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About Cartographers
Cartographers is a flip-and-write in which every player draws the same terrain shapes onto their own map at the same time. Four seasons each score against two of four secret objectives, so you are always optimising for a moving target. The ambush cards, which force you to draw an opponent's monster onto your own map, keep it from being pure solitaire.
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Is Cartographers Right for You?
Best for
Cartographers is the flip-and-write to own if you want one. It scales to essentially any number of players without slowing down, since everyone draws simultaneously, and the rotating edict cards mean the scoring puzzle genuinely changes between games. Good for families, good for gamers, and excellent solo.
Maybe skip it if…
Interaction is limited to the occasional ambush, so it is largely parallel solitaire. Players who dislike the mild randomness of what shapes appear, or who want to interfere with opponents, will find it thin.
How to Play Cartographers
Setup
Give every player a map sheet and a pencil. Lay out four scoring cards, one per edict slot. Shuffle the explore deck with the ambush cards.
On Your Turn
- Reveal one explore card showing a shape and terrain type; every player draws it on their own map simultaneously.
- Choose which of the offered shape-and-terrain combinations to use, and where to place it.
- When an ambush appears, pass your sheet and let a neighbour draw the monster on it.
How to Win
After four seasons, score each against its two edicts plus coins, minus squares adjacent to monsters. Highest total wins.
💡 Strategy Tips
Read both of the season's edicts before your first placement. Optimising for one and discovering the other is how rounds go wrong.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Filling the map edges early. Corners and edges are the hardest places to fit later shapes, and a map that grows outward from the middle stays flexible.
- Ignoring the mountain coin bonuses. Surrounding a mountain scores coins that most new players never collect once.
- Forgetting that edicts overlap between seasons. An edict scored in spring often scores again in autumn, so building for it compounds.
- Leaving no room for monsters. Ambush cards are in the deck from the start and a full map takes the penalty at full price.
Advanced Strategy
- Build toward the two edicts that repeat across seasons rather than chasing the current pair. Repeats are where the big scores come from.
- Leave a deliberate ragged frontier rather than clean rectangles. Odd shapes need odd gaps.
- Take the smaller shape option when the coin bonus is on offer; a coin is usually worth more than the extra square.
- Place monsters against your own already-lost squares. Adjacency is what costs you, so putting a monster in a dead corner is nearly free.
Variants & House Rules
Cartographers Heroes
A standalone follow-up adding hero cards that counter monsters. Combinable with the original for a larger card pool.
Solo mode
Plays identically with a scoring target instead of opponents. One of the better solo flip-and-writes.
Video Guides
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Our Verdict
Cartographers is a genuinely clever scoring puzzle wrapped in the simplest possible format: a pencil, a sheet and a deck of shapes. The rotating edicts stop it going stale in a way most roll-and-writes cannot manage. If your group needs a game that works with two people or ten, this is a very safe purchase.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people can actually play?
As many as you have sheets for, because everyone draws simultaneously. In practice four to six is where it feels best.
Is Cartographers or Welcome To better?
Cartographers has more spatial freedom and rotating scoring; Welcome To is tighter and more about pushing your luck. Both are excellent and quite different.
Does it work solo?
Very well. You play against a target score with the same deck, and it is a common recommendation for solo players.