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On Tour: Pack the Bus & Hit the Road REVIEW

 

Looking for a game with quick play that will scratch your itch for a puzzle? Then On Tour is for you!

On Tour is a roll and write game designed by Chad DeShon and Published by BoardGameTables.com. A typical game plays in 15-25 minutes. Player count is variable although the base game will allow for 1-4 players you can get more player boards to up the player count. Better yet, the game box is built in such a way that it has room for twelve player boards!

On Tour: Pre-Order

On Tour

In On Tour, you are part of a music band of which genre is entirely up to you. There are four themed art styles on the player boards representing Rock, R&B, Country, and Jazz. This is only for ascetics as it has no impact on gameplay. Your goal is to tour the country hitting as many states as possible. The longer the contiguous path you create, the more points out will earn.

On Tour

Each round, a player will draw three cards and roll the two ten-sided dice. The cards will all have a specific state and region listed.  You will use both factors of the dice roll to circle states on the map. For example, if the roll is 3 and 7, you will input 37 and 73. You will choose one card and either choose any state in the region listed and write the number in that state. Or you can use the specific state listed and circle the number you input. Circled states grant an extra point but they are less flexible as to where you can place them.

On Tour

There is also an opportunity for a wild input. This occurs when the player rolls the same two digits on the dice or if all three cards flipped are the same region. In either instance, you can pick any one of the three cards and place a star into the state you choose.  Stars can be used as any number you wish making route building much easier.

The route building mechanism in On Tour has one basic rule. Wherever you start your tour, each consecutive state has to be in ascending order. The numbers don’t have to be consecutive but must always increase in value. You can, however, go laterally to a state with the exact same value. Sometimes you may have to throw bad numbers into areas you may want to avoid in order to create an ideal path. If you’re not careful you can quite literally paint yourself into a corner.

On Tour

The scoring in On Tour is very simple. After everyone has filled their map completely, players begin to draw their Tour. Each state you connect is worth a point. Any circled states are worth one additional point. The player who has the highest score at the end wins.

As far as roll and writes go, this is definitely one of my favorites. It plays so fast and scratches that puzzle itch so well. There is a lot of strategy in such a small package. And it’s fun the entire time you are trying to figure out which direction to go next. If you love roll and write games then I can’t recommend this enough. If you’ve never played one, then On Tour is a fantastic entry level jump on point to the genre.

board game wrapper

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About the Author: Christopher Guyton

When not driving forklifts for a living Chris can be found pushing cubes and chucking dice at Gamer’s Guild in Spring Lake, NC