Railroad Ink Challenge - A Love Letter 

I initially read the video title as "Railroad Ink Challenge + Love Letter" and thought this was going to be an odd comparison.

I am loving your videos more and more...the care and attention to detail really shows. This one is like a warm sweater on a cold day.

So happy to see another review and one from NPI. I'm happy I backed it at the collectiors edition. My favorite like yours is the trails expansion with the lush green edition. Thank you for this and all your hard work on NPI.

I love railroad ink, I’ve been playing the app like crazy. I also love an NPI departure from the super heavy reviews to a lighter game. This was so lovely.

Love the comparison to doing morning crosswords! And the jazzy coffee shop music just closed that loop so well :)

I'm surprised you don't feel like the objectives or buildings feel "necessary" to Railroad Ink. I adore the base game, but I feel like those two additions cleverly solve some of my only gripes with the original. The buildings eliminate the rotational symmetry of the original game's board, which means that it actually matters where you build your first couple of routes. In the base game, building a road on the left side of the board is the same as building that road out of the top side of the board (similar to how choosing the left square in tic-tac-toe as your first move is the same as choosing the top square. If you rotate the board 90 degrees, you find that both gamestates are identical). Having the four edges of the board lead to slightly different bonus buildings is a supremely elegant way to make the first round of RRI feel less samey. I think the variable setup you get from the objective cards helps in this regard, as well. There's an extremely tiny RU-vid channel called "Win Games" that uploaded a video awhile ago that describes a "super structure" for the base game. It doesn't quite "solve" Railroad Ink, but it does prescribe a handful of patterns that will consistently produce higher scores than other approaches. The objective cards force you out of this rut, and give you a reason to think critically and explore new "structures" for each new game. That being said, I do think I prefer the die faces from the base game over the odd shapes in RRI Challenge. There's a certain purity to the routes in the base game that I didn't feel warranted much re-tooling.

Top quality dog content! The outdoors b-roll footage delighted me.

I loved the slow panning shots. It really fit the laid back nature of the video.

Very happy I jumped on the kickstarter for this, so many great options. It is a real comfort game, relaxing and a joy to play both solo and with others. Great video.

I love Railroad Ink, but I only have the Blue Version and I have never felt the need to go any further despite many plays :)

This is the game I bring to holiday, bars, coffee shops, anywhere. It barely even requires a table to play, if even at all if you're creative enough. This is a game I have been playing since release non stop and that won't change anytime soon

10:05. props on a nice kaleidoscope visual effect! And overall, I'm getting impressed by how much your photography has improved when making b-roll and background shots of your games.

One edition is more than enough for a game from time to time. Hail to the completionists!

I am quite happy with just my blue version. I never fell in love with the game, but it is fun.

Thank you so much for the shout out! And such a lovely video makes me wish for rainy weekends inside with nothing else to do. 🥰🖤

You sold me - I just purchased the app, and if I love it half as much as you said I'm getting the game.

"Sudoku, but better!" I agree if all you are familiar with are the sudoku's in the daily papers. But mMay I direct your attention to the wonderful channel of Cracking the Cryptic where 2 top notch solvers solve lovingly handcrafted and always interesting sudoku's. The puzzles and the presentation are absolutely wonderful!

Calming jazz was a nice touch

I hope you hit 100,000! NPI is one of my favorite channels

Loved the video and your dog! Subscribed!

Once again, a wonderful and pleasing review with some deep analysis. My hat to you sir. More and more, I hope that your critical thinking would some day stumble unto the COIN serie or others GMT titles. I would truely like to hear your toughts on more historical games since your wonderful review of Pax Pamir. Btw, there is now a PAX game on Vikings where they are seen mostly as merchants and explorers, if the tought of that can tickle your mind!

great video, I can feel the love for this perfect little game, and always wanted a piece ... and even after Brewster's review I still wanted to play all the expansions 🤓👍👌

You just made an app and boardgame sale in the same video. As always I loved the content!

A great video about the one of the best dry erase - train - dice games ever made.

Love love love this game!... and the art..

Immediate download of the app, while I try to rationalise the physical collection (which is genuinely tiny, but expanding beyond limits for a non-core hobby)

That review felt smooth as silk, and as warm and inviting as a feather down duvet.

The app replaced the physical version of this game for me. IT'S SO GOOD! Thanks, guys. Great review.

Pleasingly chill vibes this week. This video is the thematic opposite of the baseball.

i also found Nottingham to be devoid of good parks. I seem to remember 1 by the hospital but thats about it

Very focused & informative, esp. contrasting with tom's wild & expansive review.

Engaging for that sweet algorithm, great vid as always!

Hope you are settling into Nottingham well. Have you found the Dice Cup cafe yet?

Puzzles inside of puzzles!

Subscribed!

I just played this and fell in love

Lovely.

I ❤️ NPI!

I thought I was seeing things when I saw Harpenden appear

It’s so hard to find the blue version of this now

I like my yellow version. there, I said it! No matter what other people say

What a lovely, laid back video. Makes me want to drink coffee while watching the rain. And maybe dust off the copy of Railroad Ink. Edited to add: The B-roll is masterfully shot. It ties everything together so well.

Algorythm

Why are there so many train games? I'll never get it.

Does your green version also say 'Pair this with Shinning Yellow Version' on the back 🙄🙄🙄

100k

I love susd and yours review, it's kind of a pity you are covering the same game, because I would get to know more games through your eyes. Great job as usual!

You probably don't want to have your dogs off leash in a forest. Far too many animals get sick or injured offleash in those areas.

You didn't even use a lined dice bowl you monster?!

Waiting for the Spicy Purple edition of Railroad Ink.