Fliptown Review: Fortune and Glory Await in the Wild West!

Oh, the Wild West! So many stories, movies, TV shows, and children's games are based on it. The Wild West is also known as the Old West, or the American Frontier.

There are many countless movies centered around this theme, namely the "spaghetti westerns". Among these, the Trinity series stands out, starred by the iconic Bud Spencer and Terence Hill.

In a few of these movies, Billy the Kid and Django stand out as featured characters, as well as many others, like Bat Masterson, Buffalo Bill, and Butch Cassidy.

The fact is, we grew watching these movies and TV shows centered around "outlaws", as they were called. Fliptown represents this theme well, and, at the same time, brings us a lot of nostalgia.

Let's play this game!

Fliptown is a board game played with 1 to 4 players, for ages 14 and up, by designer Steven Aramini. Its artwork was created by Naomi Ferrall.

Fliptown was released in 2023 by Write Stuff Games, and was released in Brazil in that same year by Mosaico Jogos. It's a "paper and pen" game.

Oh, and here's something nice: as you might have noticed, you can play it by yourself. You'll play against a Cowbot (bot enemies), and it's quite cool!

And there's more: the base game includes "The Outskirts" expansion.

Let's go through the game itself!

Fliptown is what we can call a game with many micro games built-in. This "wild west" theme fit the game itself perfectly, and it was clear the designers knew how to get the most out of it.

It is all very simple and intuitive in Fliptown, even though you'll have to pay attention to several details. It all starts when a player takes one card out of the main deck and sets it aside (this is a normal deck of cards, but in the Fliptown aesthetic). This will be their sheriff. Then, on each turn, you'll flip over 3 other cards, that will be open for all players.

With these three cards, you'll make some choices, and then the game's strategy will start to make sense. One of them will be your Suit Card, another will be your Value Card, and the last one will be your Poker Card.

You'll have to play a Poker game, so don't fight it: you'll have 5 turns to build your Poker hand, and then score points according to your final hand. Now, the other two cards (value and suit) have other roles, and this is when the game gets interesting!

Your first card, the Suit Card, indicates where your character will take their actions. The suit of hearts is the "trail" of discoveries, the spade, pillaging the "badlands" and committing thefts, the diamonds, the "mine", and the club, the "town". It's that simple!

Now, the value of the card (their number) will tell you exactly where in these places you'll go, and that's where the fun is because these decisions will affect the entire game. Imagine that early on you chose the 7 of hearts. That means you'll go to the trail of discoveries on site 7, but, if you go straight there and make your discoveries, you'll be automatically leaving behind six other places with other discoveries.

You have the option, even if it is the 7 of Hearts, to go anywhere below seven, and that is incredibly helpful; just keep in mind that if you leave something behind, you can't get it back ever again. These are the decisions you'll make in Fliptown. I, myself, particularly loved it!

If you pick spades, you'll commit crimes in the badlands - that's the name of the place, and the card's value will tell you what to steal. The fact is, you can't just get there and steal something; you'll have to check if you managed to steal or rob successfully, and, if you fail, there will be consequences. Regardless of this outcome, your Wanted status will go up. That's right, there are some decisions in Fliptown that make your Wanted status go up more and more. That's life in the Wild West!

This also happens in town and the mine, according to the suit and value you picked. But the most important question is still unanswered: what if I don't have a good set of suits and value? Simple, don't go to any location. It's time to go to the graveyard and dig up some treasures, that is, raid the place. I found that incredible!

Obviously, pillaging the graveyard has consequences, but everything is fixable. Making friends with the gravedigger helps, as does a shovel. Get what you can over there because that's your alternative if you don't want to go anywhere else.

And, of course, every place you visit will give you a different bonus that will make you more efficient in other places you visit. So stack these bonuses, and use them wisely as you need them.

I'll stress that everything, yes, actually everything, in Fliptown, is highly flavorful: you can steal cattle, chickens, and raid several other places. In the trail of discoveries, there are many useful bonuses, in the mine, a lot of gold and other goodies, but it's in town, that, in my opinion, the gameplay shines.

You can go up to the church to make a donation and thus lower your Wanted status with a good deed. You can obviously buy guns, have fun at the Saloon, sell gold, or, if you're brave enough, go down to the Sheriff's office and have a 1-on-1 with them. Or use the hotel, buy horses, hide, make bets, and much more. I consider the town the most fun place in the entire game!

After 5 turns, you'll have a full hand for your Poker game, so you'll mark down your score and get money and victory points. At the end of this turn, it's time for the Sheriff to arrest outlaws. You'll compare the value of the first card you set aside (the Sheriff), with each player's Wanted value, and then you'll know who was arrested and who escaped.

If you're arrested, depending on the round, you'll have to pay your bond, and lose some victory points. That's everyday life for an outlaw!

This is a round of Fliptown, and you get 3 of them per game!

At the end of the 3rd round, that is, after 15 turns, the game ends, and you'll mark down your scores like so:

1 point for each star you got.

Whoever has more points, wins! If it's a tie, the player with the smaller Wanted status wins. If it's still a tie, you'll check who has more gold, and then who has more money (if you need to). If it's still a tie, players share the victory.

It's that simple!

Strategies

There's a lot going on at all times in Fliptown, so pay attention to these tips! The best thing to do as you play this game is to create an efficient resource "machine"!

Well, I'll start by saying something to those people who always complain about card RNG, and swear that everything is always decided by luck. Fliptown mitigates a lot of this randomness by letting you change the suits and value in your cards with gold and money. So, use that to your favor to go where you want to go, and know that everything gives you resources.

The fruits of your robberies will give you money to buy things in town, and believe me, everything costs money. Not to mention, after some raids and robberies, you'll get bonuses according to your outlaw reputation. That's the rule of the land in Fliptown; know how to balance your outlaw reputation with your Wanted status!

You also need to keep an eye on the mine. The deeper you dig, the more gold you'll have to sell in town or score points at the end of the game. It is always great to have some gold in hand to trade with.

The trail of discoveries has many advantages, from bonus actions to getting rid of your outlaw reputation while you travel and don't commit crimes. You might just be forgotten, and then your Wanted status will go down, which is great!

The town represents countless possibilities. You may just redeem yourself, or hide away when you need to. Maybe do some good deeds for the church, which will give you some perks, sell your gold, buy a bandana so you don't get recognized when you rob a place, have fun at the Saloon, or the local hotels. All of this will give you bonuses. so don't ignore the town!

The graveyard is also a good option, but be careful because pillaging the graveyard attracts a lot of attention. It's all worth it, so it's up to you to balance it all out. And, before I forget, you'll also have some broad goals to achieve that will give whoever completes them first more points. You'll get less points if you were the last to do them.

There's also the Poker game, which may give you a lot of money and victory points. This is when you should keep an eye on your opponent's Poker cards to build a better hand than theirs, and win the match. It is important to choose your Poker card well, as this is a highly strategic decision.

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Knowing how to balance all of these decisions will make you the most successful outlaw in the whole Wild West!

Use your abilities and strategies, get rid of the Sheriff, and have fun in Fliptown!

Unboxing, Rules, and Gameplay Videos

Enjoy this unboxing:

Check out this video covering the rules:

See some gameplay:

Teaching Moments and Final Words

Fliptown, without a question, works out many abilities, to name a few: your focus, math skills, strategies, resource management, decision-making, and many others.

You'll have to pay attention and focus at all times because keeping an eye on your card options and deciding where you want to go every turn is essential to get the most out of your card's suit and value.

This is the perfect segue for decision-making, as, of course, any time you pick something, you'll be leaving something behind. This might be difficult at times, but it is a great opportunity to show kids (and adults) that every decision is difficult. You should still make them, and bear their consequences and the frustrations they create.

You'll also have to use your math skills, either when you play the Poker match, or when you work out the card values and where they'll take you. Getting more experience in a location by using the value of your cards may make a lot of sense, but how much this will give you in terms of money or gold is something you should calculate.

Managing all of these resources is also essential; you may swap gold for points or keep them to mitigate your luck, for instance. So, managing your resources makes all the difference in the world in Fliptown.

Finally, last but not least, you need to manage all of this as wisely as you can to get the most out of your actions each turn. Some of them will give you other bonuses, and this might let you make more than one action per turn. Believe me, this makes a difference!

The main lessons in Fliptowns are: keep your focus, pay attention to your strategy at all times, and know how to bear the consequences of your choices. These are immeasurable life lessons!

I highly recommend you add Fliptown to your collection!!