Finding a Story Through Sketching with Flip Pick Towers
Sketch a new home for a set of picky, eccentric royals with their own personalities as a castle takes shape in Flip Pick Towers.
It’s a pretty rare occasion for me to pick up a new solo game these days, as crowdfunding deliveries never seem to let up! Yet I was intrigued by the concept of Flip Pick Towers and couldn’t resist. This is a flip-and-write game, although it’s more about sketching. No actual drawing skills are required, though. I got everything set up to go so I could start building!
Game Overview
Game Name: Flip Pick Towers
Publication Year: 2026
Designers: Rob Fisher & Adam Porter
Artist: Beatrix Papp
Publisher: Osprey Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
This is all about flipping a trio of cards, picking one to use, and sketching away! Towers start to form and can be filled with the royals themselves, or other elements like bags of gold and windows. Watch out for the dragon attacks! Lots of variety exists as a story takes shape, along with the castle.
First Play
July 12, 2026
Complexity
2
Latest Play
July 12, 2026
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
1 Hour
High Score
219
Game Area
20" x 18"
Low Score
191
Royal Requirements
I originally thought it would be limiting to have the same queen, king, and princess, but the variety exists in their scoring cards! This deck contains 33 unique conditions.
While building the towers is a crucial element, the royals are often a major source of victory points. And no worries: Due to a magical blip, duplicates of them can and do show up!
The little biographies made me laugh a bit, too, as I could see how I could apply the scoring cards to each royal.
I was excited! This looked to be a little more involved, yet it was precisely what I was looking for during a quiet day.
The First Round
Gameplay involves going through the deck of 66 cards twice, with a scoring phase after each round. That leaves 22 picks per round, and I was pretty proud of this early castle.
Floors are added in a way where stability matters: Higher values need to go on the lower areas. I managed to add a roof, too! And notice King Llew hanging out… Twice. Ha!
The first dragon arrived early and settled on a very low tower. No more building there, although that was OK.
I liked how my beanstalks surrounded another tower, which started to hold the gold needed to lure in the dragons.
Calico Critters Tower
My own little tower took shape years ago! This Calico Critters building is stacked up with a number of rooms, which seemed quite fitting to pair with this game.
The royals had their own actors, and Princess Dillie seemed to celebrate the slaying of a dragon. Goodness! No harm done, as you might notice someone lurking in a window!
Gameplay was surprisingly interesting, and I had such a nice time flipping over the cards to make my next choice.
My one note of caution is for the play time, which is on the longer side. I lost track of the minutes as I got immersed.
The Final Llewmare
All done! This was an excellent first play, and my score was reasonably close to the threshold for the most challenging difficulty level, which was set by the scoring card values.
Such a delightful space, too! It was all about King Llew, though. He wanted to be in the tallest tower, and I achieved that… But also used a bridge to connect to another tower.
With the last card, I added another Queen Blodwen, which tied her with the king for the most victory points.
It made me laugh about how vain he was and how he pouted over not being the most important royal. A Llewmare. Ha!
Unexpected Storytelling Through Sketches
As I settled into gameplay, my assumption was that this was going to be a whimsical flip-and-write with a few interesting decisions and strategies. It didn’t seem like it would be memorable on the surface, and yet how wrong I was! Every turn felt like a little piece of the story as the towers grew. Royals showed up to take up their residences, adding to my ongoing tales.
The dragons offered interesting moments, too, either when they landed on the tops of towers or stole a bag of gold! Even planning for their arrival was neat, as I pictured why the gold bags were stored in different parts of the castle. I don’t consider myself to be amazingly artistic, yet this gave me a chance to try to add a little character in my sketches. So fun!
A lot of similar games have a space to name a sheet at the end, and this is something I often ignore or come up with a fairly mundane phrase for. In both of these plays, the name reflected the ongoing story and made the towers feel like my own. I was surprised by how much I got invested in building everything, and will now expect the unexpected the next time I play!
Fun with Dillie-Duped
Since I never erased anything and only needed to color in the gold bags, I switched over to some of my Staedtler markers to match the color scheme for another play.
Very nice! It was great to see the different scoring cards, along with the delightful illustrations. My own art wasn’t exactly great, but I felt like I told a story through sketching.
This time, Princess Dillie was the star as I leaned into her grouchiness and put copies of her everywhere I could!
Hence… Dillie-Duped. Ha ha! I was almost sad when this ended, as I was having such a wonderful time drawing.
A Leaning Tower…
There it is! A Calico Critters tower in all its glory. Although after careful inspection, it looks like it leans ever so slightly. Call in the magical architects for a stability check! Ha ha!
If you’d like a small activity, see if you can spot all 5 Calico Critters in this photo. They’re all there, and no one fell over!
For the amount of effort to haul this structure to my solo table, it should be clear how much I enjoyed this game! It kept me engaged and I was very happy with my sketches.
It’s not always the case that a flip-and-write creates little stories that are quite memorable, but this one succeeded!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 & 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 219, 191 (2 Losses)
I only counted these as losses since I was aiming for the tricky rosettes score threshold. Such a lovely time! The choices were fun and challenging in just the right sort of way. Different creatures also offered great abilities to use at any time, and filling up the market stalls helped add more decor to the towers. I know the play time took a little bit, but I was never bored and even forgot about lunch for a few hours while I played. Totally immersed, and it was great!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
10
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
+ Pros (Positives)
- Gameplay is easy to understand and has a nice depth of strategies based on the scoring cards and current choices.
- Building and filling up the towers doesn’t require drawing skills, yet the final arrangement can look rather artistic.
- There is a lot of variety in the scoring cards and the order of the cards, making each play feel just a little different.
- A story often takes shape as the turns progress, ranging from dragon visits to the reason for the royals’ preferences.
- The artwork is charming and fits the theme perfectly, inviting a bit of sketching to augment the lovely illustrations.
- Choices aren’t always obvious with the need to plan for later turns or decide between a couple of excellent options.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The play time is on the longer side, and although it doesn’t drag on, this is a lengthier sort of flip-and-write game.
- A few of the rules aren’t as clear as they could be in the rulebook, but a lot of the answers can be found on the forum.
- It makes sense pretty quickly, yet the magical creature abilities can be easy to mix up with the placement of the text.
- Bad luck with the cards can be frustrating, such as when a dragon shows up too early or the options can’t be used.
Victory Conditions
Meet the Tricky Rosettes Score Threshold
- Overall Goal Progress 33%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 200 points.
Score at least 220 points.
Win at least 1 game at the tricky rosettes difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Flip Pick Towers? Have you come across a particularly interesting set of scoring cards? I figured this one would be a nice activity for a flip-and-write, but it turned out to be much better than I expected! The little ongoing story kept me focused on each decision as I put together these properly named castles. Ha! Lots more plays to come!
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