Explorers

Cross off landscapes on your own map, but every choice risks walling you in.

Designer: Phil Walker-Harding
Published by: Ravensburger

Explorers (2021) is a quick paper-and-pencil game of crossing off landscapes on a map you build yourself. At the start you and the other explorers each place four landscape tiles (grasslands, water, desert, mountains) and three scoring tiles in your game frame, then set out from your starting village. You flip an exploration card showing two landscapes, choose one, and cross off three spaces ahead of your current position. Everyone else then decides whether to settle for two crosses on that landscape or switch and mark three. All crosses must touch orthogonally, so a hasty choice can trap you. It is a 2021 game, about 20 minutes, one to four players.

Build your own map from landscape tilesTwo crosses or three: choose after seeing the cardSpecial action per checked box

Who it's for

You like pencil-and-paper puzzles with a tight shape-planning edge and want a game for a coffee break.

Not for you if…

You dislike drawing or want rich interaction. It is a personal puzzle, and your opponents mostly shape the cards, not your map.

Vibe's take

Light, thoughtful and quick. You squint at your map, calculate where three crosses can fit, and gasp when a choice blocks you.