Take Your Band On Tour in This Roll-and-Write Trip Across America

You’re going on tour! Can you plot a tour through the USA or Europe for your band that will score you the most points?

Published by Allplay, the game plays in 20 minutes. The box says it’s playable with 1-8 players (although more on that in the review).

Gameplay

Each player takes a board of the USA. The map is divided into sections: horizontally into north and south, and vertically into west, central, and east. At the start of the game, the two 10-sided dice are rolled. The numbers are combined to give two different two-digit numbers (for example, if three and seven are rolled, the numbers created are 37 and 73). A card is drawn, and players write the lower number on the state written on the card, and then draw a second card to find out where they write the higher number. Both numbers are circled. Cards do not just show a state, but will also show either north, south, west, central, or east.

During a round of the game, three cards are drawn and placed face-up on the table. The two dice are then rolled to get two numbers. Each player chooses a face-up card for each number and writes that number in a state on the section of the map indicated by the card. If a player places the number in the state written on the card, he also gets to circle the number. After all players have written the two numbers on their maps, all three cards are discarded and a new round begins.

If there is a round where the dice ever roll doubles or all three cards show the same map section, each player draws one star on any empty state. If a player ever doesn’t have a legal move, he crosses out any one state.

When there are only 1-2 empty states left, no more cards are drawn. The dice are rolled a final time and players may write down the two numbers in the remaining states. Then players mark their route.

To mark a route, a player must start on any one state and draw a continuous line through as many states as he is able to, connecting them. To connect a state, the number on it must be equal to or higher than the state his line is currently on. Stars count as wild numbers. A player earns one point for each state his line goes through, and an additional point for each circled number on his line. The player with the most points wins the game.

There is also a European map included, that plays in exactly the same way.

Review

On Tour is a simple concept, has minimal set-up, and each turn is fast. The puzzle is constantly forcing players to adapt. Where do you put high numbers, where should you put low numbers? How quickly do you want to fill up a section? Where are you planning on taking the route at the end of the game? What if the cards don’t support your initial plans? And keep in mind circled states, if you can make them work for your route, earn you those extra points.

There are a lot of roll-and-writes out there, but this one generally feels like a slightly different concept than most, and the ease of teaching it is a strong point. There’s one scoring method, and that’s all players have to focus on.

The game also looks great, from the artwork on the box to the nice, solid boards and chunky dice. These oversized dice are extremely satisfying to roll. The only real downside is that it does get a bit annoying to clean up, as you must wipe down the boards.

The game box says it can be played solo — however, the rules don’t say anything about a solo mode. It’s solo in the sense that sure, you can follow all the rules without another player (which does illustrate a certain lack of player interaction here) and end up with a point total. But when the rulebook doesn’t even talk about playing solo, it doesn't feel like a true solo game. The implication would be that you can try to beat your previous score, but some sort of a goal or scoring system for solo play would have been ideal.

With the simultaneous gameplay, it’s easy to add extra players without slowing down the game significantly, and finding a solid game that can be enjoyably played with up to eight is not easy. Overall, On Tour is fun, plays at a nice pace, and is nicely challenging.

Pros: Speed of gameplay even at higher player counts, aesthetically pleasing

Cons: Solo play is lacking, no player interaction

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.