title image

Cartographers

A Roll Player Tale

Ratings

Age

4+

Category

Board

Languages

English

Cartographers is the official app adaptation of the acclaimed Flip & Write game set in the Roll Player universe. Players act as royal cartographers, mapping territory for the Kingdom of Nalos. You must strategically place terrain shapes to meet the Queen's demands while countering the influence of the Dragul. Features solo and competitive modes with global high-score lists.

Dinsun Expert Review

Our Expert Score

89/100

Cartographers is a brilliant digital conversion of the award-winning 'Flip & Write' board game. As a royal mapmaker, your task is to draw shapes on a grid to meet specific royal edicts, and the app captures this tactical puzzle perfectly. Each turn reveals a terrain type and a shape; you must decide where to place it to maximize points while anticipating the 'Dragul' (monster) cards that your opponents (or the AI) will use to mess up your map. It’s a deep, strategic experience that feels like a cross between Tetris and a kingdom-building game.

The app offers three different modes, ranging from casual play to competitive weekly high-score lists where you can test your skills against players worldwide. The 'Flip & Write' mechanic works even better on a tablet than it does on paper, with an undo button and clear visual indicators for scoring. While the UI can be a bit cramped on smaller phone screens, it’s a flawless experience on iPad. It’s an 'Expert Game of the Year' nominee for a reason—it’s smart, challenging, and infinitely replayable.

Dinsun reviewed on: Thu Feb 26 2026

Features

1

Official 2020 Expert Game Nominee

2

Tactical Flip & Write Mechanics

3

Global Weekly Highscore Lists

4

Multiple Game Modes & Achievements

Tips & Walkthrough

Gameplays

Screenshot

screenshot 0screenshot 1screenshot 2screenshot 3screenshot 4screenshot 5screenshot 6screenshot 7screenshot 8screenshot 9screenshot 10screenshot 11screenshot 12screenshot 13screenshot 14

Q&A

Yes, 'Cartographers Heroes' is available as an in-app purchase to add new challenges.

Ratings & Reviews

Very buggy app
Sat Jul 05 2025 EnDahar

The gameplay is pretty good as this is a rather simple game but the app is so buggy it just makes it annoying. I’ve had: - the game be offset from where you click. In other words when I touched a spot in the screen, it would activate something two spots down (making the game near impossible to play). - when in the middle of a puzzle with special rules, if I had to go do something and the phone shut off, when I came back to the game the special rules part would have disappeared and the point system didn’t work. - now it’s just telling me I’m offline and can’t log in or register at all. My only option for play is the green gam and not yellow or red puzzles.

Missing a couple things
Sun Oct 18 2020 EdMcMuffin

First off, I am really enjoying this. I love playing the cartographers solo mode, so not having to bring the game with me places while still being able to play is great. I love the layout, it looks really great on the screen. Some minor things I hope will be added that haven’t been mentioned in other reviews. 1)I’d like the ability to see my rank after finishing the game. Getting my score and then going back to the rules to see my rank is not a huge issue, but something small that would increase my enjoyment. Part of what makes this solo mode special over other games is you have actual goals you are actively striving to reach. Having it front and center on the score card would be great. 2)the monster and skills packs. Some folks may not be familiar with these, but having the option to use them really adds something to the physical game. Even if I had to drop a little extra cash to get these packs would be fine. Especially the skills pack which has added a ton of fun for me while playing. Now one thing that has been mentioned that I would love... being able to play with other people. Pass and play, local play between multiple people with the app, or even an online mode. The hardest thing with this would be the passing the game to another player clockwise or counterclockwise. This could be fixed by just sending the players’ boards to a random player. Anyway, the game itself is wonderful and I seriously love playing, but with these additions and the bug fixes listed in other reviews would make this the perfect game for anyone into Roll and Write/Flip and Fill games!

The monsters are ridiculous
Wed Jan 05 2022 Ray, Ray, Ray

When I play with the physical game and the cards are truly random, I very rarely get more than one monster in a row or two per game. Occasionally, but not almost every time. It ruins the game. Sometimes 3 in a row, usually the last round. Sometimes early on… You either spend the majority of the game working around the monsters or they all come in the last round where you don’t have time to do anything. Complained about this a year ago. Forgot I had the game, started playing again and was reminded how bad it was. I see that others have complained about it too. It would be great if it weren’t for the monsters being so ridiculously over done… the other thing that happens a lot is getting ruins spaces right after the monsters where you can’t fill in the spaces properly: Randomly and Occasionally would be fine but this is almost every game. Also, a true option for multiplayer would be appreciated. I wonder if the developers even pay attention to our pleas given that the same concerns are echoed over and over.

A pretty decent solo experience
Wed Jan 14 2026 Rgs38

Cartographers is one of my favorite board games and I was so pumped to see an app version! It’s not the smoothest user experience (every time I have to re-log in it’s a struggle), and there are some features that would be nice additions or help with some quality of life, but overall, it’s not bad. The game is fun, the way the shapes show up when you click around the screen are helpful, and I’ve gotten to practice some strategies I wouldn’t normally think about for the next time I play the board game with friends. I hope that there are plans to add some of the other expansions/maps to the game. I play a few rounds on my commute and would love some more variety and challenge.

Love the game. The app needs a little work
Mon Aug 24 2020 Charoco71

Not a horrible implementation, but there a couple of issues. #1. There seems to be an issue with the randomization. It seems like about 80% of the time, the first monster card to be drawn is the three diagonal one, or otherwise it’s the one with two separate rectangles. I almost never see on of the other two unless I get three monsters in a game. #2. If there is a way to quit a game in the middle, I haven’t found it. I have to quit the app and restart. #3. Along that line, if I accidentally quit the app, there’s no option to resume a previously started game. #4. Some of the trophies don’t seem to work - I’ve definitely completed all 16 tasks but don’t have that trophy.

Awful Sound design
Thu Oct 26 2023 Convicsik

The app functions from a gameplay standpoint but this app has the most laughable sound design I’ve ever experienced, to the point it makes the game unenjoyable. First off, there is no background music or ambience. When something triggers in the game it will play these really bad audio samples that don’t fit the theme of the game at all and we’re clearly bought or resourced from a generic music collection. The worst offender which is lol hilarious is the music that plays when points are being counted, which for some bizarre reason is like a foreboding synth wave track that sounds like it came from a 1980s B rate slasher movie. Like why would you play that music for scoring lol. Very amateur effort. Would not recommend.

Very good game
Wed Sep 25 2024 WRS15743

Looks like bugs have been fixed, so I downloaded the app again, and I’m glad I did. It works very well. It’s challenging but still peaceful to play, just the right amount of tension. Definitely one of my favorite solo board game apps. It’s awesome when you get a high score, you feel like you really achieved something. All for a great price with no ads or IAP, and a small file size, and it’s good on battery too. Thank you developer for doing things right and keeping it updated. It’s very appreciated. I download your game Friday too. Also very good. Thank you!

Issues with App
Sat Sep 12 2020 Paper Isabel

I own this board game, and it’s a super fun game! Having said that, I think this app has some issues translating it to a digital play format. 1 - The App no longer lets me sign in. When I first opened it I made a login name and linked my e-mail to my login name. It worked fine. But a couple of days later, the app seems to have forgotten my login name, shows me as OFFLINE, and whenever I place in my e-mail it no longer sends me a confirmation e-mail to log in. This means I don’t have access to compete in the tournaments or look at any of my personal standings of the few games I had played before. I wish there would be a login button or something to allow me to log back in. 2 - There is an odd lag for scoring. Every time I play, even though I am supposedly “OFFLINE” (according to the game itself) it takes a little while to register my final scores at the end of the round. I know with games like these there usually is a (very small) pause time between finishing the round and scoring, but the lag almost feels like an old computer that is about to crash. It is a bit annoying as other app games I have do not have this response time lag and do not behave this way. 3 - There is no way to check on many rules on how to play the game while you’re playing. Fortunately I am familiar with the game itself, but I can see this being a big issue if you do not know the game very well. This may prevent many people from wanting to play the game online or buying this app. 4 - If you accidentally close the app mid-game, you cannot return to it. This is not playing live against opponents. The whole time I was just playing against myself. The app is in solo-mode always! So why does it not just keep or save the game half-way through it or however much you have advanced? I don’t understand. I really hope these issues can be solved as I would like to continue playing this game online.

Some Youtube Videos found!

You may also like