to satiate any player: miniatures to RPG play, hobby painting to fiction, and beyond. The BattleTech Beginner Box is the first step on that fantastic journey and includes everything you need to get started: two high-quality miniatures, quick-start rules, a mapsheet, cards to represent your MechWarrior’s unique skills, dice, and more.

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 2 Players
  • ~120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.43

Baseball Highlights: The Dice Game

| OTSG Staff

Baseball Highlights: The Dice Game takes all the excitement of Baseball Highlights: 2045 and turns it into a thrilling dice game! Score the most runs by drafting the best dice and stringing together powerful combos! Slowly set up the base runners with singles, and then hit a grand slam, or steal bases to sneak your runners home! The rolls of the dice make each round a whole new ball game. Everyone gets to play even when it’s not their turn, so the strategic thinking never ends! Dust off home plate, get out your leather glove, and PLAY BALL!

Baseball Highlights: The Dice Game is played with a set of 9 Play dice, 6 Power dice, 1 Pitcher’s die, a game board, and a game sheet for each player.

Each round the active player will roll the Play dice and any Power dice they have unlocked to place them each of the matching 6 board areas. Then, the active player will select one of these 6 areas and will use the dice from that area to cross off boxes in the matching track on their player game sheet. Once they are done, the inactive players select 1 die from 2 different areas to cross off 2 boxes in the matching tracks on their game sheets.

Marking off boxes in the 6 tracks (and the bonus Clutch Hits track) will place new runners on base and advance your existing runners for singles, doubles, triples, home runs, walks, and stolen bases. Each time you advance a base runner to home, you will score 1 run. The player who scores the most runs by the end of the game wins. But be careful, the result on the Pitcher’s die may remove some of your base runners before they can score!

Baseball Highlights: The Dice Game is for 1 to 4 players ages 8 and up. Average game length is 20 minutes with mostly simultaneous play.

Contents: 1 Game Board, 25 Sheet Baseball Scorepad, 16 Custom Dice, 1 Rulebook, 16 Wooden Markers

-description from publisher

Baseball Highlights: The Dice Game is Game #26 in the Gryphon Bookshelf Series of Games.

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Twilight Inscription

| OTSG Staff
Twilight Inscription

Twilight Inscription

The Lazax Empire has burned to ash, rejected by its subjects. The aftermath was tragedy and petty conflict in equal measure, a time of loss and exhaustion. In the ensuing Dark Years, the factions of the galaxy retreated and recovered their strength. Now, they look upon the stars and see an opportunity—a chance to reclaim what was lost. A chance to redefine galactic civilization. A chance to leave their mark upon the stars.

Twilight Inscription, an epic roll-and-write game for one to eight players, offers an experience unlike anything Fantasy Flight Games has done before. With a limited pool of resources at your disposal, you’ll need to carefully manage Navigation, Expansion, Industry, and Warfare as you amass victory points and earn your right to the throne on Mecatol Rex. Will your faction become the new rulers of the galaxy? Or will your fledgling empire fade into obscurity? Anything can happen in this strategic, infinitely-replayable game!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Paper and Pencil

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 8 Players
  • 90 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 3.16