Welcome to Meeple to Meeple, uniting players around the world. A 30 minute exploration of TJ and Gareth's four-game experiences from across both sides of the Atlantic. Each episode they share their thoughts and opinions on the world of four games, including their favorite themes, games, hot topics, and much, much more. Hey, and welcome to Episode 98, Parallel Flippin right and Rollin right games inspired by our guests today, we're really
excited to introduce them. But before that, I remain PJ. And I am still Gareth. You are still Gareth and it's good to see you. It's. Two weeks, the bounce, we're together as well. I know. You know it was. Hey, as long as you stop going on vacation, we'll always be together. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I want to introduce our wonderful guest who inspired the topic of this episode and that is our friend Tara at Tara's Tabletop. You have all known her as Tara's
Bad Luck Club recently. Tara, how are you? I'm good. How are you doing? Fantastic. I'm excited to see you. We were talking just before the episode how it's been over a year since we've seen each other in real life. Too long. Yeah, we missed each other at Gen. Con because I was an idiot and only went for one day. That's. Honestly, brave of you. There's so much going on. I feel like I don't know, going for one day is like just a tease. Totally it. Was a definite torture. He's tortured.
Yeah. It's just. It's just yeah, self-inflicted. Oh yeah. Absolutely. So you had a post recently about and you have to walk me through this again and remind me, but it had something to do with the the trend in gaming about having parallel rolling right games or flipping right games or something. Yes, I have recently been comparing games to their rolling right or flipping right or verb and right as a company known as on our parts.
But yeah, there's definitely been like a trend where even like older games, like well, older the Grand Austria Hotel just recently came out with society. So just even like re implementing older games, I think trying to bring some life back into the game if it's been, you know, kind of like off the scene for a minute. So why don't we start with tell our listeners how long you've
been a gamer. What was the first game that got you into the way I say it with people is the modern board gaming hobby and just give us a little back, a little background on you. Yeah, so I guess I mean, like most people have been playing games my whole life, but you know, Pictionary was our family game and my friends and I played a lot of category and stuff like that. It was actually when I first moved to Austin about nine years ago, a friend of mine came over and brought a Catan.
And I was the first time playing like the more modern game. And I was like, OK, I love this. And then, you know, it became the thing like, oh, we should get together more often and play. And that never happens. Like that whole like, yeah, yeah, see you soon, see you soon. And then from there, I played Ticket to Ride, which Ticket to Ride has had like a huge impact.
I wouldn't say that's the game that necessarily got me into gaming, but that is where my friends and I started saying Choo Choo to pass our turn when we were finished doing. And now we use that in every game we play. When we're finished our turn, we say Choo Choo to pass our turn. And I've passed it on to more people since then.
Like I've played with like other people in different cities and States and like the next time I play with them, they're still saying Choo, Choo. So that's been a lot of fun. But anyway, it was definitely during the pandemic when everyone was kind of like getting there, like they're safe groups together, like where they would be like the only people
that they saw. My friends and I started playing then and a friend of mine brought over Dyster and actually, and I played that and destroyed my one friend in it. And I was like, OK, I love this. And after that I went to like my one local game store and was like, OK, I think I'm hooked. I need more. And then after that, it's been like, I don't know, I don't know if it's been a downward spiral or upwards. I don't know if it's good or bad, but the amount of games I've accrued and played since
then has like, it's been a lot. So yeah, I think I usually accredit dice thrown as being like the game that really started like the full momentum. Do you prefer games with dice or is that? So I do like dice. Like it's definitely gotten to the point now where like, like I'm a big Feld fan. Castles of Burgundy is my favorite game. So yeah, I would say I do. I do like games with dice, but I do like games with like that has
like luck mitigation too. So it's not just pure luck, although I do like push your luck and stuff. So it kind of depends, but I don't like games that are just like usually solely luck based. I don't know, kind of depending. It depends how quick they play too. Like I don't like longer games that are just super lucky and dice based, but yeah. What was your first your first rolling right or flip and right that you? Remember that I you're probably welcome to. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Good entry. Yeah, yeah. Solid entry. Well, let me ask you this. What about Yahtzee? Oh my gosh, I actually was just back home. I'm from Philly originally, and I was back home last summer and my aunt was over at my momma's house and she brought out Yahtzee. And I was like, oh, can you tell me how to play? And she was deeply offended. She was like, who doesn't know how to play Yahtzee? And I was like, I don't know how to play Yahtzee. So yeah, I just relearned that.
I haven't played it since I was a kid. Yeah, same. I can assume that me and my cousins or siblings were not playing it right, like we were probably just rolling dice and doing whatever, but that's not like I didn't know what a full house was. Right, right. Yes, I haven't played that for years, but one like grandparents taught us, we played, we played it a lot, but we haven't got a copy our fond memories. Maybe it's not as good as I remember.
No, just I don't. Know, I don't know, it's kind of like Monopoly at this point. Like I work part time at my like local game store and they just got in. I think Dragon Ball Z Yahtzee, they have Hello Kitty Yahtzee. They have like anything you can think of. There's a Yahtzee version. It's like Uno Uno Yahtzee monopoly. I think, and I'm sure one of our listeners will correct me on this, I think that Yahtzee is the original rolling right or the 1st rolling right.
I think so, yeah. I think so, yeah. I mean, there are other games that are like rolling move but not rolling, right? I don't think recently I think it is. I think so. I'm sure. I'm sure there's others, but that's the one that internationally we do recognize from all. Right. I mean, I'm talking yeah, 30 years ago plus now. Well, apparently if you go on vacation, if you go on vacation, all anyone ever plays is Uno, right?
Seriously, I this morning, you know, I'd come into it was on holiday and everyone's playing Uno and then I, one of my friends birthdays today in a picture on his, his Facebook, his family on holiday and what was on their table, you know, but Barbie, you know that as well. Oh, that's adorable, actually. Great pink but. That, that's great. I have AI have a friend here in Springfield who hates Yahtzee and he doesn't hate Roland rights, modern Roland rights. He enjoys me.
He really doesn't like Yahtzee. So we have a running joke at every Christmas and on his birthday we find different unique versions of Yahtzee and we get it to him for his birthday. He's got this massive collection of a game that he hates. That's funny. Unopened. Right back on, Roland writes in. He'll flip out. Or flippin rights. So welcome to was your first and do you still do you still play? Welcome to. Oh, I love Welcome To so much.
I don't play it as much as I would like to, but I mean, I think that just comes with the territory of owning so many games. I do sometimes go to playing it like solo on BGA if I'm just like, looking to play something. I don't usually play it solo in real life though. But yeah, I just actually pulled out Welcome to the Moon last night, restarted the campaign because I like halfway through. I just reset that and just played the first game. But yeah, I really do like Welcome To.
I have not played Welcome to Vegas, but I do like, I think Welcome To and Welcome to the Moon. I like New York perfect games. I love them so much. So tell me about Welcome to the Moon. We've been eyeballing it for some time and it's like, you know what? What makes the stand apart? Why should I get it? Why should I go buy a copy of my local game store? So first of all, it is a dry
erase. They do sell dry erase sheets for Welcome To, but it's like separate, it doesn't come with it. So yeah, it's dry erase. There's eight different maps, so you have like a plethora of things to choose from. The campaign walks you through how to play each of the maps, but it basically just kind of, I don't know, it's just a lot more options I guess.
Although Welcome To does have like the different, it has the different sheets that you can buy, like it has like the ice cream truck one, it has the Halloween one, the like Easter or spring one, I guess. So there are different ones that you can buy, but most of them I think are out of like print. So like you can find them some places. They're not usually that expensive, but still it's like you kind of have to seek them out. They're like readily available. But yeah, I don't know.
I just think that the way they do it with Welcome to the Moon is really interesting because like each map, it's uses the same cards, so the same like flip cards for all of them, but they're just like the way you use them is different. So it's just like, I don't know, a lot of fun like in this one, like having the pink one might do something bad and then this
one, the pink 1 might be good. So it's like it just changes from to and it's all kind of like thematic to what the map is doing, whether you're, you know, like in the spaceship taking off, whether you're like colonizing the moon, like whatever you're doing. So I just like how it changes and it's like a different game with. Got to say, welcome to just being written down to go and
play again, back to games. Haven't played for a while, forgotten how good that game is. We've got all those maps and it's yeah, that needs a revisit. We we, we played a game of that through video conferencing. We did the early days. Yeah, it was Katie and I, and then it was you and your wife and then several other friends from Southampton. It was like probably like 8 or 10 of us playing. That was, that was interesting. We should do that again.
We should did. You did you just have like a camera on the cards or how did you? Camera down the table I think. We had, we had one looking down the table and then you had your phone you were using to look overhead at the cards so that we could. Yeah, we had two accounts connected. I think we had Instagram. It's like a like a group chat. That's cool. Yeah, it's more challenging when you have flipping rights are more difficult to do through video conferencing for that very reason.
Yeah, because you have to see the cards. Whereas rolling dice, I could just roll the dice and tell you what the numbers are and and they work out. So, yeah, but we got to play. Welcome to again, definitely. Noted. And let me know if you guys play together, I'd be down, OK? Yes, yes, maybe we could have a listener listen. We could have, you know, up to 99 players. Isn't it? Well, I'm getting stressed. Maybe we could stream it through through the podcast. We can have a podcast special.
Anyway, we're going off. We're on a tangent. A Maple to Maple rolling right of welcome to I love that that's. Great Christmas special. There we go. There we go, right? There you go, right? So Choo Choo. Seriously, I've written down Choo Choo in capitals and it's it's starting this week at games night. I love that. We used to actually, we themed it to like what game we were playing. So if we were playing like a fighting game, we'd be like Pew, Pew. And like, we always try to make
it rhyme. But it got to a point where we just like, I don't know what's thematic for them. So we just like Choo. Choo was just easy. Yeah. Yeah, I said. I feel like that's great because it lets us know, OK, I'm done talking. Yeah, turn. Yeah, it does happen when I'm, if I missed, is it is it my go? No, no, no, it's not my go. But it's all quiet and I'm sitting there thinking, have I missed it?
So PJ, we're going to talk about, I guess parallel, which I've not heard it called that, but it's where there's a there's a Big Brother or big sister ball game. And then they've made a, an equivalent in the role and write. And I was trying to think where there's any, any reverse, but I couldn't come up with any. Like 2 Taurus got one. Have you? And actually, but just I, I don't even know if it's in Kickstarter yet, but it's coming. Railroad Inc just announced that you're right.
Board game, yeah. It's on Kickstarter now. Yes, that's the tile version of this. Yes, that is 1. Yes, that's the only one I have. OK, yeah, no, I sat there looking, looking through the collection. What surprised me is just from my own collection, there's nine where I have like the war game and either a card or dice game, profession and flip or write or, you know, roll and write. So I've, I've picked a couple of my favourites. I think Cajun, PJ, you've done the same. I did.
Yeah. Where did? Where did I have? Well, I've got, I've got just 7 in my collection. It's pretty good, nearly as many. And I just picked 1. So I'm only prepared to talk about one because I want to, you know, shine on Tara because this was kind of her, you know, she was the inspiration for all this. But go ahead. What you got? Well, I was just going to say I haven't played through all of mine yet or like I'm still acquiring and working through
them. So I'm working. I don't I can't say how many I had before I started doing this because I would have to like sit here and think and come through. But sure, definitely like acquired a bunch since being like and this is going to be something I think. So yeah. I'm just glancing through really quick. I probably have at least 20 versions of either both the game or one at the end. Yeah, yeah. OK. So let that's a good place to start.
So you're you're actively seeking to acquire all of these parallel rolling rights? Yes. I so talk to us a little bit about that. Yeah, some of them I'm trying to borrow, but yes, yeah, basically I I did find a list on Board Game Geek that has like, gosh, I don't even know like hundreds of rolling rights and been I've been going through that and I've been finding a lot that rolling right or like they're rolling rights that were made after the
board games. I'm trying to think there's some games I haven't even heard of, like Skyline Express was one of them. And it's been kind of like difficult to find. But I turned out Dice Hospital has a rolling right version, which is funny because Dice Hospital is like already a dice game. But I mean, I guess that's kind of like the natural transition. But yeah, there's like a dice game too, for a Class of the Burgundy, which I was like, I love Class of the Burgundy so
much. I haven't played that one yet. But yeah. So anyway, it's just been like interesting to see like which games they've chosen to make into Roman rights. I asked my wife what her favorite was and that's out of out of my list. Castle Burgundy, the dice game, was her number one. Oh, really? So it's worth it's good What? Can you tell me like what changes between them? Like what makes it? Nothing except you. It's the same. It's the same, all the same
rules. The dice are rolled and then you'll pick in a colour and I think it's a zone. So you've basically got different districts you're trying to fill up, but you've got adjacencies. You have to build next to your last, last square. Next you filled in. Then you score points as you complete a territory first. It's very similar mechanics, but it was obviously it's 1015 times faster.
So yeah, it's really satisfying. And there's, I think there's two boards, so the packs, there's an A side and AB side. So a game, you've got two different variations on the map. But if you want a quick fix of Castles of Burgundy, there's the dice game and there's also the cards game, which we also own.
So it's very similar to, you know, it's taking the core mechanics and and making it work, which I guess is what the parallel thing's all about is taking right the core of the game and then making it different enough that we that we want to buy it right or at least play it. So calling back to one of your first games, Tara, which was also one of mine as well, how about Catan? Have you played Catan dice game? I have not. It is on my list on I've almost gotten it a few times when I
found people. I've been trying to get games like second hand versus buying them new. And every time I go to buy one from someone on board game Geek or something, then it's like the game. Like I've found the Catan rolling right for $5 and then shipping is $8. So then I think I'm like, oh. Yeah. So that's like the biggest thing that's been holding me back. But no, I have not played it yet. We we had a copy and just, I think we, we didn't really, I don't know, it didn't do
anything new. And so we ended up selling it. It was just like, well, I could play Catan. So we sold it. That was a long time ago, but yeah. I guess that's a test though, isn't it? It's it's if the the Daiso flip and write version is different enough that it stays in the collection and gives you either a new experience or translates well from. Yeah. From the core game to the other. I mean, I guess that goes to the point of like, what is the purpose of a rolling, right?
Like is it to make a new game or is it to make the original game compact so you can like take it places? Like does it really need to do something different always? Or like can it just be more I? Guess I think Isle of Cats for me is that so we've got Isle of Cats the the full game and we have it's a flip and flip and write, isn't it Explorer it's. Yeah, Explorer and write I think.
We haven't opened the big game since because Upheaval sets we so we always play the flip and write version just because of setup time and it's the speed to having. It's the same. It is the same game. It's the same fix, Yeah. To me, I think that's the first game I played that was a RE implementation of the game already played. And I got it only because my local game store had like a surplus of it, so they were selling it like at a discount to get rid of it.
And I was like, yeah, sure. And then, yeah. But anyway, we played that and we were like shanked. We were like, this is actually so good. So yeah. So is your personal mission right now that you're a project you're undertaking, is it about the parallel rolling rights or is it about rolling rights in general for you personally? So I love like all rolling rights. I'm not like opposed to playing them. My friend just found one recently that's like a print and play one, but the name of it.
So like I'm not opposed to playing like any rolling right. But just right now, like I just, I just have been realizing how many versions there were that they were like translating and thought it was like interesting. You know, for some people it's a better price point. It's like what I've noticed is for like, say Lost Cities and Patchwork and stuff, it goes from being a two player game to being like a six player game. And like I said to you, like you can take them with you anywhere.
So it's like something like it becomes something that you can do when you're just like hanging out with friends at a coffee shop or a brewery or whatever. So just kind of like just. I don't know. I just thought it was interesting and some people just might want to know, like, what's the difference? Like what am I getting into? What am I losing by buying the rolling, right versus like the board game? What am I gaining?
So yeah. So do you right now have a favorite that you're really enjoying playing a lot? I think like gosh, I don't know about a favorite. We did just really enjoy patchwork and one more. So it's like, well, first of all, patchwork is like my favorite game you saw recently, but I am like 8 or 9 cap
basically don't even know. So I love Patrick like so much, but I did really like the flipping right like or I guess it's a rolling right, flipping right, but it's just kind of like we pulled out colored pencils and took our time playing and like had fun. My daughter like she made hers like each shape. She was like, ah, this one's
kind of like a hot dog, I guess. So she like drew it like a hot dog where I was like, I was just doing like patterns, like a quilt, but it was just kind of it was just like coloring and like who doesn't like coloring? So that one was just kind of more relaxing, I guess. Another one I've been playing a lot on BGA, but I also got it in person and I've played several times in person, but kind of Tacano color, like the Taco that they made it to. It is good.
The paper's kind of thin and the markers are like a little strong. So it's like kind of like not tearing through, but it's kind of like it's kind of a little rough I think as like rolling, right? Also, the markers are diced and like they just kind of roll wonky. And I do like playing on Bgia lot though, and I do think the game is good. It's good. I like the game. It's cute. It's kind of rated bad on BGG. But honestly, I like it, like it. It's nothing crazy thinking and heavy.
And I think people like, you know, that big comboy aspect of rolling rights, but I don't know, I think it's nice. Yeah. I'm trying to think of what else I've been playing that I've really been enjoying. It's like the big the biggest one I think or the biggest 2 I guess. So it's patchwork and taka no colour, Taka no colour, taka no colour I guess. Yeah, I don't know how to say that. I'm sorry. I'm butching it. So, so Gareth, you've you've chosen one, what's a favorite in
your collection? So it's quite difficult. I like heavier ball games. So out of out of the list I picked up, I have gone for the the RE implementation or the implementation of Fleet fondly now. And there's then Fleet the dice game keeping it simple. So we bat Fleet originally. That's a good question. What here is that 2012 on the Kickstarter and then to Tara's Points six years later outcomes Fleet the dice game.
So it's got 2 sheets, so you know, already got double the complexity because you've got 2 sheets to look after. But again, taking the core mechanics of your basically gathering, you are launching chips, should I say? You're using those ships to fish for different types of fish and it's just combo tasket looking for ways to score points through different tracks. And you've got the markets where you can get extra points for like kind of set collection kind
of thing. It definitely scratches my itch every time I play. We're looking for a YEAH medium complexity roll and write. Nice. Good production. Yeah, I feel like that is one that's like you always see Fleet the dice game and you rarely see Fleet the board game, so. Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen it in the wild. Yeah, I don't think I'm either. Which makes me think I should go and try playing it because it's on the shelf just, but again, that may be one where the fleet
dust game just gives me the fix. And actually do I need to have the the card version, which is your set up time? You've got to lay it out. It's space hungry because there's loads of cards on the table. So it's that, you know, it's, it's a very quick implementation. But again, Roland writes different settings, often uses a filler. This one we we play as a game. So it's a, you know, it's a good half an hour, 45 minutes. But yeah, that was on my list.
Highly recommend it. Yeah, the expansion's worth getting as well, and he's ranked about 583 at Ball ball game, gig games, which I. Didn't know it's how high that's all set. Yeah, it's pretty respectable game. I think it's in print now saying these. Things about recommending games, I think, no, I love Fate, the dice game. I think that was like one of the first heavier ones that I played and I was like not expecting all of that from Roland, right. And I was like, I'm sorry, what is this?
But yeah, just keeping track of the combo. Sometimes it's like. Yeah, yeah, I'm doing stars, but I haven't taken that bonus yet. And then and I think I mean of the series, there's then three sisters, similar kind of twin mechanic, Motor City and. Motor City and French Quarter. French Quarter have the same design base, but yeah, I think Fleet's my favorite still. So y'all just went down the list of 25th century games, yeah? Right. Good stuff just killed off motor.
City, Yeah. But they those haven't got a, haven't got a no. Parallel. So that's why they're not on my list but. I do like Fleet a lot, however, I like the theme for Three Sisters, so that makes me go back to Three Sisters more than Fleet just because, well, I'm also vegan, so catching fish is not yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like at the top of my list, but I do. It is a very solid game and yeah. Three sisters would be would be my second or we love three sisters. That's good.
It's a lovely. Year, absolutely. Yeah, that's one of our favourites. As well PJ, I mean, I've got some others I'll cover later, some honourable mentions. I've already done one of those which was Castle Burgundy dice game which was carries, but what about? So the one that I chose because again, I have like seven of them and you've already named like. Five of them I hate to help. Yeah, you're going to get them
all. But I think even mention really quickly that is the Lost Cities rolling, right? Yeah. Now Lost Cities 1999 is when it came out. Yeah. And that's the version we have. So when when Katie and I were dating, right, we were still in Graduate School, for my birthday, she bought me my very first 2 two player games, right? She she bought me Lost Cities and she bought me Caesar and Cleopatra. But lost Cities. We play that at least three times a week.
It hits the table right and we really love the rolling right because I think you mentioned it, you can expand beyond the two player. One of the Lost Cities is interestingly enough, the only game that we've brought to work and it played during our lunch break. It's not something that we do. I know a lot of gamers bring games to work and play them on a lunchtime and, you know, we wrestle with how do I get a game in? I got like a 30 minute lunch break and 15 minutes of that is
me eating. And then I've got a, you know, it's like we don't have a lot of time for a game. But Lost Cities Rolling Right is the only game we've ever brought to work to play during lunch, and there's a couple other gamers in our building who have come down to our office and we played it and it's really great. It does a really good job of capturing the theme, but does something a little bit different than Lost Cities does, and I really enjoy that game a lot.
Cosmos just knocks it out the park every time. Yeah, that's, I don't know if you know too, or if you've ever played the board game of Lost Cities. I have not played the board game, no. Have I? I didn't. Know it existed and I played lost cities on BGA with Dana from better mood better mood board game and well it's like we're talking about anyway. But I after we played it on BGA
I was like I love this. So I went on my Facebook group which we have like a super active Facebook group in Austin for like buying and selling board games and find a copy of lost cities was like great went and got it and I was like this box is huge for what this game was like. Am I misremembering it? And then I opened it and it was a board game and I was like, OK, even know that this is the thing. So we played through it and it is fun because it does make it 4 player.
So it does like boost the PowerPoint too, but it is like super fiddly. You have these like little tokens that you have to set out and then it's like the card game where you play it three times. So it's like constantly resetting, shuffling and like doing all that. So that was the only thing I didn't really like is that it just kind of was like a nuisance to set up for what the game was.
But yeah, I think that the rolling right really fixes that where it it still gives you everything that you need, but it's not as like tedious for no reason. It does, and it's got six colors. Lost City says 5 unless you get the promo which gives you the 6th color. So yeah, I kind of, I kind of like that. Newer one because my board is double sided and it has so often the colors. Oh, you got the fancy. Version. Sure, yeah. Yep. You know, we were talking about we did AI art last week.
That's another game that didn't. The two player version of Lost Cities didn't change, but the artwork upgraded. They just, you know, so yeah, but I love Lost City. So Lost Cities are all right by Cosmos. That's my choice. Good choice. I don't own it, I've just put it into my wish list. Yep, Choo Choo. Choo Choo. Yeah, I really like the Lost City's rolling right. That's a good one. I do like I, I, I keep thinking like, I wish I had different maps to play, but I don't know
why. Like I feel like it does it good enough. Like I don't know why I feel like I want a different map for it. But yeah, that's a that's a solid, a solid implementation. I think of the card game, another one I just did recently that I thought was really good was Cascadia or not Cascadia. Sorry. Well, sorry, I have played Cascadia but not the run race yet.
I meant Cascadero, which their names are so similar so I keep mixing them up. But yeah, I love Cascadero as a board game, so that was one that I was really excited to play as a role in. Yeah, you that was one. I think that was your was that. Your first. Post. I think so. And that's when I reached out to you and said, hey, do you want to talk about this on the podcast?
And was like, yeah. Yeah, I've I've not played either the bait, the board game or the rolling right version of it. So tell us a little bit about
that. Yeah, so it's like the board game is just like, you know, classic like Reiner Caninsia, I guess, where you're just kind of like tile placement except for with little caravans and trying to make like there are some combos in it, which is another thing I've noticed like that, you know, you play some board games which are just like they feel like you're playing a rolling right with the combos that you have. You know, like you do one thing and it triggers like another action.
But that's kind of how that was. Like it just kind of made sense to transfer over into a rolling right. I think which also Speaking of like Milli Fiore, I don't know if you've played that, but that super plays like a rolling right as a board game. So I have a feeling that that one would be switched over to a rolling right but or flipping right, I guess. But anyway, yeah, so you're just
building caravans. You're trying to like make long chains, but it's also beneficial to kind of make short little chains so you can get bonuses like right away. That one does come with like 4 different maps and the rolling right too. And it does like a pretty solid
RE implementation. I think the board game is pretty interesting because like I played it first at two players and we just kind of were on our own sides of the board and there was no player connection, Which I do think can be almost the downside of some of his games because there's not like he doesn't like put things in to like make games tighter when you're playing at a lower player count.
So it it's almost like you're playing a multiplayer solitaire game even though you're playing on the same board because it doesn't force player interaction. But then I played it at 3 and it immediately was a lot tighter of a game. So it's like, it's crazy how it just changes with the player count like that. But yeah, on the rolling, right, you know, you're playing on your
own sheet. And there are things that like if you do something like other people have to cross it off on their sheet, But it's that one, like it just takes that game and splits it apart into a solitaire game. And I don't know, I think it does like a pretty decent job of breaking down. Like I said, it kind of was already like there as a board game where it did have its combo, so it just kind of like easily translated into that
rolling right version. That's another one written down on my list of games I didn't think I needed. But it looks, it does look beautiful. Yeah, the board game is still. Pretty. Yeah, I can't. Like it's so cute. I want so the game that I'm really interested in is High Society because I love Grand Austria Hotel. Huge fan, love it. Anytime it hits the table I'm happy. I didn't know there was a rolling right until you just mentioned it.
So tell me about high society. Yeah, so high society, I actually haven't played it in person. It's kind of hard to find right now. It came out and, you know, like you said, you love a grand officer hotel that has like a huge following, like a huge fan base. So yeah, that rolling rate sold out pretty quick. Like there are copies of it on like BGG and stuff and people selling it but I haven't broke
down and bought a copy yet. But I do play it a lot on BGA, so if you ever do want to play it, it is on there. That's. The way to go? Yeah, exactly. That is the way to go. But yeah, it's pretty interesting. It's really hard to judge a game when you've only played it on
BGA. I think it does like a pretty good job, like implementing it. You know, it still has like, the tracks that you go up. I can't realize that the general track that you go up and like, you have to get to a certain point where you score negative points. And yeah, it translates like pretty well, I think, over into because, you know, again, there's like dice already in the base game. So I feel like that makes an easy transition into a rolling right?
That's cool. I'm really excited about that. That's I've got to find it. Yeah, it's it's been a wish list. I've checked. It's OK in the UK, it's OK stock wise. It must be a Christmas gift. Yeah, I just bought a game from the UK. Actually they have The Walking and Burano dice game. Oh yeah, bought it from AI, couldn't find it like anywhere in the US and I bought it from a board game store in the UK. I'm just.
That's his, that's his commitment to the 'cause you're creating a small Museum of paradise. I love it. You'll soon have the largest collection of Twins board games globally. And yet what when you're looking at the games, how do you do you review them or give it criteria when you're comparing the original to the redesign? Kind of starting to happen, but no, not yet. Like it just couldn't be. It just was like a thing that I was starting to realize, like
how many versions there were. But I do think that like, I don't even know like what my criteria would be necessarily. Like I think I would have to sit down and really decide like what makes a rolling right, like worth it or good to me because like I recently played like Legran, huh? And I like dove all into that and got like the big deluxe box
that just came out. Like I hadn't played it before, but I was alcohol whatever you're like this is happening and I got pre-ordered it through my game store and got it. But yeah, I just got no Siesta, their rolling right version, and I haven't played it yet, but like I, you know, like that excitement of getting a new game. I took it out and I punched it and like got it ready. You have to sticker all of the dice in that game. Yeah. Yeah, I. Forgot. That.
Yeah, yeah. But one like reading the rules and stuff, I noticed there's so much to it. Like you have the board, you have the roof tiles, you have all of that. And I'm just like it. It is definitely a pared down version of Le Gran Ha by all means, but it's still so much game. So like, does that kind of take away the purpose of a rolling right? Like should it be more compact than that? Like does there need to be that many moving pieces? But like, I don't know.
So I kind of need to figure out like. Definitely worth the play. It's good, right? But you're right, it is heavier. It's we've got a copy and again, I've forgotten we had it, had it downstairs. So it hasn't been played for ages. But I think it's that same reason it it, it, it's a little bit more complex. There's a lot of different rules. Right. And like fleece the dyke game, you just pull out the sheets, RIP them off and start rolling dice.
Like there's not much to it. Like even Three Sisters has like the board and everything. Like, I don't know, right. Flea is just dice, right? Like there's nothing else to it, right? Yeah, yeah, I don't think there's anything else. So yeah, it kind of is like at what point does it lose that like charm and ease of being a rolling right, I guess. But I think these are questions worth asking, though. I think that's yeah. It's a bit like the it's the the either cat's piece.
It's there's something around how different is it to the to the original? Is that good or bad? Depends what you're looking for. Are you looking for the same invitation but quicker or is it enough that it's different? Because the other one I've got is Twilight Inscription, which is probably the the heaviest, most complex rolling rolling right that there is. Because it's based off it's I guess giant brother of Twilight Imperium, which is sort of the 10 hour marathon ball game that we own.
We play once a year. I actually have not played Twilight Imperium, but I have played Twilight Inscription a few times and even that, you know, it takes like. It's OK, we. Play like 2 hours I think. Yeah, yeah. But two? Two hours is better than 1010 or 13. And I hadn't played it when I got it before I'd played Twilight Imperium, so I had nothing to compare. Yeah, now I've now I've played both.
It does do it takes the again, the core mechanics and it is, it is different, but taking the exploration part. But that's one I have not played for well either. PJ, that's one we may be, you know. But we, we played it this year. But you're right, we haven't played that one. So it gets. That's one we should do, we should do, we should play that. We should have like a we should have a face off on Instagram, Tara and talking about our favorite rolling lights.
Yeah, just rolling lights as a whole. Yeah, because because we have a lot and they are it's a it's a good a good set of games that always sit at the table. Yeah, yeah. Any other any other games? Any games coming up apart from railroad tiles that you've heard about? I don't, I think so. I'm trying to remember. I'm trying to look at my list here. I mean, Cascadia just came out with I think too. They had like rolling rivers. And rolling hills rolling. Hills, yes.
Yeah. So I've started reading the rules for the rolling writes. I actually just played Cascadia for the first time the other day. I did borrow my friend's coffee. Yeah, but I did enjoy it. It was good. We played it super fast, which is nice. You know, it's hard to, I don't know, like I don't know if you guys have noticed either that like trend where everyone like wants to play like the heaviest, longest, hardest board games. And then like that point, I feel
like you go back the other way. Like, you know what, it is nice to just play games or play. So yeah, I'm kind of like at that point now where I'm just like, I just want to play some games and hang out with my friends that I don't have to be like, sorry, I'm locked in. Like, you know, where we can still chat and have them. So.
But yeah, Stadium with Globe. The other one we mentioned earlier before we started was obviously you've got rolling Realms from Stone Mire games, which is I think they're nearing 50 roll and right adaptations of Realms of Ball games, which take kind of the core essence of the game and squeeze it into the smallest one single card. Yeah, I'm impressed with how they're able to do that. Honestly. Like every time I play one, I'm just like, yeah, this makes
sense. Like, and it's crazy because it's just like one small thing from the game that they take. And I'm like, yeah, they really nailed like what made this game unique or like what it was about this game that stands all. That's when I teach it and I'm teaching it to gamers. I often teach that game to lots of non gamers because it's so accessible. But that that's the best bit is if they're played like Viticulture or Scythe, you're like, remember that bit? Well, that's all squeezed into
this one card. Yes, you never had to play Cypher game because there's your fix of up and down action. Is that one action? So Speaking of rolling realms, Jamie Sagmeyer did come out with a realm for obsession. Our favorite game that. Snuck it in again. I did segue. PJ Genius. I know, thanks. Thanks for the help there, buddy. That's no problem.
So when you when you roll the two dice in rolling realms, you either use a number that's higher than your current reputation, which starts at 1. So whatever die you roll, you can increase your reputation or you can use a number that's less than or equal to to your reputation to invite a guest and you mark it on the card. And that's obsession right there in a nutshell. So it's the reputation and the guests. There's no, there's no servants or anything, but still, yeah, there's obsession.
No, Yeah, I'll have. I did play that one. I forgot that I'd played it until you started describing it right there. Because we played it right after Gen. Con. We like opened it and my friend got like every package and had a Gen. Con. So we ripped them all open and organized his box, and I forgot that we had played the obsession one. But yeah, that one was. It's pretty solid. You're right, it doesn't absolutely like the horror of it
pretty well. And, and Gareth, I don't know if you realize this, but we are in the presence of royalty. Oh yes. Tell me more, Tell me more. So if you, when we're when we're done recording, go look at your obsession box, pull the game out, go through the guest cards. I think it's one of the prestige guests, but there's a lady Tara. Unbelievable. Yeah, she's get my card signs. Yeah. I think she's in like the the
cowl. I don't even know the names of it. The one that gives you that starts you off with reputation, which is my favorite. Cavender. Is it the cavender? Cavendash maybe, Yeah, that's the one that she's. Right now, you say, yeah, because we always read out the names as the family members as they join or as they leave or as they, you know, Yep, the prestige guests are not as part of the etiquette of absolutely welcome to the welcome to the family. I guess.
I mean, running Realms doesn't, I mean, that's, that's a series in its own right, isn't it? I mean, that is another hole. I did just see I did just get rolling realms read ups. I had the regular rolling realms Russian because it's still Michelle, but we'll be leaving soon and the new one. But they, I did, their packs are $5 each. And it's crazy when you add them to the cart and you feel like you're being modest and then all of a sudden your total is $200.
Yeah. So I did pair that back a bit. That was hard to whittle down, but I didn't. But they have a rolling Realms realm. Yeah, they do. Yeah. So yeah. I haven't. Have you played that one yet? Yeah, you have. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it it works. It does. I don't, I haven't played it, so can you tell me what that one does? I don't remember, isn't the one with the three dice PJ and you're? It is the. It's the three.
Dice, you're Yeah, I could never forget you're you're filling in the, you're filling in the size of dice. Yes. Oh, that's. Interesting. Yeah. The rest of the mechanics, I couldn't tell you now you put me on the spot. But it is meta within the meta.
Yeah, that's really funny. Yeah. That's a game that Katie and I regularly, we get together with Craig and Becky, get into games and misses, get into games and we video chat and we play rolling realms together, which is how the game was designed to be played, you know? So we do that a lot, but we don't all have the same realms because of all the add-ons. So it's like there's a lot of them. We just like, I've never played the obsession realm because Craig and Becky don't have that.
So it's like we can't, you know, but. Otherwise, yeah, but yeah, I mean, I, I mean, there are a lot of realms and I'd hate a lot of us now going because I think we've I'd missed the ones from last month that they're on their way currently. But the box, the red ox box is full. I mean, there's no space left so you have to re jig the box already. But I think that's it. After this, I think there's only a few more and it's finished. I really hope so.
Yeah, I think Jamie sort of said that that that is the end. I. Yeah. And yeah, yeah, maybe that's a series. Just go and get the the Big Brother and then talk about the card and how that distills down to that. One card, yeah. I've been wondering how to like do that because it's like I don't want to do, I don't want to consider like that a rolling right version of obsession. But like I agree. Yeah, I've been trying to figure out how to make that like it's own thing.
Yeah, it's own sub sub series. I think that we could approach Dan Halligan. I think that he could make a rolling right version of Obsession. I think one could be done. I think we could do it and it would be pretty good. Yeah, I'm just terrible at game design, so I'm just a big picture guy. I'll give you the ideas and you. May maybe it's already already on its way, yeah. Yeah, yeah, we should put.
Down back on the show, so I am so I was looking so things we haven't talked about the games that we have just mentioned. So there's TWA and there's TWA Tai. So that was I did mention that one. I don't know how to pronounce it. How do you say it? TWA. TWA. It's just TWA, OK. Yeah, I think the French speakers please destroy my pronunciation of there was Longshot. We don't know Longshot, but we have Longshot. The dice game, which one I favour is kind of large group
games. There's Raj of the Ganges and then Raj of the Dice Charmers I think it is, which is a nice. That's quite a complex 1. It is that one's good. Yeah, and then any other one was Imperial Settlers had one for Imperial Settlers Roll and Write, but that's one where the IT it felt there was a peak. I don't know how old that game is actually is. There was a point when that became really popular in a year to rush out roll and write
versions of games. There was a real fad at some point and that was one where it was rushed out it it's O OK Solo was quickly sold through. Actually, they've got an online app that plays it quite well. It's quite nice solo, but the actual game it you can just see it wasn't fully thought through. So that's one I don't I don't yeah, that we've sold it. We've just got the original just got the app that I use now, but that's one that's that's been must be.
It must have been in the collection so that that one needs to come off of this. But that was my ones. PJ, any other mentions on your side? I know you've hit all of them. I have no new ones in my collection to add. Yeah, we have got a list to buy some more because I have. Yeah. Yeah, I don't want to give away my like full list. No, no, don't. No, no. This is content. Yeah, this is my precious.
Future Content. Yeah, I'll just give you little Nuggets. But one of the big ones that just happened though that we can't fail to mention, I think is parks and the new parks rolling out that just came out. So I just said. That, yeah. I'm excited for that. Yeah. I don't know, Like, I feel like that one will be really good. I haven't heard the rules for it yet, but it is very cute.
My daughter and I were just like looking at the notebooks and stuff that come in and they just really made that really nice. Yeah, I've seen the announcement. I hadn't seen the artwork. It's lovely. I've just Googled it. I did get Imperial Settlers the dice game played or do not own Imperial settlers the board game so that is one that I need to and a new one I just discovered too is Woodcraft actually has a print and play role. Oh yeah. Yeah, that one.
My friend has a really nice printer, so he's printing for me, but I do have the board game, yeah. That's when I was looking through all the games with Board Game Geek. And. Looking through to see where I had the match and then Woodcraft came up and I was like. That's interesting. Yeah, I was pleased to see that it was a print and play too. I really, I think that's nice. OK, so what's? So what's next? How often do you post on
Instagram about? These I would like to post every day, but sometimes, you know, you just kind of get into like a little bit of a roll where I don't know, like recently I feel like my pictures haven't been picturing like I'm taking pictures and I'm like, why is this not like my vision's not coming to life here, which can sometimes be a hold up for me, but I am going to tour right now, though. I I don't first of all, I don't want to run through my list like
super quick. Like I want this to be just kind of like an ongoing like chill series. Like, OK, here's another one. Like I'm I've been trying to think of maybe like a hashtag or something, but then I'm like, am I or is like Instagram like inundated with different hashtags or things. So it's kind of like like that. And I also don't want to set myself to like a rigorous schedule that I don't like. I just kind of want it to be
like a natural thing. And then also like we were talking about like it being the spooky season for games. I also have like a huge list of like, you know, not like Halloween full like that kind of games and like moving into winter and stuff. So you know, I have like that I kind of want to post about two. I have some like review copies of games. So it's like just making it all fit. So I don't necessarily have like
a full schedule. I would I was kind of doing like trying to do weekly, but I think weekly is too much. I feel like I'll run through it too quickly. Weekly. So that was my question. Yeah, probably I would. I want to aim for like at least monthly, maybe bi weekly at the most frequent I guess. I mean having a hashtag hashtag makes it for that series would help help anyone who wants to follow that specific that's what
I need to I need. I need a hashtag that just focuses on like the rolling right portion and not the like, not like rolling right Wednesday or something like that because I don't want it to be a cadence. I want it to be just English time. For this, yeah, your own pace, right? Absolutely, yeah. When I get that I. Will let you know if I think of one that's snappy. But yeah, so right now I don't
have like a super plan. Like I said, it kind of just became like a thing and like I do need to make it. I have a feeling it's going to become a bit more like structured in the way that I'm like comparing the games, like you said, like kind of like a guideline of like what how they fit together. But yeah, so I don't have that fully fleshed on it yet. I feel like that's kind of developing as I realize how many, how many dualities there
are between that. And then finally, I've also discovered, like we were talking about with Castles of Burgundy, that there are also card versions of games too, as well as the rolling light version. So that's like a whole other beast. It's like this game, the card game, and yeah, so there's just like so many worlds out there of it's just never ending. So many. There's just so many. And we love them. We love them all. That's the problem, right?
Yeah. So to every few weeks I use AI to see it would so I just quickly asked our favorite friendly AI what we can have as a series. So flip the script board game re imaginations. It's quite nice. Well, from board to pen remakes of role and rights. That's that was a very straight quick prompts request. That's pretty cool, I never thought about using that. But yeah, you can have those. Yeah. Thanks. I'm going to write. That down I copy them out, paste
it in the. Chat. Yeah, I like flip the script up too. That was good. That was really good. I didn't think of that. And it this links last week's episode, which we've had a lot of discussion around which was the use of AI in board games and design and where it's a tool versus, I guess that replacement. Yeah. And. That's just an ID generation. And then here's another trend, right? So the trend is using AI and
art. Now we've got the trend of creating a parallel rolling right version of your game, right? So are we at that time? Are we I? Think we're that time where okay, you need to tell us what last weeks episode last week, episode last weeks. Last weeks voiceover. Voiceover was. Last yes last weeks voiceover was the game Garten bow. Yeah, which I've never heard of. Which you had never heard of. But Chris, Chris guessed it
correctly off air. So what I'm going to do, Tara, is I'm going to read an intro from a rolling right game. Although in all fairness is not a parallel. It's going to be kind of obvious, but I'm going to read it. I'll let you guess it, but we won't reveal it until next week to our listeners.
And so here we go. Welcome to the heart of New Orleans. You're in town for a weekend trip, with plans to spend your Saturday evening taking in as many of the city's unique sights and sounds as possible in a mere 8 hours. Whether it's the distinct food, the local culture, shopping hotspots, Mystic customs, or the vibrant nightlife, there's something to experience on practically every corner. There's live jazz everywhere you go, and NOLA is world famous for its St. performers.
Make sure you don't miss the spontaneous wedding parades, known locally as second lines that roll through the narrow streets. Play it safe or go wild, it's your choice. As you navigate the city, your map will serve as both a guidebook and a memento of your trip. Reunite with your friends at the end of the night to compare notes and swap stories. Even I've got that this week. I know you do. It's. Not there already. It's it's such a good one. It's such a good one.
And after I'm done reading it, I realize I should have done it in my native accent, but I didn't. Oh, that. Would have been good. I felt it, yeah. I've missed out on an opportunity to hit a native accent. You did. OK, Tara, remind me where we find you on Instagram? This is your handle. Yes, my handle is Tara's tabletop. Tara's tabletop, right listeners, Tara, firstly, thank you for joining us this week. Really enjoyable episode. My shopping list has grown.
I have the I have the catch phrase Choo Choo to share across the United Kingdom. I'm so so you can go international PJ anything from you. That's all I got. Tara, thank you for agreeing to be on the show and coming up with this topic. This was great. This is one of one of our best in almost an hour, so we're doing really well. I appreciate you so much for having me. This is a lot of fun and my first palm pentest ever, so this is exciting. Thank you for joining us. Love it. Love it.
Everyone, please go follow Tara and thank you for listening and we will speak to you all again soon. Thanks everyone. Thanks everyone for listening, please subscribe and as always we love to hear your thoughts and ideas so make sure to leave those in the comments and don't forget you can also chat with us both on Instagram at Meatball to Meatball.