Unlike other roll & write games, where all players get to use the same rolled dice, The Hobbit is a dice drafting game. First player rolls 5 dice and picks one, then the other players in turn pick their dice. This continues as long as there are dice left, so in a 4-player game the first player gets a second die, while in a 3-player game the first and second player get 2 dice. The player who is the first who didn't get another die will be start player the next round.

From the 5 dice, 3 are showing between one and three spaces with paths, e.g. a straight path followed by a corner. You can rotate or mirror that as you want and then draw those paths on your map. Paths can overlap or cross existing paths to form connections. The other two dice have 3 different symbols, breads, swords, or wizard hats, representing different resources. You can also often get the same resources by drawing a path over the same symbol on your map.

What makes The Hobbit a rather interesting game is that your map is in a booklet with 8 different scenarios, giving 8 slightly different games. In each game the goal for your paths can be different: For example in the first scenario you need to connect 12 dwarves to Bag End, while in the second scenario you are drawing a path from Bag End to Rivendell. The different resources also work somewhat differently in each scenario. That gives the game a very good replayability.

The Hobbit: There and Back Again takes under 1 hour per scenario, and has very little setup. If you have a bit more time, you can play several scenarios one after another, and the game remains interesting enough. There isn't much player interaction, other than objectives that score extra points for the first player to achieve them. For example, getting Gandalf to Bag End in the first scenario while having enough bread to feed him gives 10 points, but the first player to do so gets 12 instead. The worst thing a better player can do to a less good player is finishing the game early, and the less good player will still have had some fun pursuing his goals.

While I am usually not a huge fan of roll & write games, because I find they got boring quickly, I really like The Hobbit for the greater replayability and variations in scenarios. I'd give it a 8 out of 10 score.