Designed by Florian Sirieix and Benoit Turpin, and published by AEG and Débacle Jeux, Number Drop is a simple, easy-to-play roll & write game that uses a Tetris mechanic. It's played using a custom d6 that shows five four-block Tetris shapes and a 'wild' (choose your own shape) and four custom six-sided dice, where the * is wild:
1, 2, 4, 5, 6, *
2, 3, 4, 6, 7, *
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, *
1, 3, 4, 5, 7, *
One player rolls the dice and the numbers and shape rolled are used by all the players, who then write the numbers in any order on their sheet from the bottom up but ensuring that they form the Tetris shape rolled. Players will ultimately score for completed rows and columns but also for runs of consecutive numbers and multiples of the same number. You choose when you want to score these groups by circling them (ie: you can choose to take the combo as is or you can leave it unclaimed for now so it could yet grow). It might on the face of it seem obvious that you should keep your options open but the game incentivises early completion too because there are bonuses when you have both a run and multiple of the same length.
We've especially enjoyed Number Drop as a solitaire puzzle optimisation game but it takes notionally up to six players. Everyone plays simultaneously so there's minimal down time. There's not a huge amount of interaction in multiplayer games as everyone will be focused on their own sheets but when you score a run and multiple of the same length in Number Drop you can trigger a drop of a Tetris shape that penalises other players. It doesn't have any numbers on it, so can't score as a run or multiple; however, it does contribute to your opponents' row and column completion.
Number Drop comes with a pad of around 100 score sheets, tho' they are single-sided. As with most roll & writes, we recommend laminating some sheets so you can play using dry-wipe pens and so re-use the sheets.