Ravensburger Readies Rolliverse

At SPIEL Essen 23, I talked a bit with Reiner Knizia about game design, with one of the topics being two of his (then new) game lines: a quartet of solitaire games under the title "For One" from Schmidt Spiele and a trilogy of roll-and-write titles from 999 Games titled "Pick a Pen". (Each series has had one additional title released since 2023.)

Knizia explained that he often tried to think about game systems rather than individual games, about game concepts that could have multiple iterations when you develop them along different paths.

Pick a Pen might be the cleanest example of this practice. Each of the four games features colored hexagonal pencils that you roll onto the table at the start of a round, after which each player in turn picks a pencil, then does something on their individual sheet of paper. By changing what's on the pencils and on the paper, you create different games.

In essence, this design transforms colored six-sided dice into pencils, which both strips out a game component (making the design more affordable to produce) and creates a cool gimmicky thing for the publisher to market.

What's more, by offering the publisher a line of games, you're giving them something to promote beyond simply "yet another game". The publisher can spend roughly the same amount marketing a line of games as a single game, yet the upside is that the publisher (and the retailer) has more to sell — and if someone likes one of the titles, they're already primed to buy another in the line because the publisher has undoubtedly promoted the line on or in the box.

I thought about this conversation after seeing a new game line that Ravensburger announced during SPIEL Essen 26: Rolliverse. This system from long-time design partners Michael Palm and Lukas Zach is even cleaner than Pick a Pen, in terms of development, as gameplay is the same across the line, with the only difference from one box to another being a single card and the graphics that will attract casual game players in mainstream outlets. (Funko Games' Something Wild! game line was similar.)

In this 2-4 game, each player receives a hand of ten starting cards, with one of those cards being placed face up on the table at random. On a turn, a player rolls the five six-sided dice up to three times, trying to get a combination that will let them score a card on the table, a card in hand, or both.

The combinations that score are the usual suspects: three-of-a-kind for a specific value, any full house, any four-of-a-kind, a four-number straight, and a five-number straight. If you get one of those results on the dice, you can score any cards on the table and in your hand that match it. (Note that a four-of-a-kind, full house, and long straight don't let you score cards showing a three-of-a-kind or short straight.)

If you roll a five-of-a-kind, you score the unique character card — Stitch, Darth Vader, etc. — taking it away from whoever currently has it, if it's been claimed previously, and keep it in front of you.

If you don't roll a combination on a turn, you must choose a card in hand and place it on the table, thereby adding more spoils to the market than anyone can claim, and as soon as a player has 12+ points in front of them, they win.

Each game includes a unique artifact that features a rule for claiming it (from the table or another player) and a rule that applies as long as you hold on to it. By combining multiple Rolliverse titles, you can have more than four people at the table, using multiple artifacts to put more special powers into play.

The Rolliverse titles are due out in Germany at the start of February 2027. Each box features rules in multiple languages, so the titles will also be released in France, in the Netherlands, in the U.S., in the UK, and so on.