Paperback Adventures: A Tale of Letters with Plothook
Make words from letter cards to battle lackeys and bosses throughout an exciting, connected story in Paperback Adventures.
When I first played Paperback Adventures, it didn’t quite click for me and I was pretty sure I wanted to move it out of my collection. However, finding all of the boxes again made me interested in checking it out again… And even my husband wanted to try it out solo! So I dug deep to hone my word-crafting skills to start on another wordy adventure!
Game Overview
Game Name: Paperback Adventures
Publication Year: 2022
Designers: Tim Fowers and Skye Larsen
Artist: Ryan Goldsberry
Publisher: Fowers Games
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
As a main character, the goal is to form words from a deck of letters. These offer different abilities, but the top letter becomes exhausted… And the lackeys and bosses are quite challenging over a trio of books! It can be quite the fun experience to find ways to form words at the last second.
First Play
November 13, 2022
Complexity
2
Latest Play
June 20, 2023
Expansions
3
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
6
Play Time
15 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
32" x 22"
Low Score
N/A
Playing as Plothook
The humor and puns are simply amazing throughout all of the components! However, note that at least 2 boxes are required to play: The main box, and a character box.
I set out to adventure as Plothook, a pretty awesome pirate with a parrot. Each character’s deck functions differently through unique abilities, which is pretty awesome!
One of my biggest complaints used to be the size of the metal trackers, which are a little too large for the spaces.
However, the publisher offered replacements at a slightly smaller size, and I can say that these work so much better!
Lots of Unused Cards
Alas, I ran into the same issues as before. It looks like there is so much content, but any new cards are few and far between. Letters rarely change or upgrade.
In this entire area, the shop on the right never came into play. Had I kept going after the first boss, a little more would have happened, but nothing changed that much.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, except that setup takes a little bit of time to get everything laid out and placed.
My words were a little varied, but I was usually more concerned with the icons than making clever words.
Splaying Letter Cards
The main decision is whether to splay cards left or right, as this provides a different set of icons. Typically, one side is focused on attack and the other on defense.
As silly as it might sound, I even struggled to figure out the proper way to align the cards. The top card must be exhausted, but it also offers its special ability.
Most of my words were about 4-5 letters long. Nothing jumped out as strategic: I just made the letters work.
The frustrating part was when I drew most of the vowels. Letters can’t be kept between rounds, so that was tricky.
It’s Mummy Time
I still loved the general idea behind the game, its vintage artwork, and the fun in imagining these battles! Sadly, it fell short for me again for the same reasons.
Interestingly, my husband tried it out for the first time while it was still set up. Verdict… Absolutely loved it!
Comparing it to Slay the Spire might make sense, as that was what he really liked about it. Truth be told, I’m only lukewarm on that game, which might explain my opinion.
There is certainly something great here for the right solo player. I guess there’s only one of those in this house. Ha!
Understanding Why a Solo Game Doesn’t Click
My preferences are entirely subjective and by no means represent anything more than my own tastes in games. This sometimes makes me feel like an outlier when I don’t enjoy a game that has generally positive reviews. At the same time, I’m getting more comfortable with sharing negative reviews… Not because I like to focus on the bad, though!
This isn’t a post meant to make it seem like this is a terrible game. On the contrary, I have first-hand evidence that someone in my household loves it! It’s more a matter of explaining why the game doesn’t work for me and taking those preferences seriously. This helps cut down on my purchases of similar games I likely won’t enjoy from the start.
First, I’ve watched my husband play Slay the Spire and although I can see that he enjoys it, there isn’t anything there that interests me all that much. That’s OK! Yet this game is often compared to it, so it’s no surprise it didn’t click. Second, I enjoy making words, but strongly dislike getting caught up with rules and other elements while doing so.
Third, if I’m going to see all of this new content that might be added to my character, I want to be able to use a fair amount of it during a single play. Everything here just teased me! And finally, rulebook clarity is becoming a major consideration for me. I learn and play new games all the time, and I need that process to be easy and clear.
So there were definitely some personal elements working against this game from the start. I still wanted to give it another chance, though, and am glad I did! It’s now reserved for my husband, and maybe he’ll convince me to try it again someday. For now, I’m happy I gave it another chance with this session and will let my husband enjoy it.
Session Overview
Play Number: 5 and 6
Expansion: Paperback Adventures: Plothook
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
Play Details: Book 1
Outcome: 2 Wins
The boss battle did come down to the last turn, which made it pretty exciting! I do think that the game system can be quite challenging and fun. It’s just not for me, although I still appreciate what it’s trying to do. Plus, I love the humor and style of art! Even when I don’t like a game that much, I still try to find some of its positives.
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
4
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
4
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
6
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
5
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the artwork has a very cohesive vintage sort of feel to it, which adds to the atmosphere of feeling like a book.
- Different lackeys and bosses function very differently with their abilities, creating some interesting challenges.
- A wild card is always available to help create words when the letter cards don’t include a good mix of options.
- The publisher offers a fix for the original metal trackers, which helps make the trays a lot easier to use.
- Crafting words can be a fun experience and is a very unique way to battle enemies in a narrative setting.
- Despite being very few and far between, new items can add very interesting ways to change gameplay choices.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The rulebook is very lengthy with mostly text, some ambiguities, and a lot to remember for such a quick game.
- A full play will only involve adding or replacing a handful of cards, which can make the experience a bit static.
- Updated metal trackers make the trays easier to use, yet these feel overproduced and could have been cardboard.
- It makes sense to separate out characters, but the model of offering a single character per box feels superfluous.
Victory Conditions
Defeat the Lackey or Boss
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Complete book 1 as Ex Machina.
Complete book 1 as Plothook.
Complete book 2 as Ex Machina.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Paperback Adventures? It might not be a solo game that aligns with my tastes, yet I hope there are those out there who enjoy it! Do you have a favorite character? This would most likely be off to find a new home, but my husband had a great time, so here it shall remain. We’ll see how good his word-crafting skills are as he plays on. Ha!
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