Rolling Realms: First Impression

I really enjoy when media gets meta, like when an author puts themself in a book or a movie acts as commentary on a genre.

So I’ve been really curious about how Rolling Realms uses board games within a board game, which I think is just so cool!

Here are our initial thoughts.

Shelf status

Owned, kindly sent to me for review by Stonemaier Games

What first attracted me to the game

I love roll & writes

Box & components

The game comes with dry erase markers, cloths, six sets of game and scoring cards with different-colored backs, and a pair of huge dice that I’m kind of obsessed with now. There’s nothing overly fancy but everything included is good quality.

Editor’s take on the rulebook

I like that it’s fairly streamlined but also includes useful examples. It explains each game card in more detail yet taught us to play the basics of the game really quickly.

What the game is all about

Over 3 rounds, you play a series of roll & write minigames, with 3 different games per round. As you play, you gain resources (pumpkins, hearts, coins) that you can use for bonus effects. Ultimately you’re trying to earn stars, and whoever has the most stars at the end of the 3 rounds wins.

First thoughts

This was even more fun than expected!! Each minigame was simple enough to learn but not so easy to play well. It was like a puzzle, trying to figure out when it would be best to gain resources, when to use those resources, and how to get the most stars possible. And since you’re tackling 3 game cards at a time, you have to decide which to focus on — but you can’t use the same one twice in a turn (except with a bonus pumpkin power).

Switching up the minigames in each round kept it feeling fresh. They’re all so unique! And Ilove how they hark back to the games they represent, like combining grape values on the Viticulture card to complete wine orders. It also makes me realize how many games we still have try.

Next steps

We’ve only played once, so we still have 3 game cards left to try, plus the 2 promo packs we bought! And there’s a solo mode themed around mini golf!! (I love mini golf.)