Welcome to Print & Play Friday! It’s September 11th and we’ve got a fresh batch of print and play news and games for your reading (and playing) pleasure.
Table of Contents
Main Feature: What I love about Six Eyes
New Games This Week
Community Spotlight: How to make PNP card games
Crowdfunding News (PNP Previews & Campaigns)
Where Are They Now?
What I love about Six Eyes a detective-themed roll & write game
JASON GREENO // SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2026
It’s 1994, and you’ve just been recruited by Six Eyes, an organization that doesn’t officially exist. Your job is to investigate strange mysteries, follow leads, and uncover the truth before time runs out.
That last part became a pretty big problem during my first game.
Six Eyes (designed by I’m Not Shouting) combines a roll-and-write with a choose-your-own-path mystery. Each turn, you roll the dice and decide where to focus your investigation. You can head to a crime scene, work your contacts, or follow the paper trail. Some choices move you closer to the truth, while others might lead you in the wrong direction.
I played Case 1 and did not solve it.
Honestly, that ended up being part of what I liked about the game.
The Clock Is Ticking
At the beginning of the case, I felt like I had plenty of options. There were different places to investigate and several pieces of the story I could chase after. I was making progress and slowly getting a better idea of what might be happening.
Then I started running out of time.
The closer I got to the end, the more desperate I felt. The story was beginning to come together, but I still needed to find the right pieces and figure out how they connected. I wasn’t just filling in spaces or trying to earn icons. I actually felt like I was trying to solve the case.
That’s probably the thing Six Eyes does best. It doesn’t just put a detective theme on top of a roll-and-write. The choices feel like part of an investigation. I had to decide when to spend my dice on forensic evidence, investigative legwork or hop a plane to my next person of interest interview.
By the end, I knew I was in trouble. But I also felt like the answer was close enough that I might have figured it out with just a little more time.
Learning From My Mistakes
My first play also taught me something important about managing my resources.
There are parts of the game you can activate to help move the investigation along or deal with a bad roll. Early in the game, it’s tempting to use them whenever they give you an advantage. I learned that it might be smarter to hold onto some of those resources for later, when time is running out and a bad roll can completely mess up your plans.
I won’t spoil exactly what I did. You should get the chance to puzzle this one out.
I’ll just say that when I play again, I’m going to handle those choices differently.
That’s something I really appreciate in a game. I didn’t walk away feeling like I lost only because the dice didn’t cooperate. I could look back at my decisions and see things I might have done differently. Now I want to try the case again and find out if what I learned is enough to get me to the end.
A Simple System That Does a Lot
I was pleasantly surprised by how much game came out of such a simple turn structure.
At its heart, you roll dice, decide how to use them, and mark your sheet. There isn’t a huge pile of components or a long list of steps to remember every turn. But the limited time, branching story, uncertain rolls, and decisions about when to use your resources make it feel like a much bigger experience.
Time and time again, I’m reminded of this game-design idea: you don’t need a lot of rules to create interesting decisions.
The simple turn structure also lets you focus on the mystery. I wasn’t constantly stopping to look things up or trying to remember what happened during each phase. I could think about the case, weigh my options, and worry about the clock ticking down.
The system is simple. The decisions aren’t.
Can You Play a Mystery Twice?
The obvious weakness of any mystery game is that eventually you’re going to learn the answer.
If you make it to the end of a case in Six Eyes, the story will be revealed. You can still play it again and try to solve it faster or get a better result, which the designer encourages, but you won’t have that same feeling of discovering the story for the first time. There’s currently 6 cases available, and I’m hoping, more to come!
I didn’t make it that far, though.
So the mystery is still waiting for me.
I know more than I did when I started. I understand the game better, I have a better idea of which resources I should save, and I saw enough of the story to have a few suspicions. But I still don’t know exactly what happened.
That makes me excited to play Case 1 again. I’m going back with a better plan, but I still have a mystery to solve.
For a game with such a straightforward dice system, Six Eyes gave me a lot to think about after I stopped playing.
More importantly, I’m ready to get back on the case. I think I just found my new favorite roll & write.
If this sounds like a game for you, you’ll find the campaign ending soon on Kickstarter.
Want to support PNP Arcade?
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Before the Dark Catches Us
This is a one-page game that sends you on an actual walk through the woods. Things you encounter along the way become part of the adventure: plants and animals can help, while litter and pollution bring new dangers. It can be played solo or with a group, and there are even seasonal adjustments on the back of the page. A wonderfully strange use of the print-and-play format.
Before the Dark Catches Us on Itch.io
Dungeon Pages: Underboss - Burning Statue
The year-long set has been updated with the newest boss and dungeon. What’s better than reflecting damage back onto an attacking hero? How about cancelling that damage at the same time?!? Combine this week’s trap—Cursed Fog—and you just might have a sweet recipe for hero destruction! Link.
Publishers / designers submit your new PNP releases here: PNP Arcade Submission Form.
How to Print and Play Button Shy Games
This is a practical look at one player’s process for building Button Shy wallet games at home. It covers printing, folding the instructions, cutting and protecting the cards, and getting everything into a usable little package. It should be especially helpful for anyone who has downloaded a wallet game but hasn’t decided how they want to assemble it.
Watch How to Print and Play Button Shy Games
There are so many great games coming out all the time, sometimes a few slip by:
Going Knowhere is a solo fantasy roguelite played with a regular deck of cards and a small character pamphlet. You face twelve trials while trying to collect enough Knowstones to enter a place filled with forbidden knowledge. You probably won’t manage it on your first attempt, but failed runs unlock permanent upgrades that make the next trip a little more manageable.
Going Knowhere — Name Your Own Price
Here’s a PNP-related crowdfunding campaign that we thought you might find interesting:
Forgotten Paths
Forgotten Paths is a solo campaign game that mixes roll-and-write dungeon crawling with exploration and tile placement. You play as a Mistwalker exploring an island swallowed by a supernatural fog. Along the way, you’ll uncover the map, fight monsters and minibosses, disarm traps, improve your character, and make choices that carry through a nine-mission story.
Crows: Fortune or Death
Crows is a fantasy roleplaying game about ambitious adventurers taking dangerous jobs and hoping their confidence isn’t completely misplaced. The game leans into dungeon crawling and overland travel, but it also puts more weight on the town, its people, and what happens between expeditions. This is a traditional tabletop roleplaying game, with beautiful art, and best of all a print at home tier.
Crows: Fortune or Death — Live through September 15
Submit your PNP crowdfunding projects here:
PNP Arcade Submission Form.
Are you looking for your favorite publishers from PNP Arcade? Check out this list.
Alexander Shen: If you’ve never played Quests Over Coffee or any of Alexander’s other fun games, be sure to check out his stuff on Itch.io. Link.
Button Shy Games: With hundreds of games on PNP Button Shy started uploading games on Itch.io and The Game Crafter. Expect regular releases of the older library of games as well as new content to come. Itch.io Link. The Game Crafter Link.
Cezar Capacle: Brazilian game designer, graphic designer, architect and musician. He’s been creating unique games for the past five years, on a variety of genres. Link
Clearly Sharp: Home page for Daniel Young, the designer of Gem Getter and Forest Floor. Link
Daws of Darkness: The Lost Village and its mini-expansion are now available at itch.io. The thick line art style of these co-op games really makes them stand out. Link
Epic Endeavor Games (Jason Greeno): The independent games by JG can be found on his Patreon page. Link.
Grimscribe: If you are looking for the year-long Grimlore series, you can find those here. Publisher Website. PNP Stash.
Jack Neal Games: Jack’s games about power, value, and systems (Rust and Revenue and Charters: Profit Through Public Works) are now available at JackNealGames.com. Link.
Jason Greeno / Epic Endeavor Games: Jason hosts his collection of games like Night Class (superhero roll and write) and The Cursed Menagerie (haunted cards and dice) at his new Itch.io page. Link.
Kealf Games: The new location for all things from Kelvin Soong of Kealf Games. PNP Stash Link.
Mark Tuck: Mark has brought his collection of PNPs (from the beloved Orchard to Pocket Aquarium, and many more) to the Game Crafter. Link.
Nathan Meunier: Featuring many of his games in both physical and PNP, you can now grab Doom Machine, Mindbenders, Hot Garbage and more at doomthoughts.com. Link.
PNP Arcade Publishing: For everything Dungeon Pages (and more to come) check out the PNP Arcade page at Itch.io. Link
Shiny Pigeon Games: PNP Arcade previously hosted Around The World In 15 Minutes, but at their site you can pick up Starfront Scouting Academy and the Packing Party series of games. Link.
We Heart Games: The Itch store for Mike Berg’s games (Crownfell, Exobase, Exoship) has the entire catalog of games. Link.
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Games featured in these posts are not sponsored.
Very cool recommendations!