Back to Red Rising and an Exploration of the Solo Mode
Explore a versatile and diverse range of characters with different abilities to create optimal scoring opportunities in Red Rising.
One of the game boxes that often catches my eye is that of Red Rising, which has been sitting on a shelf rather patiently for years! I remembered playing long ago and not quite reaching the highest difficulty levels. Finally, I felt ready to return to this world for a lot of interesting card combinations and abilities. Maybe this is an indicator I should also read the books!
Game Overview
Game Name: Red Rising
Publication Year: 2021
Designers: Alexander Schmidt & Jamey Stegmaier
Artists: Jacqui Davis, Miles Bensky, & Justin Wong
Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Cards offer abilities, as well as scoring bonuses. Figuring out when to use each one is a challenge, as a final hand is what everything comes down to. Fleet strength, influence, and accumulated helium are only some of the sources of victory points. So many strategies that might rise to the top!
First Play
June 26, 2021
Complexity
2
Latest Play
March 1, 2026
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
12
Play Time
20 Minutes
High Score
305
Game Area
32" x 16"
Low Score
200
Difficult Decisions
As I returned to the rules, I immediately remembered how to play. The sequence isn’t particularly challenging, yet there are a lot of decision points that aren’t obvious.
The different locations have their own bonuses, but the card deployment abilities typically make the most sense.
Figuring out which ones to build up and save for final scoring was interesting. A lot of the time, I wanted to deploy and score some cards! Which I actually did a few times.
Gameplay was quick, with a solo mode that took seconds to run each round. It was a very fun game to return to at last!
Making It All Work
I particularly enjoyed the way my strategy had to evolve with every new card that was revealed. My starting cards gave me some direction, but they weren’t the only options.
Early on in this play, I picked up Uncle Narol and knew I wanted to use his scoring condition as my central goal. I did it, but low core values may not have been the best option.
There were a few laughs when I realized I followed a scoring strategy… On a card I no longer had. Ha! Still, excellent fun.
And the variety! There was a lot of inherent luck, yet I found ways to stay flexible with my decisions and card options.
A Visit from Nanny
Aww! It was difficult to find any cards that felt like they aligned with my Calico Critters, especially this koala family.
Success, though! There was a very pleasant nanny card in the deck, and someone was definitely playing up those duties. Coziness still exists on the fringes of space. Ha ha!
It took me a little time to wrap my head around the best ways to pair cards together. I labeled my plays with the highest difficulty level I could defeat… Which wasn’t always.
Indeed, I managed to lose at the first difficulty level. That took effort to score poorly. Nanny! I needed comforting. Ha!
Focusing on Blue
During some plays, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. My starting hand felt like it was all over the place. Only when cards were added to the locations did I figure it out. A-ha!
Although it was a little risky at first, I managed to focus on a variety of blue cards for a pretty great final score. And there was Darrow, a central character to the book series.
I read part of the series long ago, and only remember pieces of it. Still, it was fun to recognize a lot of the card names!
My house ability was also neat, allowing me to focus on helium, and I liked how these changed up the game slightly.
Welcome Back: The Low Pressure Shelf of Games
With so many solo games to choose from, it can be overwhelming to choose what to bring to my table. And that applies to the visual sense, too: My house has games neatly organized on shelves, yet they’re everywhere! It can be hard to resist a feeling of guilt for not playing them all often enough. Since they’ve been organized, though, I mostly see possibilities.
There are the unplayed games waiting to be opened and discovered. There are the mediocre games I vaguely remember, but want to spend a little time with to understand them. And then there are the older favorites, which often get played the least, but are guaranteed to be enjoyable. I appreciate being able to return to older games that don’t have a ton of rules.
I didn’t spend too much time re-learning this set of rules. Instead, I saw how I needed to work on my skills! This is more about working out the best strategies. In time, I hope to improve, but there’s no pressure… Just some more fun to be had!
“Excellent” Scores
The rulebook provides a general sense of a great score… So if I label mine as “excellent,” feel free to draw your own conclusions. Ha ha! I still had a great time strategizing.
As I played, I got more familiar with the deck, thereby giving me a sense of what I might be on the lookout for.
Despite some lackluster scores, I still managed to put together useful scoring criteria most of the time. The gold cards were useful, but not necessarily always the best.
Little stories popped up in the end about my final hand, like this play that was clearly all about finance and wealth!
Diplomatic Tensions
With the helpful diplomat card, I scored well during a play. But what a job! I had more koalas visit to inspect the helium.
Suffice to say it went over poorly, and before long, everyone was about to fall or jump in as if this was some sort of ball pit or something. Goodness! Notice the panicked diplomat.
Not a lot of components exist beyond the cards, yet helium can be a powerful strategy. Since it aligned with my house ability, I typically had the most of it at the end of each play.
Over and over I played, enjoying all of the interactions on the scoring cards and quick play time. Glad I played again!
Session Overview
Play Number: 5-12
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Difficulty Levels 1-4
Outcome: 6 Wins & 2 Losses
I managed to get close to my personal best score, but that was apparently my ceiling! There are still more difficulty levels to try to win against. Seeing everything come together was great, as I picked up on some subtle strategies to influence when the end of the game triggered. It was an excellent time, and I hope to remember to get this back to my solo table soon! Very enjoyable and challenging.
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- All sorts of strategies exist when it comes to creating a hand with scoring conditions that complement each other.
- Choosing how to use a card for its ability or scoring criteria is an interesting and ever-changing decision point.
- Only some of the cards are used with each play, introducing new strategies and plenty of variety in how to score.
- It takes very little time to manage the solo opponent, which is mostly about taking away opportunities.
- Every card is unique with excellent artwork and text that encourages a consideration of every available option.
- The sequence of play is easy to follow with important choices and straightforward rules for actions to take.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Some degree of luck is involved with finding the best scoring conditions and cards that work well together.
- Keeping the cards neatly aligned and overlapped on the board locations can be a little tedious and hard to manage.
- There is a fair amount of text to read and understand, which can noticeably slow down gameplay during some rounds.
- The card stands are nice but don’t comfortably hold a lot of cards without overlapping them and hiding crucial text.
Victory Conditions
Defeat the Solo Opponent
- Overall Goal Progress 71%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 300 points.
Win at least 1 game at difficulty level 1.
Win at least 1 game at difficulty level 2.
Win at least 1 game at difficulty level 3.
Win at least 1 game at difficulty level 4.
Score at least 350 points.
Win at least 1 game at difficulty level 5.
Continue the Conversation
What is your favorite thing about Red Rising? Have you discovered a great card combination, or an awesome way to score well? I’m excited to dig into this one some more with many more plays! The randomness can make high scores difficult, yet I loved adjusting each round to make the most of the available cards. I just need to get better at… Rising my scores. Ha ha!
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