Should I go for the sure score now? – or do I take a pass now and take a chance that I’ll get what I need later and go for the larger bonus points? But if I do “X” now will I have time to complete “Y” later? These are the types of meaningful decisions you’ll end up making when you play this quirky little game. It’s a fast-paced and very easy to learn game. In this Welcome To game review, you will learn how you are constantly balancing what you can do now, vs. what you want to do by the end of the game. It is a game you can play with 2 players, or literally up to 100. If you find yourself in self-isolation it is a game you can elect to grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and play it solo. When you are playing Welcome To… it can take the feel of a quiet chess game or an upbeat fun shared experience like a party game. You can even play this game over Zoom or Facetime with easily accessible scoring sheets available.

Welcome to – Welcome To…

Keep reading to find out more – or just jump to my final thoughts now.

How the Game Feels

What a Turn is Like

Learning the Game

Replay Value

Upside/Downside/Conclusion

I only just recently had a chance to dive into Welcome To… To put into “game speak” Welcome To… is what known as a “roll and write” game. Roll and Writes are generally a type of game where you roll a die and write something down on a pad of paper or score sheet. However, in the case of this game instead of rolling dice, you draw cards. Chances are you’ve played a roll and write. The most classic roll and write is Yathzee.

I mentioned Sudoku – so how does Sudoku fit into this? Sudoku is all about placing numbers in a specific order. If you place your numbers in the right order on the grid, you have successfully solved the puzzle. There is a bit of that deciding where numbers go feel to this game. With Sudoku, there is only ever one right answer to the puzzle. This is a bit different – there isn’t one right answer. However, the players that do it best, will win the game.

How the game feels

Early on the game feels more like the Sudoku portion of this comparison. You look at your nice clean scoring sheet, and the numbers on the cards drawn before you, and then you start to think of how these will line up best. You find yourself in a balance of using the number that fits best, vs the scoring enhancements. Eventually, that Yathzee aspect takes over and you are left wishing and hoping for the right cards to show up on future draws.

The game doesn’t offer a lot of direct player interaction. In many ways, it feels like you are playing a sophisticated solitaire game. But then you realize your not. You can hear and feel the other players’ anguish as, like you, suffer or delight as the cards are revealed. There are times when you get literally “the perfect card.” For instance, you may have a space that will only hold the number 12, and it has the pool icon – and then BOOM! it hits. You may even do a fist pump! And at the same time, you hear anguish because your “opponents” don’t have that spot still.

I admit I don’t spend a lot of time looking at the other players’ score sheets. Especially as the player count escalates – it just becomes more and more unpractical to try and keep track of everyone. However, I know we are all likely gunning for the same scoring objectives. It can feel like a race to get to those key scoring objectives.

What a turn is like

Each turn you are trying to manage two separate but related choices. A street address, represented by a number, and special power. Sometimes you are looking for a specific house number that may perfectly fit between two other houses. Or you are looking for that house number that will be the final one needed to claim one of the three special objective scores.

Other times you find yourself deciding which of the three bonuses presented will most benefit your end score. No easy task as often you will want all three of them. In the case above, do you take house #9 and also increase the value of your estates. Or maybe house #6 will fit better, and also allows you to employ a temporary worker (a bonus for whoever has the most), or maybe you want house #14. Not so much because of the number, but you really need to use the fence to divide the neighborhood into higher score estates. Not to mention if you are the first one to get two “size 6” estates, you’ll get a sweet scoring bonus.

The turns move very quickly. The turns are all simultaneous. Everyone is considering and doing their markups at the same time. It goes without saying that the next turn is dependent on everyone finishing their selection, so you can imagine that as the player count increases it could stretch out a bit. However, given there are only 3 stacks to choose from – even with a large player count – the game moves smoothly.

I’ve played several games on Board Game Arena, using both turn-based play and real-time play. The interface is smooth, easy to understand, and intuitive. The game works very well using the turn-based play feature. It’s not the type of game you need to remember all your prior moves. When a game is turn-based, and you may only take one or two turns a day, with certain games you lose track of what you were doing or trying to accomplish by the time your next turn comes up again. Welcome To… doesn’t suffer from that side effect, you can quickly assess where you are at, and take your next move accordingly.

Learning the game

I found the game very easy to learn. The first portion (the numbers) is easy to understand how they are placed. When assigning a house number, everything needs to follow a numerical sequence. From there you just need to learn the special effects/powers. The pool and parks are easy to understand – you simply mark the next box off as they are constructed. At the end of the game, you get the lowest unmarked box for each category – so you want to scratch off as many as you can! Fences are straightforward to and easy understand – simply draw a line between two houses creating different estate sizes. Now you can tie in the different estate sizes to the scoring matrix on the scoring sheet and also match them up to the various scoring objectives.

The next few are a little more complex, but not by much. The real estate card adds values to those clusters of houses you created with your fences. Really, it’s the only way the houses score points for you. Lastly, the “Bis” cards allow for double placement, and temporary workers not only move you up one of the scoring tracks but also lets you alter the number you are placing.

The game has a solo mode, which is really helpful when you are first learning the game. It helps you understand the basic rules and the various cards and how they intertwine with each other. Then once you have played it solo a few times yourself, it becomes much easier to explain it to others.

Replay Value

After each game, I’m generally immediately ready to start the next. Welcome To.. makes you want to be a perfectionist. I find myself striving to get max value out of every game. How many parks can I get? Can I get all the pools built? What if I go for high estate value in this game? What if I try two get two scoring objectives above all else?

Each time you play it the core game remains the same, but because of different objectives, and the way the cards come out – you find yourself going in different directions each time. The game comes with an Advanced, Expert, and Solo variant as well. They each add a new wrinkle and can bring life into the game if it starts to get stale. The two variants can also be used with each other as well. The game also includes, as mentioned earlier, a great solo variant. You will constantly be pressing yourself for a new high score.

If you really enjoyed Welcome To… you may also be interested to know there are a number of expansions!

One note regarding the expansion. I wouldn’t go overboard. The expansions come with specific scoring sheets for only that expansion. They don’t all work together like expansions in other games. Just something to be aware of. Some of the expansions are tougher to find as well, but perhaps that won’t even be an issue.

Now if you’ve ever had your fill of Welcome To…., and you’ve played some of the expansions – but still crave more. Worry not – there is a re-implemented stand-alone game called Welcome To New Las Vegas.

Instead of building houses – you are building casinos! As an architect at the end of the 60s, in the US, you join the project to build a “New Las Vegas”.  Build the most attractive city with casinos, shows, hotels, and limousines… and prove to the world that you are the best architect out there. Using all the great features of the original Welcome To… Welcome To New Las Vegas offers even more strategic layers to ramp to the high score.

 

The Upside/Downside

Welcome To… is a great game. It hits all the marks that are important to me. It is a very affordable game that I can teach in a matter of minutes. It has meaningful decisions to make each turn. I know it is a winner because after the first play with a group, don’t be surprised if they ask for another go at it. Because of its short playtime, and gentle learning curve – it is a really good game for “non-gamers.”

There is some added benefit, given the current state of affairs, – this is a good socially distance game. Players don’t need to huddle up around a game board. People can play safely from any seat in the house and be socially distanced, so long as they can see the cards. Speaking of socially distance…..

I really dig that you can get this set up on Zoom and/or Facetime. What a benefit to be able to do that. You just need to have each player download their own scoring sheets. One person will need to have the core game of course. Whoever owns the game will need to simply will point their camera at the cards as they come out and people will play accordingly.

Download/View The Score Sheets Here

 I’m high on Welcome To… and see this continuing to fit in on both virtual and in person game nights!