Pocket Golf

• Designer: Tom Brinton
• Publisher: Goliath 
• Players: 1
• Age: 8+
• Time: 2 min per hole
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Paper Apps GOLF is a pocket-sized golf game. Each notebook is randomly generated and completely unique. They are 3×5 inches with coil binding, making it a perfect solo roll-and-write travel game!  This is the second Paper App game we’ve tried – the first being Paper App Dungeon.

Each notebook contains 3 golf courses, each with 18 holes, as well as a brief rules section to show you how to play. Gameplay is simple, yet engaging.  Each hole has randomly-generated terrain, including fairway, rough, water, sand, and trees. You must navigate this to get your ball to the hole in as few strokes as possible. Your path can go over water, but the ball can’t land in it. Hitting from the fairway gives you a boost, while hitting from sand shortens your distance.

That’s pretty much the whole game… You can either use the die – which is the included pencil – or use rules where you “choose” your club each hole (much less fun).  See how far you go, draw a line that distance and then take your next swing.

Each book is done via Procedural generation (often called procedural production) which means using computer code and math formulas to create game content automatically instead of having a human designer build every single piece by hand 

Thus, every hole is a Par 6, has some similar features, and well, should play out fairly decently using the normal d6 variance.  In terms of game play, you get a tee-shot mulligan on each hole – that is you can choose to re-roll once off the tee but you must take the second roll.  You also have 6 “mulligans” to use at any time during your 18 hole round.

There are different spaces on the course which can affect the movement of the ball.  You get +1 space if you hit from the fairway, and -1 space if you hit from sand.  There are other places on the course which have arrows on them, representing slope, which will cause the ball to roll in the direction of the arrow.

It’s easy to play the game, and there are 54 total holes in the spiral bound notebook.  Generally speaking, each hole can be played more than once if you have different colored pencils or you’re willing to erase the pencil marks after using.

This notebook was in my carry-on on the way to Spiel, and more than a few holes were played as I traveled across the ocean.   For a pocket sized solo diversion, this is a nice one to try or it would make a great gift for a golf loving gamer.  You can try the three holes I have included here to see how you like it!

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it.
• Neutral Dale Y
• Not for me…