RAILROAD INK: DEEP BLUE EDITION (2018)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
1-6	20 mins	Hjalmar Hach Lorenzo Silva	Horrible Guild

Up until last summer we weren’t really into Roll ‘n’ Writes. Yet now we have 10 in our collection. And it all started because this game had a Blue Edition.

In RAIL ROAD INK, players roll four dice, taking the road or rail dice faces and incorporating them onto their board.

The idea is to get as many routes as possible connected to the twelve orange exit points around the outside, as well as working on a few other scoring methods like longest road/rail.

RAIL ROAD INK is one of those games that is easy to teach, but gets crunchy the further in you get. It reminds me of CALICO, where turn one is all freedom, but game end is a broken mess where it comes down to damage control and not getting the tile/dice that you need. Of course, while I love this kind of escalation in games, it can cause a little AP in some players.

A nice touch to the game are the special junctions. Players can play one of six junctions on a turn and these special moves might be what you need to connect things up when the dice aren’t allowing you to.

But you can only use a special junction three times, and only use each one once. It’s a nice little tactical extra where you are limited, but if you place it right, it can really get you out of a jam.

And when the base game itself gets a little stale, then you have two options. Start using the Rivers or Lakes dice that come in the box. Or look to incorporate some of the other individual expansion dice out there.

This series has a nice selection available, and I’m sure that there is a version of RAIL ROAD INK out there for everyone.

Still my favourite Roll ‘n’ Write, this game is easy to teach, plays pretty short, and allows up to 6 players. A good entry to the genre.