What I like about Fliptown
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.
What I Dislike about Fliptown
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.
Fliptown Solo Completionist Matrix
Last Updated: 10/18/24
Download The Fliptown Matrix
If you want your own copy of this image, you can download it here. [Right Click -> Save As]
(Please note, I’m not a great graphic designer, this was meant for personal use and I did not design it well for 8×11 paper printing, so this is resized for that.)
My Solo Plays of Fliptown
Wakasm's Report Card of Arbitrary Values for Fliptown
The game is very straight forward while somehow being both Rewarding and Elegant. I wouldn't say it's revolutionary as far as Roll and Write or board games go, but the fact that somehow the game manages to keep a very simple system but feels very open to how you can tackle the game is refreshing. The fact you get to score your Poker hand is pretty interesting, even if you aren't exactly playing against other players directly and is more of an extra score (unless you play with a variant).
For such a simple roll and write, the map and game's art is spot on. It's not inspirational or captivating, but it really does what it needs to do to give the Western Theme and Feel for a simple flip and write.
Due to how many options there are for scoring, and how unique and Sandbox-y the game is, the game offers a lot of replayability that so far, hasn't gotten stale. Between special powers, unique Cowboys, multiplayer, solo, and the upcoming solo-expansion, I think this game has long-legs in terms of just general replayability.
The game is pretty straight-forward while remaining concise and engaging. The first time you play (maybe even the first few times) you might feel overwhelmed by all the choices available to you... but due to the simpler nature of the game, this feeling goes away pretty quickly once you are comfortable with the game. All the iconography is user friendly and all the decisions are pretty streamlined while retaining meaningful decisions. It's not the most challenging game in the world nor is it super complex, but there are interesting decisions to be made and it's very fun to explore and try different things.
The rulebook is very clear, organized, and the game itself has enough iconography to carry you through the game once you learn the basics. There are some weird rules that aren't intuitive though, for instance, the Sherriff Rules or the
I got the digital version on PNP Arcade, so this was a great value. I think the physical copy would likely be worth it too, but I don't have that one. I also haven't played this multiplayer yet.
I have played Fliptown 11 times!
