Mr InbeQwinto

Comparing games to films and television programs is something I’ve found comes quite naturally to me, so funnily enough that’ll be happening again here. There’s some games or programs you just want to show to people because you know it’s going to take them by surprise. From the outside they might have a cover that’s not especially captivating or describing them might make them sound like numerous other titles in the same genre. However, certain things just manage to do what they do with an elegant beauty that takes you aback.

For me Qwinto is like the television series Mr Inbetween. Have you sat down and watched Mr Inbetween? I can imagine most people will probably say they haven’t and isn’t it just that show about a bloke who works security in a night club and is like a hit man on the side? It most certainly is and although that doesn’t sound particularly outlandish you better believe it’s an absolute gem and once you do get around to watching it you’ll be cross you didn’t get involved sooner. Qwinto left me feeling the same, I’ve seen it hanging around in shops and expos, heard it mentioned in podcasts but never actually sat down with it. Until now that is.

If you know your games, then going by the box art Qwinto is very obviously a roll and write game. The cover shows a collection of dice and some spaces with numbers written in them. In fact even if you don’t know your games then you’ll probably have some idea about what is going to happen. The roll and write genre has had a real resurgence in recent years and seen an array of titles varying in theme and complexity, including the light and tranquil Railroad Ink as well as a Twilight Imperium based game no less! Qwinto however is very much at the lighter end of the scale, in fact I’m not sure there is a lighter roll and write and that includes Yahtzee. Also thematically there is nothing draped over the mechanisms here, you’re not pretending to conquer galaxies or drive trains, you’re just rolling and writing.

So what are you actually trying to do? Well, like a lot of other roll and write games you’re filling up spaces with numbers to ultimately score more points that your opponents. Each player is handed a play sheet which contains three different coloured rows each with spaces waiting for numbers. The numbers you enter in each row have to go in a sequential low to high order but do not have to be in increments of one. Also the order with which numbers are added to boxes is not important, in a similar style to perhaps Welcome To.

It’s probably a good idea to establish how turns actually work, with the lovely thing about Qwinto being that other player’s turns are always of high interest to you as well. On your turn you can roll one, two or all three of the dice, with each dice representing one of the row colours. You calculate the total you have rolled and then you can write that number in one of the rows matching the coloured dice you chose to roll. So for example you roll the yellow and purple dice, added up total eight, so you can then write eight in the yellow or purple row. It really is that simple, with the only restriction being no number can be repeated in a column, also if you can’t enter the number you roll anywhere legally on your sheet then you have to cross out a penalty box, with each penalty  resulting in minus points at the end of the game.

So why are your turns of interest to other players? Well the number that you roll can also be entered by the other players on their sheets, so quite often someone will rejoice in the fact you’ve rolled the exact number they needed to plug an awkward gap. The extra bonus is that the other players do not suffer a penalty if they cannot write what you rolled. It keeps everybody’s interest peaked throughout the whole game creating tense and very entertaining moments. It also creates a strategy which might go unnoticed where you can assess what other people are going to have to try and roll which might be within a range of numbers you can avoid and reduce your likelyhood of hitting penalties. 

End of game scoring is a very simple affair, which is great as something fiddly would just cut through the dynamic of having this punchy slick game. For each complete row with every space filled in you score whatever the highest number was you entered, with the highest possible obviously eighteen. Alternatively any rows with blank spaces you just score one point per number entered. 

There is also an additional scoring system which provides a really interesting extra consideration to this simple system without muddying the waters. Five of the columns on your sheet have a pentagon shaped space, for each complete column that contains a pentagon you will score the number you have entered into that shaped space. It creates some really nice decision spaces where you might abandon filling up a row to fill in a particular space to guarantee a pentagon score. 

The next aspect of the game we should cover is how the game ends, which like everything else is simple. As soon as one player has filled up two rows or four penalty marks the game ends immediately. No final turns for anyone, it’s done. Games rattle through in double quick time, usually around twenty to twenty five minutes, funnily enough a similar run time to an episode of Mr Inbetween.

Both will also surprise you with how many thought provoking situations they put in front of you in that time as well as both putting you through a range of emotions. I’m not sure Qwinto will make you sob like a child in the same way the end of season two of Mr Inbetween did to me, well I guess that depends on how badly you take unwanted dice rolls. Also, both have a tendency to make you want to go straight back in for another go.

So there we are, a rather short summary of a rather short game. Are there any negatives? Well, probably some obvious ones being lack of theme and with dice involved there’s obviously the luck element. That said you shouldn’t be going into this to fill an evening as a story driven strategy game. Also, I’m not sure those really are negatives, in fact for quite a few people those are probably positives!

There’s room in everyone’s collection for a copy of this game. Take a look at your shelf, you see that tiny little gap, yeah right there, it’ll fit in there easily. So there you have it, order Qwinto right now and while you’re waiting for it to arrive watch Mr Inbetween!