Siobhan and I have recently been taking our Rolife kits with us to our weekly dinner at our parents and it’s very quickly over taken board game night (temporarily) while we work through all our favourite kits. The first one we took along, we believed that we would finish it with enough time to play some board games too however, we quickly discovered that even with four of us, it was going to take a bit longer than expected.
One thing that surprised me was just how detailed each kit is. You look at the box and think, “That shouldn’t take too long,” and then suddenly you’re carefully assembling tiny shelves, folding miniature paper pieces, and debating the exact placement of a lamp for ten minutes, or fighting with the double-sided tape! There’s something incredibly satisfying about watching all the little details slowly turn into a finished scene.
The builds also ended up becoming a really nice way to slow down for a few hours.
Normally our dinners end with everyone disappearing onto phones but the Rolife kits kept everyone around the table talking, laughing, and working together the whole evening.
There were definitely a few moments where we underestimated how tiny some of the pieces would be. A couple of times we had to pause the build to search the floor for an escaped piece or figure out whether a part had already been used or was still hiding in the sheets somewhere. It’s really handy that for a few of the smaller, more delicate pieces they include a couple of spares if you break or lose them. Or your mum gets you hunting through the instructions you carefully read through to find where her “spare” pieces go.
I also really appreciated that the kits feel approachable even if you’re not naturally “crafty.” The instructions are clear, the pieces fit together nicely, and because everyone can help in different ways, it never felt intimidating. Even if someone didn’t want to do the actual building, they could still help sort pieces, organise the sheets, or keep track of the instructions.
By the end of the night, we realised the fun wasn’t actually about finishing the kit quickly at all. It was more about sitting around together, slowly working away at something creative, and seeing the progress build up as we went.
It was really cool seeing the sets come together as we built them and it was nice that each one was built a little differently each time so it didn’t feel like we were repeating the same thing each time.
Now every weekly dinner starts with the question: “Which Rolife kit are we bringing this time?” and honestly, I’m not sure board game night is making a comeback anytime soon.
