To facilitate reading almost 40 entries this month, I am breaking them up into groups of 10. This thread is for entries 31-38.
3/09/2011, 4:17pm MST: #36 has been updated, apparently some of the text hadn't appeared the first time.
[GDS] February 2011 Game Design Showdown - "The Dice Gods Must Be Crazy" - Entries #31 - #38
Tue, 03/08/2011 - 22:12
Tue, 03/08/2011 - 22:28
#2
Entry #32 - Mutinous Dogs!
Mutinous Dogs!
A dice game for 2 to 6 players
There's a mutiny above the good ship Dogstar! Fight for your right to plunder!
Components and Setup:
- 36 small 6 sided dice in 6 colors - Give each player all the dice of one color. These represent their faction of crew members.
- 1 small black 6 sided die - this is used when someone needs to roll a temporary additional die.
- 16 small cards - Set the lifeboat card in the center of the table. Shuffle the rest, and deal 3 more than the number of players face up into the center of the table. Put the rest away.
Turn structure:
Whoever ARRRRR!'s the best gets the first turn. Each player starts the game with points equal to their position in turn order, minus one (keep track of points on paper). Play proceeds clockwise.
On your turn, you may either try to take over a position, or advance 1 rank in a position you already have.
To take over a position, choose a card in the center of the table. If there is someone who has a dice occupying that card already (a defender), roll all your crew dice that are NOT currently occupying a position on a card. The defender does the same. If you roll higher in total than the defender, you may place one of your dice on the 1st rank (furthest left square) on the card, and the defender's dice returns to the defender's pool. If you roll lower than the defender, you take the Lifeboat card from wherever it is currently. If you tied, and one player has less points than the other, that player wins the tie. If tied for points, the defender wins tied rolls. If the card was unoccupied, you win the roll automatically.
To advance 1 rank in a position, move one of your dice that is currently occupying a card 1 space to the right on the card.
Now gain points equal to the value shown on your current rank in all positions you currently occupy, and your turn ends.
Once one player has reached a pre-determined amount of points (25 is probably a good number for your first game), play continues until the player to the right of the Start Player finishes their next turn, then the game ends, and the highest point total wins.
2 player rules:
For 2 players, deal 6 random cards into the center of the table, then allow the NON-starting player to choose one of them to place a crew dice on to begin the game. Then the start player may choose a different one to place one of his crew dice on to begin the game. Otherwise, play as normal.
Cards:
Notes:
For an actual product (i.e. not restricted by the challenge's component restriction), I would say give players 6 cardboard chits in their color, with various pirate faces on them. Only 7 dice (rather than 37) need be included in the game. Players use the chits to show which positions they occupy, and only roll a number of dice equal to the chits they have not currently occupying a position. The game could thus play more players with the addition of only 6 small chits per further player.
Tue, 03/08/2011 - 22:32
#3
Entry #33 - Rolling Plunder
Rolling Plunder
A low-cost quick playing rum soaked loot filled game of plundering pirates and scurvy scallywags.
Players act as Pirate captains with unruly crews on the high seas. Players roll dice to determine their actions. Pirate crews are often drunk on rum and wont always do what their captain wants. The player can re-roll the dice to try to get the actions they need but must be careful of having a bounty placed on their head. Bounties open them up to attacks from other players.
The object is to travel from location to location attacking the merchant ships that are sailing there. The pirate that delivers the last shot on a ship gets the loot. Everyone knows that the pirate with the most loot wins.
Components
- 4 Location Cards
- 14 Ship Cards
- 10 Merchants
- 4 Navy Ships
- 4 Action Dice
- 4 Pirate Ship Dice
Setup
Each player receives 1 Pirate Ship Die that represents their Pirate Ship and how much of a bounty is on their heads. Shuffle the Ship Cards and deal 12 to the players. Place 4 randomly selected Location Cards on the table next to each other (Location Cards are double sided, but only 1 side will be used).
The players take turns placing a Ship Card face down on a location until all 12 Ship Cards are placed. No location can have more than 3 Ship Cards. The players then choose a location to place their Pirate Ship Die (making sure that it is placed showing no bounty symbols).
Once the Pirate Ships are placed, flip the top Ship Card for each location over and slide them under the location card so they are undamaged. Play begins.
Location Cards
Each location provides a bonus to the players when their turn starts unless otherwise specified.
- Pirate Cove
- Remove a Bounty from the player when their turn ends here
- High Winds
- Player receives a bonus Move
- Merchant Port
- Player rolls an extra Action Die
- Lost Island
- Player may re-roll 1 Skull
- Patrolled Waters
- Player receives a bonus Skull
- Neutral Port
- Players may not be attacked here
- Heavy Fog
- Player rolls one less Action Die
- Trade Waters
- Place 2 more Ship Cards on this location
Sequence of Play
- Roll
- Perform Actions
- Replenish Ships
Roll
Players roll 3 Action Dice to determine their Pirate Ship's actions. The player may re-roll any number of results up to 2 times. If a Skull result is rolled, it is set aside and cannot be re-rolled.
Dice Results
The Action Dice have 4 possible results.
Move (2 sides)
- Move results allows a player to move their ship to a location adjacent to their own.
Cannon (2 sides)
- Cannon results allows a player to attack a ship (or player) at their current location.
Doubloon (1 side)
- Doubloon results can be used to reduce a player's Bounty. Every 2 Doubloon results will reduce a player's Bounty by one.
Skull (1 side)
- A Skull result cannot be rerolled (unless the player's location specifies otherwise). For every 2 Skull results rolled, the player must add a bounty to their Pirate Ship. This is done by turning the die so that the correct number of Bounty icons are shown.
Action
Players must perform all actions shown on their Action Dice. They can perform these actions in any order.
Movement
Moving a ship to an adjacent location takes 1 Move. The play area does not wrap around.
Attacking Ships
Each Cannon action will damage a Ship Card once. Damage is represented by sliding the Ship Card out from under the location card enough to reflect how much damage it has taken. If the Loot result is revealed, that player takes the card.
Bounties
A player may attack another player at their location only if that other player's Ship Die shows any number of Bounty icons and the attacking player has enough Cannons.
- 3 Cannons for a 1 Bounty player
- 2 Cannons for a 2 Bounty player
- 1 Cannon for a 3 Bounty player
If successful, they randomly take 1 of their opponent's loot cards and their opponent resets their Bounty to 0.
Replenish Ships
If any location does not have a Ship Card showing, flip over the next card in that location's stack and slide it under the location undamaged. If the ship is marked as a Navy Ship, every pirate at that location gains a Bounty.
Victory
The game ends when any location has no Ship Cards in its stack at the end of a turn. The players count up their Loot. The most Loot wins.
Tue, 03/08/2011 - 22:32
#4
Entry #34 - Brew
Brew
The Evil Sorcerer has been imprisoned!... Meanwhile back at his laboratory his minions are squabbling over what to do now - and who is the boss! With only the wizard's tattered spell book and a cluttered laboratory full of strange spell ingredients it’s up to you to rescue your master and receive your reward! Or perhaps brew up a spell that's even tastier...
Components
- Around 30 polyhedral dice.
- Each dice has a letter on each face that makes up a word.
- These dice represent ingredients, for example:
- T-R-O-L-L-T-E-E-T-H, T-O-E-N-A-I-L-S, W-I-L-L-O-W, E-Y-E-O-N-E-W-T, B-A-T-S-W-I-N-G etc
- A deck of 18 undersized cards - pages from the wizard's spell book.
- 13 three letter spell cards
- 5 four letter secret spell cards
- Cards have a cauldron on the back of them.
- Box art: Cat, Imp, Crow, Golem, Snake in colourful lab brewing spells.
Set-up Instructions
- Place the three letter spells face up in a large ring in the centre of the table.
- Shuffle the four-letter secret spell cards and deal one face down to each player - put aside any left overs.
- When all players are ready, shake up and pour the dice out of the game box in the the card ring!
- Play begins!
- Players may now look secretly at their four letter spell cards.
- These cards remain face down and serve as a player's cauldron.
Winning the Game
The game is won when a player casts a four letter spell.
Order of Play
Play proceeds in rounds.
Summary of a Round:
- The Mess: The dice in the ring (the lab) are collected and repoured out.
- The Grab: Players simultaneously rush (or take their time) to gather ingredients and then a spell card.
- The Brew: After everyone has their ingredients and a spell, the players (in any order) attempt to brew their spell.
- Spell Effects: If a player is successful at rolling all the letters of a spell, then they keep the spell card and gain its power for the game. Otherwise the spell card is returned to the ring.
- If a player has the letters for a secret spell then they declare this (see Brewing Spells below).
- Players can keep the result of any ingredient dice they rolled by placing them in their cauldron.
- Players can scrap any dice previously placed in their cauldron and return them to the lab.
- Unkept dice are gathered up and returned to the mess of the lab.
The Grab
With the ingredients spread out over the lab, the players can look for them and grab them as they please, with the limit that they cannot touch any and can only have three dice at any time, including any results they have in their cauldron from previous turns. Once a dice has been lifted from the table it cannot be placed back on the table but must be kept that round. After a player has finished gathering ingredients they grab the spell card they want to try and cast this round.
Brewing Spells
To brew a spell you need to roll on your ingredient dice the letters required by the spell. Letters you like from previous turns can be stored in your cauldron. Each of the three letter spell cards have a special power/rule which will help you to be better able to brew your four letter spell. Spells and their effects could include:
- BAT: Claim the B-A-T-S-W-I-N-G ingredient permanently.
- SPY: Gain the power to use a letter from the cauldron of one of your fellow students.
- POT: The power to re-roll your ingredient dice once each round.
- BOX: Store any brown ingredient - you do not need to return it to the lab.
- HOT: The power to switch an ingredient with another player before casting.
- RED: The power to grab any red ingredients from the lab.
- WAX: Declare a letter before the lab is messed up. You may grab any dice with that letter on them - if you get in first.
Brewing a secret four letter spell works in the same way, except that the result is to win the game.
Each secret spell has an effect that makes for a colourful ending, one frees the wizard... another turns the other players to stone, etc.
You dont need to brew your own secret spell. If guessing another players spell - declare you have brewed their spell and secretly look at their card, if you're right you win, if you're wrong then you explode!
Alternative Theme
"Alphabet soup" - With 30 Secret Herbs and Dices - Young cooks compete to discover a master chef's very odd secret recipe.
Tue, 03/08/2011 - 22:36
#5
Entry #35 - D'ice Cubes: the Battle of Frostflake Pond
D'ice Cubes: the Battle of Frostflake Pond
Components:
25 white dice (d6)
4 blue dice (d6)
4 transparent pawns (sculpted minis): 2 each of 2 different colors
Set up:
Orient the 25 white dice like so: set 1 die to 6, 4 dice to 5, 5 dice to each 4, 3, 2, and 1. Place the #6 dice in the center of the board. Choose a player to go first. Then, taking turns, each player will take 2 of the remaining dice and place them on the board, with the following restrictions:
- Each die placed must be adjacent (left-right or up-down, NOT diagonal) to an already placed die. (see illustration)
- Each row or column of dice may have a maximum of 5 dice in it.
- Gaps in the grid are allowed (see illustration), but each row and column cannot have more than 5 dice in it.
- Leave some space between the dice, so that they are easier to pick up and change. But, keep the dice in a regular grid pattern when placing them.
Each player then places their 2 pawns on top of any die. Two pawns cannot occupy the same space.
The Dice:
The dice represent a frozen pond, with each die showing the relative thickness of the ice. Your two pawns represent a pair of penguin shamans (they always come in pairs) who have the ability to raise or lower sections of the ice. The goal of the game is to eliminate your opponent's two pawns by sinking the ice chunks they are on, while not getting sunk yourself.
Turn Order:
Roll: take 2 blue dice for each of your pawns and roll them. Arrange all of the dice in numerical order, from lowest to highest. These represent the actions that you can take this turn.
Move: move both pawns to any adjacent empty die. If you cannot move, immediately change the die that pawn is on down by one (6 becomes a 5, a 5 becomes a 4, etc). If that die was a 1, remove both the die and the pawn from the board.
Raise or Lower the Ice: Starting with the lowest blue die, the player must either:
- Drop all the white dice with the matching number by 1, including any dice that have pawns on them. For example, if the player rolled a 4, all dice showing a 4 could be dropped to 3s. Any dice that are dropped to below 1 (that show 1 and are dropped to 0) are removed from the board, along with any pawns that were on them.
- Raise only the die that your shaman is standing on by one, as long as the numbers match. For example, if the player rolled a 2, and one of his shamans was on a die showing a 2, he could raise that die only to a 3.
- If the one of the player’s shamans is on a 6, and the player rolled one or more 6s, he can choose to raise any other die by 1, or add a new die to the board, set to 1.
- If there are no dice on the board that match the rolled die, the die is discarded.
You must use a dice if there are dice on the board that match.
Play continues to the next player.
Doubles:
If a player rolls 2 or more of a number, there are two options:
- Drop all of the dice of that number by one, and discard any matching rolled dice. For example, if the player rolled two 5s, he would be able to drop all the 5s to 4s, but then wouldn’t be able to use the other 5.
- Raise a matching die that his pawn is on, and then lower all other dice that match that number. For example, if the player rolled two 5s, and one of his pawns was on a 5, he could raise just that 5 to a 6, and then lower all of the remaining 5s on the board to 4s.
Chaining:
If a player rolls a string of numbers, they can use them to raise a die (that his pawn is on) by 2 or more. For example, if a player’s pawn is on a 2, and the player rolls a 2, 3, and a 4, the player can (if they choose) raise the die from a 2 to a 5 in one turn (2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5).
Four Player rules:
For a four player game, split the players into two teams. Each team takes the turn steps together, but each player only rolls for their pawn. Teams may take their actions in any order.
Tue, 03/08/2011 - 22:40
#6
Entry #36 - Instant Skirmish
INSTANT SKIRMISH
Instant Skirmish is a simple and fast paced 2 players game bringing fun and easy miniature skirmish game right to the coffee table. In this all-in-one game, each player leads a group of fighters toward victory. Several scenarii can be imagined and implemented, using the included components.
// COMPONENTS All 33 dice used in this game are custom printed six sided dice ( except the Activation dice )
- 2 Regular Activation D6
- 2 Average Activation D6 ( no 1 or 6 on it )
- 9 Beasts & 9 Heroes Characters Dice : 3 Warriors / 3 Archers / 2 Mounted Characters / 1 Sorcerer
- 4 Beasts & 4 Heroes Battle Dice
- 1 Red Offensive Spell Die & 1 Blue Defensive Spell Die
- 1 Objective Die
- 2 Beasts & 2 Heroes Team Character Cards
- 12 Terrain Cards
// SET-UP Group composition Each player can select up to 6 Character Dice of his choice to compose his group of fighters. There are 4 classes of fighters in the game : Warriors / Archers / Horsemen / Wizards. Each Die represents one of the above classes, and their health condition.
Setting-up the Battlefield According to the mission, some Terrain Cards and/or the Objective die are put into play.
- The Terrain Cards represent the various location and/or obstacles that can be found on the battlefield. ( The « Hill » terrain card will slow down some Characters but offering some bonuses on the other hand. Useful indications or modifiers are featured on the card itself. )
- The Objective Die features the different goals of the current mission ( rescue an hostage, find the treasure, capture the flag, etc... )
Roll a D6 to determine first player( first turn only ). The highest roll plays first.
// PLAY Preparation Phase
- Activation Points Roll - The player rolls 2 Activation Dice. The result determines how many Activation Points he can spend to activate Characters during the next phase.
- Heroes Activation Dice : average dice not featuring 1 or 6 is used to reflect the military training and cold-blood of this group.
- Beasts Activation Dice : regular dice are used.
Activation The player can spend a number of Activation Points equal to the result of his Activation Points Roll. Each Character has an Activation Cost featured on the Character Cards. To activate a Character, the player has to spend a number of Activation Points equal to this value. All unspent Activation Points are lost.
Movement Phase During this phase, the player can perform a number of actions up to his Action value ( as featured on the Characters Cards ). The player is free to perform these Actions in any order. ( Exemple : if a Warrior has a Action:3, he can perform 3 Actions. Move-Move / Attack-Move / Attack-Attack / Move-Attack )
- The player declares which activated Character he wants to move.
- Movements : All movements are performed first. Each Character has a specific Speed featured on his Card. Speed indicates the distance a character can move for the cost of a single Action. A Character can be : Slow / Average / Fast. ( A Slow Character can walk a Short Range distance as a single Action, and so on... )
- The Attack indicates how many Battle Dice will be rolled when performing an attack.
- The Defense indicates how many Battle Dice will be rolled when parrying an Attack.
- The attacker & the defender both roll their combat dice, according to their respective Attack & Defense values.
- The result is then read : 1 Shield always cancels 1 Axe. Cancelled dice are put aside. The remaining dice featuring Axes are the actual Hits that one opponent will suffer.
- The player announces his target and rolls a single Spell Die ( Offensive or Defensive Die). The result is read and the effects applied immediately.
- The player announces his target and the spell first. He then rolls a single Spell Die ( Offensive or Defensive Die). If the result is the intended spell, the Wizard can cast another spell during his turn. If the result is not the intended spell, nothing happens.
- Paralyze : The Opponent is paralyzed for the rest of the turn
- Fireball : Medium Range Attack causing automatically 1 wound to the target
- Heal : The target must be within a Medium Range and recovers from 1 wound
- Shield : The target is protected by a magic shield that protect him during the rest of the turn from all attacks ( including magic ones ). A Wizard can be his own target.
- The Offensive Die features 2 Paralyze / 2 Fireball / 1 Heal / 1 Shield
- The Defensive Die features 2 Heal / 2 Shield / 1 Paralyze / 1 Fireball
- In a classic Heroes vs. Beasts fight, the winner is the last one standing.
- If the scenario had a specific objective, then the mission must be accomplished. ( In a « Capture the Flag » scenario, the Die is placed on a specific location, Flag-Side up and must be reached as fast as possible... )
- Distances In this game, you use the Character Cards to measure distances, when necessary.
- Short Range : 1 Card Width
- Medium Range : 1 Card Height
- Long Range : 2 Card Heights
A Movement must not be split. For 2 Actions, you cannot start a Movement – Stop to Attack – End your Movement. To achieve this, one would need 3 Actions
Terrains : In the game, 12 double-sided Terrain Cards are included. They introduce some layout elements which can be combined to create varied configurations of landscapes and modifiers.
// COMBAT & MAGIC PHASE Can be performed in any order...
Combat A fight happens when two opponents are dice to dice and that the active player has enough Action Points left to engage the fight.
Each Character has two values related to combat :
The Battle Dice feature different symbols : Axes, Shields or Failures.
Note that an Attacker may suffer damages when attacking !
When a Character suffers a wound, his Character Dice must be rotated to display his new « health state ». A Character Dice features 6 sides : Normal State / Light Wound / Critical Wound / Paralyzed / Paralysed + Light Wound / Paralysed + Critical Wound When a Character dies, his die is removed from the game.
Magic Using magical streams is a very difficult but powerful action to perform.
Casting a spell costs 1 Action Point and is quite unpredictable. A single cast can be done during a turn. In order to cast a spell, the wizard must choose between the Offensive ( Red ) Spells Die or the Defensive ( Blue ) Spell Die, depending on his target and desired effect.
How to cast a spell : There are two way of casting a spell.
The Spell Dice Symbols : They feature 4 different spell symbols
The Offensive and Defensive Dice are not the same...
// WINNING THE GAME The end of the game depends on the goal of the scenario.
Tue, 03/08/2011 - 22:48
#7
Entry #37 - Sabredance
Sabredance
A dice juggling game for 2-4 Jesters
Once upon a time in a far off kingdom there lived King Falstaff. Bored with kingly duties, he desired a royal jester. To find one, King Falstaff called the greatest jesters of the land to compete in a four-day tournament to see who could impress the court the most with their feats of juggling!
Materials:
- 2 blue 6-sided dice (d6)
- 2 red 8-sided dice (d8)
- 2 yellow 12-sided dice (d12)
- 2 white 20-sided dice (d20)
8 green 10-sided dice (d10)
12 Daring Feat cards (numbered 1-4)
- 4 dice place-cards
- 2 “+100 Prestige” cards
Goal:
Win by juggling bigger and more risky objects, and doing it one handed, behind your back, or whilst spinning ‘round! Each day of the tournament you'll earn Prestige by proving your juggling mettle. The jester with the highest Prestige at the end of the tournament, wins!
Setup:
Feel free to give yourself a name like, "Gustav the Perilous!" or "Rolando the Magnificent!")
Each jester needs a pair of green d10 to keep score. If your score goes over 100, use one of the "+100 Prestige" cards to keep track.
Make sure you have a good area cleared around you, preferably in a room with a high ceiling!
Lay out the 4 dice place-cards in order and place each pair of colored die on the appropriate card. Each type of die represents an object to juggle, as follows:
- d6 Kitty Cats
- d8 Spitting Vipers
- d12 Battle Axes
- d20 Flaming Chainsaws
Lay out the 12 Daring Feat cards in a grid in rows by number.
Determine the first player by rolling the d20. Highest roll goes first, and play will go clockwise the first round.
Game Play:
The current jester picks his first object to juggle from the the dice place-cards. You may only go up from there, so pick carefully! If you’re feeling confident in juggling, start low to get more points. Otherwise, take a risk with the dice and only do the d20 "Flaming Chainsaws."
The jester takes one of the dice on the place card in hand, and rolls the other. The roll indicates the Prestige points he will get at the end of his turn for that Object.
Now, the jester must juggle the die in his hand.
Juggling:
Jester holds his hand out in front of him at arms-height and tosses the die in the air. The die must:
- Go above the jester's head,
- Must be caught in hand, not against the jester's body or another object.
If the jester breaks these rules, the other jester's may call "Shenanigans!" And the jester must try again. If this fairly happens twice in a row, the jester loses his turn.
If the jester successfully catches the die, he may Up His Stakes or end his turn. Ending his turn means he adds the Prestige points from the caught die to his total (tracked by his green d10s).
Up His Stakes:
The jester may roll a die larger than the one just juggled. For instance, if you just juggled the d8 (Spitting Vipers) you may now roll the d10 (Battle Axes) or d12 or d20.
After rolling the new die, you must now juggle BOTH dice. This is done by tossing up both at once and catching them. After each toss the Jester may continue to Up His Stakes, each time adding a die to be juggled.
If the Jester fails and drops any dice, he loses the points for the dropped dice and his turn ends. He still adds the Prestige value of any caught dice to his total Prestige.
After all the jesters have gone, each jester will get to take a Daring Feat card (in a two player game, take two), starting with the jester with the lowest points (for ties, it’s the latest jester to play)
In each subsequent round, play goes in order of highest to lowest Prestige from the previous round.
Daring Feat cards:
These cards represent feats challenged by other jesters. They are played during another jester’s turn in order to make a particular toss more difficult. They are played any time after the Jester rolls for points and before he Juggles the die. More than one type can be played at a time by multiple Jesters!
The four types are:
- Toss with your off-hand
- Catch with one hand
- Catch with hand(s) behind your back
- Spin at least 180° before catching dice
End of Game:
After the fourth round, the Jesters’ compare Prestige. Unused Daring Feat cards are worth Prestige equal to their type number. The Jester with the highest Prestige wins!
Tue, 03/08/2011 - 22:57
#8
Entry #38 - THE DICE GODS MUST BE CRAZY
THE DICE GODS MUST BE CRAZY
TGDMBC is a game for 2 players - the Green Dice Gods against the Yellow Dice Gods.
COMPONENTS
Each player starts with four dual sided tiles with the circle sides up and four D6.
The tiles below are front on left and back on right.
You will need to acquire four Victory Objects [VO]. These can be glass beads, pennies, or milk jugs. We suggest Peanut M&Ms for obvious reasons. Place them between the players.
WINNING THE GAME
Win the four Victory Objects and you win!
GAMEPLAY
Each player rolls their four dice. Place dice which match the dice showing on the tiles on top of those tiles. Each die on top of a tile scores the number of points on that tile. If two or more dice are on one tile, each die scores.
e.g. The tile with the ‘1’ has two dice showing the ‘1’ on it. This tile scores 3 points for each die on it for a total of 6 points.
If a die can be placed on more than one tile, the player gets to choose which tile it goes on.
NOTE: Each player has a square tile with three blank dice spots on it. The only dice that may be placed on this tile are three of the SAME dice. [e.g. you roll three ‘4’s]
After each player totals their score, the player with the highest score wins a VO. The opponent is allowed to scowl or cry as the situation merits.
If both players tie, both players lose a VO.
And, yes, if you don’t HAVE a VO, you don’t lose one.
After scoring, both players flip any tiles without dice on them.
Play continues until one player wins all the Victory Objects - which is why we suggest M&Ms. :)
SUMMARY
Start with Circles.
Roll the dice.
Place matching dice on tiles.
Highest score gets a VO.
Tie score? Both lose a VO.
Flip your misses.
Roll again!
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Dicey Dilemma
2-4 Players 15-30 Minutes Ages 6+
Deceptively Designed. Deviously Difficult.
The goal is simple. Get your dice in line. Keep your opponent's out.
SETUP
MATERIALS NEEDED
1 White 6-sided Die
12 Yellow 6-sided Dice
12 Green 6-sided Dice
12 Blue 6-sided Dice
12 Red 6-sided Dice
8 Intersection Tiles (2 Yellow, 2 Green, 2 Blue, 2 Red)
CHOOSE DICE AND INTERSECTION TILES
Each player chooses a color. There are 24 dice that are used during gameplay, plus the Center Die.
2 Players - Each player takes 12 dice matching their color.
3 Players - Each player takes 8 dice matching their color.
4 Players - Each player takes 6 dice matching their color.
Each player grabs 2 Intersection Tiles matching their color.
ROUND ONE - CENTER
STEP 1 - THE CENTER
Roll the white die and place it in the center.
STEP 2 - INITIAL ROLL
Each player picks up all of their dice and rolls them at once. Dice must remain visible to other players.
STEP 3 - DETERMINE PLAYER ORDER
The player with the most dice matching the number on the center die is the first player. The player with the second-most dice matching the center die is the second player, and so on. If there is a tie, each tied player should add all their dice together, and the highest number wins. If there is a tie after that, then everyone rerolls.
ROUND TWO - INNER RING
STEP 1 - FIRST REROLL
Each player may pick up as many of their dice as they want and reroll them all at once. They can pick up some, none, or all of their dice. They can only reroll once this round.
STEP 2 - PLACING DICE AND TILES
PLACING DICE
Starting with the first player, each player places one die at a time in the Inner Ring (2) only. After a player places 1 die, the next player places one, and so on. This is done without changing the value of the dice.
PLACING TILES Instead of placing a die on their turn, a player may place one of their Intersection Tiles on any empty square, even in the Outer Ring (3). A player may only place one Intersection Tile during Round 2. You may continue to place dice after placing a tile, and you may place dice on any player's tile.
ROUND THREE - OUTER RING
STEP 1 - SECOND REROLL
At the beginning of Round 3, each player may pick up as many of their dice as they want and reroll them again. They can pick up some, none, or all of their dice. They can only reroll once this round.
STEP 2 - PLACING DICE AND TILES
PLACING DICE Starting with the first player, each player places one dice at a time in the Outer Ring (3). After a player places 1 die, the next player places one, and so on. This is done without changing the value of the dice.
PLACING TILES
Instead of placing a die on their turn, a player may place their remaining Intersection Tile on any empty square. You may continue to place dice after placing a tile, and you may place dice on any player's tile. If all the squares in the Outer Ring fill with dice, then you may not place your last Intersection Tile.
STEP 3 - SWAP TWO DICE
After all dice and Intersecting Tiles have been placed, each player may swap any 2 of their dice. This is done in player order, starting with the first player.
SCORING
To score, you add up the values on all of your dice that are in straight lines of at least 3 consecutive dice with the same numbers. High score wins.