Rolling Realms came about during the 2020 pandemic, starting life as a print at home roll & write game, designed by Jamey Stegmaier to be played online with friends or along with him on YouTube videos.
Unfortunately, I completely missed out on it at the time but the good news is that Stonemaier Games not only created an official version, they are still supporting it with expansion packs on the regular!
Rolling Realms is a roll & write game that is on the crunchier side. Players have identical sets of cards, each based on games in the Stonemaier Games catalog (and now beyond that, with expansion packs based on other board games that the Stonemaier crew like and also Jamey’s cats).
The game is played over three rounds, each round consisting of 9 rolls of a pair of (very large) dice. At the start of the game, one player picks three random cards from their deck, selecting the realms for that round. Other players search their deck for their own copies. Each realm has its own unique rules, scoring conditions and strategies but the basics are that you must choose one dice result for one realm and use the second on another each turn.
But each turn, players have a chance to unlock resources - coins! hearts! pumpkins! - that give you the power to create new “dice” out of thin air!
We’ve been playing this game on lunch break and it takes about 45 minutes because by the end of each round, you’re frantically trying to collect and use resources to maximize those victory points. Can’t use them all? Well, you do get a sliver over of a point at the end of the round for any left over but after that they are GONE and you start the next round with a clean slate and empty resource sheet.
Surprising no one, the production value of this game is 10/10 with lovely laminated cards that work with the dry erase markers packaged inside. The hefty green/blue dice are over-sized which means they are easily seen by all players at the table or via a angled camera on a Zoom call. And while you can easily just play the game solo, Stonemaier added in a “Solitaire Mini Golf” game with specific realms and challenges for the “course”.
This has quickly become a favorite of mine and each expansion pack I have picked up adds another level and approach to the strategy. Some realms combo’d together can make for some big scores and others you find yourself scraping by with just a couple stars at the end of the round. But there’s so many variables in the setup and playthrough, you just want to go back for me!