Rolling Realms Redux brings even more realms to this roll-and-write title that can be used as a standalone expansion or combined with the original game.
Was this game sent for review or self-purchased?: Sent for review
In two sentences, what do you do in the game: Each player has the same set of cards, each featuring a unique mini game (realm). The game is played over three rounds, with three cards/mini-games active per round, where players are rolling a pair of dice and choosing how to apply each dice roll to one of the cards (but not the same card) in order to gain stars and resources.
Have we played any other titles by this publisher?: Yes, we’ve played many Stonemaier Games titles.
What was surprising about this title: The 12 new realms really added to the gameplay variation in a way that makes it worth having both the original and Redux standalone games. The Redux game also features Realms based on non-Stonemaier Games like Flamecraft and Tidal Blades.
How likely is this to return to the game table?: Very, very likely. Especially as it can be combined with other Rolling Realms content and allow for an even higher player count. As long as you have enough copies of the game it is pretty much unlimited for player count and can be played remotely so you don’t have to even be in the same area to play.
Game length: About 45 minutes, especially as players may be taking time to strategize.
Language Barrier Playability: Hard, but can be translated. Each realm game has a little description on how it works, so players would need these translated and memorized. The actual playing/dry-erase part of the game is mostly circling or marking off different elements on the cards.
Artwork: Clean, consistent, colorful. We really enjoyed how even though the games were very different on the cards, the artistic theme really brought everything together.
Quality: Perfect. The cards are thick and sturdy, the markers work well, the eraser pads work well. There are a lot of dry-erase games where it is a struggle to use the dry-erase materials or cards and that was notably not the case here.
Strategy: Great. You need to strategize to win, but even with low strategy, players can still have fun with the different cards. For example, the Dog Park card has players trying to walk the dogs home without stepping on too many tennis balls. The Tidal Blades card has players trying to defeat monsters. Rock-Paper-Scissors has players trying to win the classic game based on dice results. There is a lot of variety in the goals and thus lots of different strategies you can try out, especially as you’re playing three realms/mini-games in the same round. With three rounds per game, that is nine realms you’ll play in one game.
Instruction Manual: The instruction manual was very straightforward as far as getting the game started quickly. The instructions on the cards, however, were a little tricky at times. Then we would refer back to the instruction manual and still be left with a question or two that we’d just untangle ourselves. A few example plays of each card may have been beneficial but we still figured it out in the end.
Organization: Good, each player’s set of cards have the same color backs which make them very easy to organize and put away with the dividers.
Final thoughts: We love the Rolling Realms series because there’s so much variety in the game and now especially with Redux, we get to play realms based on other publishers we enjoy also. The expansion is seamless to the original concept but it is also not repetitive. You can tell each realm had a lot of thought and work put into making it fun.
Sushiball Games 