Image taken from https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8062784/en-route

Designer: Philipp Ivanov
Publisher: CrowD Games
Artist: Ekaterina Mamontova

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by En Route! I anticipated enjoying it, as I typically enjoy blank and write style games, but it was way better than expected; I didn’t think it would be different enough from other titles in the genre to set it apart, but it is and it did. I was also impressed by the level of puzzliness there is without being overwhelming in terms of rules overhead, and how engaged I was each and every game.

At the start of the solo game, the player sets up a card pyramid of ten tourist cards to track their ten turns. On every turn, the player selects one of the two tourist cards from their hand to pair with one of the face-up tourist cards in the pyramid. Those two cards dictate the coordinates the tourists will visit, the types and numbers of tourists, and if any monuments get more “valuable”.

After ten turns, the player must choose one continuous, unbranching path they made in their city. Following this path, the player gains points based on the number of colored locations, tourists, and other monuments and landmarks along the way. For the solo game, there is a card for each city with a challenge table that identifies point and goal completion objectives (and how impressive your combination of those is).

That’s a bit of a vague overview, but hopefully it gives some framework for the game play so some of my ramblings make more sense.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, I’m impressed by the originality of this game for being an installment in the ever-growing blank and write genre. The coordinate grid system that uses the numbers on the cards is smart, and the tourist card mechanism in general is well done. The combination of the colors of tourist, the color of the location, and the need for a continuous path by the end all make for some interesting decisions. There are also repeat type tourist cards that duplicate the other card you use which is a fun addition.

The solo mode is very good and can easily be translated into all cities included in the base game. The challenge cards are good, but I honestly just had fun galivanting around the cities exploring. Of course, I tried to score points and achieve objectives, but I was just enjoying the puzzly process of making the best route I could.

The unique cities are what really make this game for me. A few cities would be fun, but each different city is amazing in its own way and truly feels unique and special. First City is a great way to start, and then each city after that adds rules, increases complexity, etc., but it’s all done at a very good rate that feels natural. My only complaint would be about New York City, which felt way too big and overly complicated. The rest were incredible, though! The differing cities also help significantly in terms of replayability as they all provide unique feelings, puzzles, and usually there are specific goals (and always tourists) that can add mechanics or stipulations. I was honestly surprised by the replayability of the cities, too; I expected them to be more of a one and done situation, but I played most of them twice, back-to-back, and I still feel like I could explore them more.

The changing objective cards from city to city are neat, especially since they usually relate to geographic features of the city and/or something cultural the city is known for. There are always standard scoring conditions for the tourists that you learn from the get-go, but each city also incorporates some unique scoring to increase strategic depth and add more excitement to the game. This gives a feeling of familiarity and comfort with the ones that are consistent, but also much needed freshness from game to game. Overall, there’s an interesting balance between the different ways players can score points which creates a nice decision space and multiple strategic avenues to experiment with.

The rule book is very well laid out and just solid as a whole. The cities have a separate book that presents the new information and rules clearly and in an organized fashion. The components are also good, but the dry-erase markers could be a bit better. The organizer inside the box and the deck separation holder thing (see last picture above) are fantastic, though!

While the activities and sites in each city are thematic, the game isn’t really dripping in theme necessarily. The maps, route creation, objectives, and landmarks are quite thematic, but most of the scoring is more like colors, shapes, and check marks. Also, there is definitely some luck with the numbers on the cards, which isn’t my favorite. Thankfully, there are options throughout the game, like the ability to add or subtract one from a value, to help mitigate that luck factor. Also, because the game is pretty quick and there are always two options for the grid coordinate (except for doubles like 2,2), it’s pretty rare to have an instance where you really can’t use what’s available. In the solo mode, the ten-card pyramid helps as well because you can see what numbers you’ll have available for your next turn.

It seems that when you play multiplayer, there’s some sort of interconnectedness between players and their card pair selections which seems cool, but I’d be fine if I only ever played this solo. It’s fun, quick, original, well designed, puzzly but not overwhelming, replayable, and based on travel, which is another thing I love! If anyone has any insight into how I could acquire any extra maps that were part of the Kickstarter, let me know. I’d love more maps, but they seem difficult to find as just an add on without getting the whole game again (though I guess that was the point 🙁).