Flip 'n' write journeys
Explorers is a 1-4 player flip-and-write game in which you are traveling through a fantasy world, searching for gems and lost temples. It is currently available in German stores and will be released in the rest of Europe in April. US availability will presumably follow.
You start the game with your personal player board, three scoring tiles (for provisions, gems, and villages), 8 terrain tiles, and a dry erase marker. You select 4 terrain tiles to place before you as your starting map, and mark the village from which you will begin your journey. Then, you choose one of four terrain types (prairie, water, desert, or mountain), and mark 3 spaces with an X, starting from your village. Each X must be marked next to the village or another X.
The game takes place over 4 rounds, of 7 turns each. When playing solo, at the start of rounds 2, 3, and 4, you cross out the highest points for temples that have not been explored. On each turn, you draw the top card from the Exploration deck, and choose to either mark 3 Xs of the terrain shown on the bottom of the card on your player board, or 2 Xs of the terrain shown on the top part of the card. The Xs should be marked vertically or horizontally next to an existing X.
Some spaces on the board will provide bonuses (e.g. keys will open temples, horses let you mark any type of terrain, gems and temples give you points, and provisions are needed for your provision scoring tile). At the end of the game, you tally up your score and compare it with the table given in the rulebook.
So, is a flip-and-write game basically a roll-and-write game that uses cards instead of dice?