Innovative “Flip and Write” Mechanism: While there are other games lately that have a flip and write mechanic (Welcome To… comes to mind), the mix of Poker and the Western theme, introduces an engaging twist with its flip-and-write mechanics, making it stand out in the genre. The fact that cards serve so many functions without becoming complex is amazing. Is a card worth it to gamble towards a Poker hand? Do the suits help support where you want to go? Do the suits help your opponents or Cowbots? The game feels very open for you to do what you want while still somehow making the cards and their values matter.

Open Sandbox with Diverse Strategic Options: The game offers a broad range of strategic paths, from pursuing lucrative gold mining (diamonds)to engaging in high-stakes robberies (spades). This variety allows for different approaches and tactics which feels very open and free. The entire town of Fliptown (Clubs) has all kinds of synergies with the other potential areas and game from game you can focus or all-in on just a few of those aspects to try and get ahead.

Combos and Choices that Matter: The game lasts only 15 hands which means you are only going to circle 15 things by the end of the game. However, when a lot of these things result in potential combos to other areas of the board, by the end of the game, you will feel like you are doing so much more with the limited amount of hands you are given. Quite often I am suprised with how much I can get done before the end of the game and squeak out a win against a Cowboy.

The choices you face in the game feel meaningful too. Many have very specific mindsets. Some paths are very direct and guarantee results while others start to edge towards a gamblers paradise with different degrees of luck and payoff. You can also pivot between strategies pretty frequently (and sometimes you are forced to) which means that you have a lot of agency to those choices.

Interesting AI Opponents aka Cowbots: The Cowbots are really streamlined, simple, and offer a decent challenge. You can’t always counter them the way you want because they are triggered randomly based on certain criteria. Too many times I had a plan A, to be forced to move onto a plan B, plan C, just to circle back around to my plan A, based on both what the Cowbot needed and what cards I was given. The Cowbots also force you down different avenues to winning the game.

Very Affordable Print-And-Play and Box Option: I personally don’t love print-and-plays that require a lot of setup, but all you need to play this one is some paper, pens, and a deck of cards which makes me enjoy this one more than some others.

Strategy vs. Luck Balance: There a little bit more luck involved at times depending on which strategy you go down. You can prepare for the Badlands, with a rifle, and still end up drawing an Ace to lose your robbery attempt which can be a big setback based on how much wanted level you have or what your overall strategy is. It’s not too bad, but I am sure there will be at least one person or game where a person gets hosed and the game is a bit soured for them.

Complexity for New Players: This is also very minor, but the first time you play, the Sandbox nature and the number of choices available each turn, while a boon for strategy, can (might) be overwhelming for a new player. The game overall is not a heavy game so this is a pretty unique quality to have for a print-and-play style of game that feels like it should be very casual friendly.

Hard to get good Poker hands in five-card draw: While the Poker Mechanic is very thematic, unless you play the Hold-em variant, you often won’t be hitting great hands often, which makes the points and money you get from this aspect of the game feel very normalized. Although, if you play enough, and get a good hand, that will feel good when it happens, it’s almost too strong when this happens. Especially in the solo mode.

Faithful Adaptation: One of the game’s strongest points is its faithful adaptation of the beloved video game. Stardew Valley The Board Game captures the essence of farm management, community engagement, and exploration of the video game and so much of it’s charm. It’s evident that a lot of effort went into making the game feel true to the “Stardew Valley” experience, including seasonal changes, various farming activities, and interaction with town folks. It’s not perfect but it does a really great job.

Cooperative (And Solo) Gameplay: The cooperative aspect of the game is a big plus. It encourages teamwork and strategy for players to work together to achieve common goals, such as completing Grandpa’s Goals and restoring the Community Center. It’s not surprising because I am not really sure how you would make this into a competitive game. Maybe a 1vMany game where one plays as Jojomart?

Quality and Design: The physical components of the game are of high quality, with detailed illustrations and sturdy materials. The artwork is charming and aligns well with the game’s aesthetic, enhancing the overall experience way more than it should. There is a tin-version of this game that I’d like to try just to compare how much I enjoy the game because of it’s art vs it’s actual gameplay.

Decently Challenging: You wouldn’t think a game with Stardew Valley on the label would be hard, but there is some decent challenge here. I prefer my board games to be challenging and this was surprising on my first play.

Complexity and Learning Curve: While long-term the game is not a super heavy game… it feels heavy the first time you play because it’s hard to figure out how to start. For new players, especially those not familiar with the video game, the board game can feel overwhelming due to all the things that are available to you and without fully understanding the friend and Community Center gameplay loop. Plus there isn’t a ton of time to get everything done which makes the game much harder in a multiplayer setting than a solo one. It doesn’t feel as Casual as you’d think it would be until you play the game a bit.

Game Length: Some may find the game’s length a drawback. A full game can take several hours to complete. I was surprised how long my first play took, even solo.

Luck Factor: While there is some strategy to the game, Luck plays a significant role in the game. Randomness regarding the drawing of event cards and seasonal changes, can sometimes feel punishing or unbalanced or getting bad dice rolls over and over, especially when trying to open Geodes. While there are lots of cards, powers, and Items to counteract this, you have to randomly find the right cards to overcome your weaknesses as well.

Dangerous Space delivers a compelling, but extremely abstract, dungeon crawl experience set in futuristic starships. Dangerous Space adds a few things to the Dungeon Pages formula that I think improve the game in some ways. The game’s puzzle-optimizing challenges, combined with a hero tech tree, keep the experience fresh and exciting, encouraging strategic planning and quick thinking. The concept of receiving a new adventure sheet every Friday throughout the year significantly enhances its replayability and keeps the game dynamic.

The new methods to attack and defend give the player a bit more agency and more of a puzzle to consider. Upgrades feel a bit more complex since their improvements are tired to the extra actions. In addition, the introduction of mandatory missions improves the formula entirely since you aren’t just “escaping the dungeon” each time.

The threat system, which seems to replace the random “Wandering Monsters” mechanic are much more predictable, although, some are even harder then the original mechanic and require a bit of planning to deal with.

Overall game retains it’s simplicity factor while somehow maintaining a slight creep up in complexity (especially in learning the rules the first time). While slightly less zen-like than the original Dungeon Pages, it’s still a very streamlined and simple puzzle to play and great for any board game collection.

I really enjoyed Dungeon Pages. If you don’t know what Dungeon Pages is… well… go check that out first. If you are too lazy to do that… well.. then I guess I’ll summarize a bit to catch you up!

Dangerous Space (and older sibling Dungeon Pages) are two print-and-play tactical roll-and-write games that are published on pnparcade… whose thematic intentions are to combine dungeon crawling with a sodoku-like puzzle. With just a pencil (or pen!) (or crayon!) (or a tablet!), some dice, and a single sheet of paper, as a solo player, you navigate through dangerous corridors and rooms, managing dice rolls to advance your character, dodge enemy attacks, and confront deep space terrors in an abstract maze of rooms and enemies.

Both games share similar DNA. The goal revolves around the mechanic of making a path of sequential digits (pulled from your dice rolls) to connect a path from point A to point B while avoiding all kinds of Hazards. This can be trickier than it sounds! While Dungeon Pages has a bunch of tiny puzzles to interact with, Dangerous Space connects them all into one large spaceship that makes for a slightly meatier experience and keeps the game flow moving.

The goal is simple. Make a path of digits from your dice rolls connecting the entrance of each dungeon to the exit before dying. Repeat this until the final dungeon where the only additional requirement is also defeat the final boss awaiting you.

The core loop is in Dangerous space has been simplified into 3 steps but remains mostly the same as Dungeon Pages:

• Roll your dice (white dice are “good” dice and black dice are “evil” dice)
• Check to see if active threats attack by comparing your roll value on evil dice to their threat trigger.
• Mark your dice rolls to move or attack, which are now separate actions you can take with the dice
• Stay alive, make it out fast enough, hit all the checkpoints and this time there is always a mission you have to complete as well!

This simple loop is enough game to tie the theme well enough to the actions you are doing. While you, in practice, are only rolling some dice and placing numbers on a grid… somehow the game still evokes the science fiction spacefaring notes that the single-page game is aiming for. Your character feels like they are exploring, growing, and ultimately powering up to complete their mission. Since the map is now one big interconnected area, the exploration feels a bit more tactical and meaningful. Threats now have positional alerts (that replace the doubles mechanic of Dungeon Pages) that you can strategically deal with, especially now that defense is another skill you can build up for your hero.

The addition of missions makes the game feel more complete as well. In Dungeon Pages, you were just trying to escape the dungeon (which required killing a boss), but in Dangerous Space, you now not only have to explore everything and connect all the checkpoints, but there is usually a secondary win condition such as rescuing all the crewmates or finding quest items before you are allowed to even attempt escaping. The game adds a timer as well which forces you to think more optimally. You can’t waste as much time but you also aren’t forced to explore every single square on the map now.

The new rules take a little bit to internalize and I think anyone starting with Dangerous Space will find it a bit harder to grasp compared to the easier ruleset of Dungeon Pages. Neither game is complex but Dangerous Space has a little more going for it that requires some extra thinking and considerations.

Overall, the game is both a step up and a step down in different ways from the original.

The slightly more complex ruleset can feel a little harder to master. Some of the naming conventions and logic to them can be hard to master without a few plays. I’ve seen quite a few “new players” to the system feel lost from just reading the rulebook alone. (If you want to learn more how to play, I have some videos up that can help!)

I am not sure how I feel about the checkpoint system being a mandatory requirement, especially when there are also mandatory missions. I actually misplayed this my first game until I re-read the rules and I feel like the checkpoint system (like the better XP system before it) should be more of a push your luck sort of thing, because you are guaranteed every game all of the upgrades (or you lose). In Dungeon Pages, the xp system meant that upgrades were not guaranteed and could lead to dicier situations.

I think I prefer the fantasy theme slightly more but that is just personal preference.

I don’t think the timer adds much to the game, or at least, so far in my plays, it hasn’t really added much.

While Dangerous Space offers an innovative take on the solo board game genre, its print-and-play format might not appeal to everyone, especially for those who prefer physical components without the need for printing. Additionally, the game might benefit from more varied artwork, a campaign of some sort, and even story expansions to explore new themes or introduce some sort multiplayer options (although as a solo player, I’m happy if they do not do this).

It is rare to play a any game inside any medium that manages to somehow evoke an epic anything, in this case a dungeon crawl, and scale it down into a short twenty minute experience. Dungeon Pages succeeds in this with a few dice, a pencil, and some Sudoku-like mechanics that has you experiencing the progression of a fully fledged dungeon crawl, with unique character classes, abilties powers, loot, experience, monsters, bosses, traps, items, potions, coins, and more!

The goal is simple. Make a path of digits from your dice rolls connecting the entrance of each dungeon to the exit before dying. Repeat this until the final dungeon where the only additional requirement is also defeat the final boss awaiting you.

The core loop is represented by five core things you do in the game.

• Roll your dice (white dice are “good” dice and black dice are “bad” dice) – fun names!
• Check if wandering monsters attack (doubles on black dice automatically reduce your HP by 1)
• Mark your dice rolls, defeat monsters, collect loot,
• Escape the Dungeon
• Collect your experience and level Up!

While that sounds easy enough, the challenge lies in Dungeon Page’s hook and is it’s main creative core mechanic of the game: Sequential Values. While making it from the entrance of each dungeon to the exit is the goal, the only way to gain experience and grow your character is to do so in a very specific way. Your hero has to connect dice values from your rolls in a path in such a way that the numbers are always connected sequentially, as in, they can either be plus 1, minus 1, or equal to the values adjacent to them. Only then can you gain experience and unlock your special weapons, relics, and abilities.

This sequential dice system seems like it is an obvious rehashed example of something you’ve seen in other roll and writes before but somehow feels new and exciting. It is part dungeon timer, part spatial puzzle, and somehow all of the items, weapons, and relics you get seem to open up this system wide open as your enemies get harder and maps get more intricate. A weapon might give you more range allowing you to space your dice rolls out further or a relic might help you manipulate your dice to get that value you badly need.

The price and pure variability for what you pay for is pretty amazingly…uh… good, but also, kind of evil? For 6 dollars, you get 6 characters and 6 dungeons… and amazingly, every dungeon page you get comes with unique character and dungeon with their own unique powers, weapons, and relics paired along with a unique monsters and bosses. Did I say mention unique? The entertainment doesn’t stop there though as you can just cut these pages in half and boom, mix and match for 36 different options.

Want more variability? Pay for the year-long adventure set (it’s kind of like a season pass) and get a new character and dungeon combination every week (yes, that’s 52 of each!) and well, you can do the math on how many ways to play that adds up to.

At it’s core the game is a roll and write and dice aspect still carries bad luck that can certainly be on against you, especially in the first dungeon or two. My very first game I lost in about 60 seconds after my first three rolls were all 5’s and 6s and the particular dungeon I chose was, in hindsight, a bad choice due to how much damage potential there was.

While I am excited for all of it’s many variations and combos the season pass will offer, I am worried that there may be cases where certain heroes might not be able to succeed in certain dungeons or that after a while everyone will feel the same since as far as I have seen, there haven’t been too many new mechanics added post the core set. Hopefully the creative juices will keep the game from getting stale.

I generally do not mind print and play games, especially if they are roll and write games, but I did feel the need to print and laminate all the characters and dungeons and with the upcoming season pass, this might burn me out. I know some people live by the print once and done motto when it comes to roll and writes but that just isn’t my style as I tend to laminate all my “tear sheet” type games.

Another print and play aspect (that certainly could be a print and play skill issue) is that I really wanted to organize these in a binder, but the positioning of the heroes and dungeons and how they cut made all my laminated pages curl and kind of awkward. I understand why it’s done this way but I almost wish they were either all full pages or exactly half of a page. I am hoping that this specific to the laminating sheets that I had (I used 5mm) but I haven’t had this issue for any other games, even smaller ones where I’ve cut them out after laminating.

The rules are written in some cases a little bit too ambiguous and for such a small footprint game I did find myself having some rules questions. Luckily at the time of writing this their discord is pretty active but i do wish they also checked boardgamegeek a bit too for rules clarifications. They have said they will be updating the rules as they go so hopefully this improves over time.

Not the game’s fault but I am still bitter that I missed the Kickstarter for this. I would have known about it sooner and saved money!