Tokens are one of the most overlooked parts of the TTRPG experience. You’ll stumble on hundreds of posts about dice whenever you venture onto TTRPG social media, from people showing off their newest sets to memes about dice shaming and other similar dice-based rituals. But the humble token rarely gets the same time in the limelight. However, Fly Like Da Butterfly shows that, when used well, tokens can add a fantastic tactile element to any TTRPG.
Created by Magikya Studios, Fly Like Da Butterfly is set in the universe of the studio’s previously released DA FUNK’d SOUL BROTHER game. Players step into the shoes of a stray cat that lives on the street of Santia K.O., a city where people resolve their differences through intense skateboard battles. But your cat doesn’t want to become a skateboard ace. Instead, they want to join The Tigers, a group of stray cats that soar through the air with the help of mechanical wings.
A Cat’s Quest To Find Its Wings
However, as they can’t afford to buy a pair of wings, the cat decides to break into a local criminal hideout, steal their garbage and scrap, and use that to create an epic pair of wings.
Before starting a game of Fly Like Da Butterfly, players are asked to print out the tokens that come with the game (or find suitable tokens of different colors) and place them in a bag.
At the start of each turn, the player draws a token from the bag and adds it to their pile. Each token represents a specific resource (Trash, Generators, Batteries, Cogs, Bolts, Metal Sheets, Metal Rods or Leather). To win the game, the player has to gather enough resources to build one of two pairs of mechanical wings that will allow you to fly and maybe even join The Tigers.
However, there is one thing between you and your dreams of the sky, the criminals who call this hideout home. 40 of the tokens in the bag represent a Criminal returning to the hideout and finding you. If you end up with 5 Criminal Tokens in your pile, the Criminals gang up on you and kick you out of the hideout, earning you the game’s bad ending.
Thankfully, your cat is not defenseless. Each turn, the player can spend some of their resources to create one of three traps, the Fake Cat, Trash Trap, or the Small Robot. Once you’ve built these traps, they activate the next time you draw a Criminal token, removing it from play.
A Surprisingly Tactical Experience
One of the most fascinating things about Fly Like Da Butterfly is how it handles discards. When the player discards a Criminal or a resource token, it is not returned to the bag. Instead, it is totally removed from play. This adds an extra layer of strategy to the game, as players are forced to consider each choice carefully, as it’s possible to accidentally overspend and trap yourself in a situation where you don’t have enough resources to build your wings, guaranteeing that you’ll get the bad ending.
Due to this, Fly Like Da Butterfly hides plenty of depth beneath its easy-to-learn surface. The player is forced to constantly make tough decisions as they decide whether to spend their tokens on building traps or hold them back in the hope of creating their wings faster. This leads to many tense moments as the player reaches into the bag, hoping to get a needed resource or praying they don’t draw a Criminal token. Plus, the situation is constantly changing, meaning that the player can’t come up with a game plan and stick to it, keeping them on their toes for the entire game and causing the tension to increase with every draw.
Upgraded Tokens Can Boost Immersion
While the tokens included with the game are great, if you want to take your game of Fly Like Da Butterfly to the next level, I highly suggest finding several different objects of different textures and shapes to act as tokens. While this requires some restraint on the player’s part (as they need to draw the first token they touch and not feel around for the one they want), the increased tactility of the tokens makes the game much more immersive. Doubly so because it makes buying gadgets feel like a much bigger deal as it feels like you are expending limited resources to get them.
Fly Like Da Butterfly is a solo TTRPG with lots of replay value. Its simple rules, combined with its elements of strategy and chance, mean that each game feels like a unique experience. It also shows how tokens can enhance a TTRPG, adding a tactile element that pulls the player into the game’s world and adds weight to their actions. Because of this, Fly Like Da Butterfly is a must-try game for solo TTRPG fans, strategy board game lovers, and people who just love tokens.
Jonathon Greenall is a freelance writer, TTRPG designer, and visual artist. They love creating and exploring the often overlooked corners of indie media, spotlighting things that dare to be different.