NEXT STATION: LONDON (2022)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
1-4	25-30 mins	Matthew Dunstan	Blue Orange Games

In this small box Roll ‘n’ Write, players have been hired to redesign the London Underground.

Each turn a card is flipped and players must draw along an available line from one of their stations to a new one matching the symbol on the card.

Sounds pretty straight forward. But the game is played over four rounds and on each one you will have a different coloured pencil and be working on a different Underground route.

And your coloured lines can’t cross over each other.

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Like a lot of good Roll ‘n’ Write games, NEXT STATION: LONDON has a really simple ruleset, but offers a tight little puzzle that gets crunchy and tense the closer you get to the end.

Round one sees you having all the room in the world as you can almost go anywhere.

But the last few turns of the game can see you closed in and potentially skipping turns due to poor planning as no legal moves present themselves.

Planning becomes difficult because you’re not guaranteed to draw every card each time, so waiting for a specific shape could end up fruitless.

Turns are punchy as you see the shape and decide on what is the best way to go. No matter the player count, you won’t be waiting long to flip that next card.

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However, as the game comes to a close, I’ve often found myself ‘on rails’ so to speak. While it does get tight, the limited options can sometimes mean that there is only one way to go, and you’re just wishing on a card instead of picking from choices.

The scoring too can get a little fiddly. We’ve played this more on BGA because it takes care of the admin.

Keeping track of Tourist Sites (more points) and working out your Interchange score is sometimes hard work.

Overall, NEXT STATION: LONDON is a great addition to the Roll ‘n’ Write genre. Colourful and interesting, it is different enough to make it stand out.