Ganz schön Clever Review - with Tom and Zee

Tom and Zee take a look at this roll-and-write game recently nominated for the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres.

00:00 - Introduction
01:07 - Game overview
10:26 - Final thoughts

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[AhJong]

I really appreciated the comment made by someone who highlighted that the kennerspiel can be interpreted instead of the gamers game as the connoisseur game. I think that helps explain the complexity aspect of this nomination somewhat 🙂

[Badaever]

Thanks for this video! I really hope you all do a Top 10 Roll n Write list, please. Keep up the excellent work. Love ya guys!!

[steveweber]

Well, zee took almost 10 minutes to explain 'a simple' roll and write game, so there's your reason why it's in the kennerspiel category. The jury feels that people who never play games would have a hard time to get to grips with the rules and scoring by themselves, if there would be no one around to teach them. And i kinda agree.
Nice game, nice review.

[RonnieLunn]

There are so many roll and write games now and I enjoy them, you guys should do maybe a top 5 list, top 10 might be stretching it. Either way, I'd watch.

[susanscandles]

I heard a lot about this game but watched another video and confused so didn’t want. After watching your video, which was so clear, I want this now!
You are so good at explaining games while showing how played.
Besides WIP videos, always go to yours as well.
Friend Sarah T whom you have met, she highly recommends and loves your videos. Totally agree! TY

[hotdoggie]

The surface reminds me of those used in magic videos. I kept waiting on zee to break out the magic tricks.

[rudedogflicks]

Weird perspective in the video. Zee looks shrunk by about 20%.

[LoboDerPraesi]

We play this game all the time and really love it. It is not hard at all once you played some rounds and it never gets boring because you want to achieve a high score every time!

Tip if you dont want to laminate, take some pencils and erase everything afterwards. If you write lightly you can use one sheet many times, extending the lifespan massively.

[rabidpickle]

I feel the discussion should be more about it being nominated at all rather than which category. Out of all the great games last year, this is nominated? It looks fun, looks fine - and I understand it is a more German-centric award. But still....weird choice

[miistercrayon]

I must admit when I saw this game first I thought the real hook was the combos but the way you describe this suggests to me that tension between choosing how much you ditch for the thing you want. Maybe it’s the contrast that really boosts the game.

[colinwright]

Only recently started to take notice of Roll & Write games as I'd always previously dismissed them as being a bit basic (without admittedly looking into them in more detail).

Having just backed On Tour on Kickstarter I've now played Qwixx & Qwinto and I can see myself playing a lot more Roll & Writes in the future. Ganz Schon Clever looks really good.

[tiagomarques]

I think the best way of grokking the blue die is to separate the dice from the colored zones. First, based on the die you choose, you activate a certain zone, which is easy to remember: each die activates the zone of its own color except the white die, where you get to choose which zone to activate. THEN the activated zone tells you which value to get: each zone gets the number on the die of its color, except the blue zone, which gets the sum of the blue and white dice (there is even a reminder on the top left corner of that zone).
Of course when you are trying to decide which zone to activate, it feels more complicated than this, but that is simply an added twist to this already twisted roll-and-write game. Really nice review of this nice game: it is going directly in my wannahaves list.

[jB_]

Still waiting for Zee's top roll and write games :D

[bricelory]

I really like this table surface for videos!

[repeataftermeme]

Not sure if the game has made its way over yet but I would imagine the rules getting revamped a tad for those who are confused with the rules currently.

I think roll and writes could have them but I also think it would force a change or major alteration to traditional roll and writes but the core function of the game would still be rolling and writing. Take an IP like Dragon Ball Z an anime animated cartoon based on its comic book or a non American term of comics is “manga”. The anime is all about fighting/evolving, and has story arch’s. So take the theme of the show and the different characters and apply it to the mechanics of a roll and write would be awesome. There be actual goals to achieve, character leveling, unlocking new moves. Still rolling dice just different kinds other than just pips, and it would actually have a theme with a story to it.

[letartean]

150 games of this later, still love this game.

[natelinhart]

Never played a roll n write other than Yahtzee.. Really want to try one still.

[RuNacken]

Great back-and-forth discussion. You guys are the Siskel & Ebert of boardgames together.

[manonfirejc]

I played twice yesterday for the first time. Once solo and once at 2 players. I really enjoyed the game. Cheers.

[evertstanley]

Wonderful review, fellows. I'm intrigued. I only wish it was easier to get stateside.