In On Tour, you are plotting the route for a band across America.
Rolling and Writing your way from coast to coast.
You’re living the dream. You’re in a band and they’re about to go on tour. It’s your job to schedule the band’s stops over your 100-day tour, visiting as many states as possible.
On Tour Game Play
This is very simple…
Each player has a board showing a map of America. It’s divided into states, each with a circle to write a number. But, the board is also divided into West, Central and East as well as North and South.
Each of these segments is clearly identifiable by its colour. 3 blocks for West, Central and East with the lighter shade north and darker south.
The Rolling & The Writing
You roll 2 big chunky D10s which will give you two numbers. If you roll a 4 and 6 you have the numbers 46 and 64. There are 3 cards laid out and you write one number in a state for one card and one number for another card.
For example, if the card you choose for one number is ‘West’, you must write it in a state in the West of the board. (The Red Section)
Each card has a state on it and if you write the number in that particular state, you circle it. This is needed for scoring at the end of the game.
3 more cards are laid out and the dice are re-rolled and this is repeated. If all the cards have the same region or the dice numbers match, the players can write a star in a state.
At the end of the game, you’re going to look for your longest route of connected numbers. But, to go to the next state the number must be equal to or higher than the previous one. A star counts as a wildcard.
You get 1 point per state you go through plus a bonus point for each ‘circled’ state on your route, most points win.
Theme
Now, I’ve never planned a route for a band across America but I’m pretty sure there is a more efficient way to do it 🙂
Abstractness aside, the route you are building makes sense, in a way.
It’s also unique and the end result could be used as a Tour… I’m stretching.
Setup & Rulebook
The setup is simple. You give each player a board and a pen, done.
There is a little bit of setup where cards are revealed one at a time, dice are rolled and the numbers are written on the board. This gives everyone a 4 State head start to get going. Not exactly a difficult setup!
The rulebook is good. It’s well laid out with plenty of examples.
Components & Artwork
The maps are nice and the pen is decent. The box works well and while 4 boards come in the box you can buy them individually. You can fit 12 in the box, I have 6.
So while there is room for expansion, there is nothing to stop the current contents from rattling around.
For a better look at the components, here is my unboxing of the game:
Ease of Teaching & Accessibility
There are very few rules so teaching is a non-issue. Play is simultaneous so you can easily talk through the turns as you go.
This is also a very accessible game. It’s just very easy to understand and play.
On Tour Summary
There are plenty of roll & write games out there.
My favourite, I think, is still Qwixx. It’s fast to play, quick to teach and easy to understand. You have something to do on each player’s turn so you’re never out of the game.
I have the deluxe edition of Qwixx with dry-wipe boards which helps get the game played. On Tour has them too but not every roll & write does, which means you need to find a pen for everyone 🙂
My recent fave is Welcome to which is a lot of fun and more of a game than these others. While not a roll & write as such, flip & fill is essentially the same thing.
Welcome To is great. A little more complex, but I like that.
Game Summary
So here you’re rolling dice and writing numbers in circles, easy.
But it is difficult to do and do well. Once a number is locked down it’s stuck there. Are you going to be able to use that number as part of your chain of numbers for points?
What do you do with the numbers you know you won’t be able to use?
I mean, you can stick them in Florida, Washington or Maine out of the way… but you can only do that so many times. Eventually, the numbers you don’t want, if too many, will start to creep in and get in the way of your plan.
So, you know, don’t mess up!
Jesta ThaRogue