Send Help, I Can’t Stop Playing ‘Root: Digital Edition’
I think it’s time to admit Root is a game I prefer to be digital than cardboard, and I’m not afraid who knows it.
Root is an amazing board game. It’s an asymmetrical wargame with tons of resource management, unique player powers and playstyles, and a plethora of ways to play. Plus, the adorable art style of Kyle Ferrin is truly iconic. Plus, his top Spotify track this year was Blow by Kesha, so he knows what tf is up.
Quick Root Overview
In Root, each player controls a faction of anthropomorphic animals who are waging a war in The Woodlands. There’s the regal, bureaucratic, and avian Eryie Dynasty, who are defending the realm they have ruled for generations, despite how often the ruler is overthrown by their own people.
Their main wartime adversary is the Marquise de Cat, a visionary of industry or an invading colonizer, depending on who you ask.
Meanwhile, the Woodland Alliance is a group of rebels tired and frustrated by the war and just want to return The Woodlands to the people, but aren’t afraid to use some explosive persuasion, even when other members of the Alliance don’t agree.
Finally, the Vagabonds are mercenaries and adventurers who hide in the deep parts of the forest and mostly attend to their own needs but will ally with the other factions until something better comes along.
It’s hard to summarize how Root plays as a game since every faction plays completely differently. They each have their own mechanics and systems. The Eyrie are playing an action programming game. The Marquise are playing a colony building simulator. The Alliance is playing a game of reverse Pandemic. And The Vagabond is playing a single-player dungeon-crawling RPG.
Despite all this, the game is wonderfully balanced and a ton of fun to play. It’s easily in my top games of all time.
Why Root is Better as a Digital Game
No game is perfect. Root isn’t fiddly, per se, but it does have a lot of rules and restrictions. For example, the Vagabond can use one of their boot items to move into another clearing. However, if they attacked another faction at all during the game, then it costs an additional boot to move into a clearing if any of that faction’s units are present. It’s super easy to forget.
The Eyrie are, by design, very structured in the actions they can take, and it’s super easy to slip up and take a whole turn before realizing you have to backtrack your entire turn because you took an illegal action. Plus, they occasionally go into turmoil and have to clear their action board. When that happens, they lose a victory point for every card of a specific suit they had on their board.
These are just some examples of things that are very easy to make a mistake with. But you know what doesn’t make mistakes? Computers.
Root is better as a digital game because the game flows so much better. There’s no worrying about tokens, movement rules, card costs, or building requirements. Nothing. The game handles all of that for you. You just get to play. Of course, you lose the social element, but as a solo board gamer, I never had that to begin with.
No, I’m fine. No, you stop crying.
So Now What?
If you enjoy Root at all or think you might get the digital game. It’s only about the cost of a cup of coffee (amirite?) and is available on Android and Apple. It has online support and even asynchronous multiplayer. They also have challenges you can play with fun additional rules, a great tutorial mode, and all the expansions.
Now, to finally send this article to my editor so I can go play another round.
