Roland Wright: A Meta Themed Dice Game About Dice Games

Help game designer extraordinaire, Roland Wright, create the perfect dice game by rolling dice. Roll, write, and erase, to make sure your game wins the most awards.

Currently on Kickstarter, Roland Wright is strategical, humorous, and clever, putting a new spin on roll and write games.

Gameplay

Players are trying to design a game. Each player takes a player board that shows a box with many circles connected to each other by lines. These circles represent the bits in your game. On your turn, you roll the six dice. Each die side shows one of six colors. After rolling, you group the dice together by colors. Then, as the active player, you select one set of colors and remove them from the table. These are the bits you will be adding to your player board. You then take the dry erase pen whose color matches the dice, and fill in one circle for each die you set aside. When filling in more than one circle on your player board, you do not have to choose connected circles. From the dice still remaining on the table, the other players each choose a set of matching colored dice to add as bits to their player boards. They may choose the same set as each other but they cannot choose the set that the active player selected.

Next, all players may take one action by erasing a single bit on their board. The action they take depends on the color of the bit. If you erase a red bit, you may select another bit and, copying its color, fill in another circle that is connected to it. If you erase an orange bit, you may choose to move any other bit to another empty circle. If you erase a yellow bit, you may place a new bit of any color in the same space. If you erase a green bit, you may draw three hallmark cards, keep one, and discard the other two. If you erase a blue bit, you draw three equipment cards, choose one, and discard the other two. Finally, if you erase a purple bit, you draw one research and development card and decide to either place the bit or bits shown on the card onto your player board and discard the card, or keep the card and use it for points at the end of the game.

Hallmark cards and equipment cards both show a pattern of connected and colored bits. In order to complete the cards you must create the same pattern on your board. Once completed, both score points at the end of the game, but completed equipment cards also offer a special action you may take on your turn instead of a regular action. Once a pattern is completed, you no longer have to keep the pattern on your board and may erase or change it without affecting the cards you’ve already completed.

The game end is triggered once any player has three or fewer empty bit spaces on their board. After one final turn, the game ends and points are calculated. Each player has their own private inspiration card which scores them points for sets of connected bits of certain colors. Finally there are award cards, which score players points for things such has having the most connected red bits or the most completed hallmark cards. The player with the most points wins.

Review

The meta theming of Roland Wright is trippy, fun, and unique. The game also has real character in the artwork, particularly in the character design of Roland Wright himself.

As a dice game, there is of course some luck involved and those fun moments when you just cross your fingers and hope you roll what you need. However, the game also offers a lot of strategic moments. Choosing your dice colors as well as bit placements is vital, and you need to keep in mind the abilities when selecting your dice. The game also has a solid sense of escalation as your player board becomes more full and your choices become more difficult.

The use of the dry erase pens is a clever addition, and it’s nice to feel like you are not limited in the number of times you play the game based on the number of player sheets. Since there is only one set of dry erase pens, however, it can slow turns down when players need to use the same pen and disrupt the flow of play a little.

Roland Wright will challenge you to plan ahead, plan not for this turn but several turns in the future, while the luck of the roll ensures you can never have everything too perfectly planned. If you enjoy roll and writes, check this one out on Kickstarter — it’s both tricky and fun.

Pros: Fun combination of dice and strategy, artwork, theming, reusable player boards

Cons: Turns slowed by the need to share pens

Disclosure: this preview is based on our evaluation of an unpublished prototype of the game, which is subject to change prior to publication. While a modest payment was received to expedite the review process, our thoughts and opinions expressed here are honest and accurate.