Tag: Dice Games

Quixx

Quixx is another dice game, the aim of which is mark off as many numbers as you can on a score sheet. One of the nice things about this game is that everyone participates no matter whose turn it is.

The score sheet has four coloured rows, two of which are numbered from 2 to 12 and two of which are numbered from 12 to 2. You win by marking off as many numbers as possible, but you can only mark off numbers to the right of all the marked off numbers in the same row.

On their turn, the active player rolls six dice — two white ones and four coloured ones, the colours of which correspond to the rows. Any player may choose to mark off the sum of the two white dice on one of their four rows. The active player can also choose to mark off the sum of one coloured die and one white die in the row corresponding to the coloured dice.

If the active player fails to mark off any number, he takes a penalty.

As the rows fill up, it becomes possible to lock them which removes that colour (die and row) from the game. Once two rows are locked, or someone manages four penalties, the game ends and everyone calculates their scores based on the number of digits they have managed to mark off.

As with other dice games in our collection Quixx is an easy to understand game that takes no time to set up and can be played anywhere (as long as you have enough pencils to go around). There’s not much depth to the game and it’s not one that stands up to repeated play, but if you do find yourself with three kids and fifteen minutes to spare, it’s ideal.

Roll For It!

Roll For It! is a wonderfully simple game of rolling dice and collecting cards. It takes almost no time to set up, is quick to play and provides a great way to keep a family entertained for twenty minutes.

What you get in the (small and very portable) box is 30 cards and four sets of six dice (each set being a different colour).

To set up the game, you shuffle the cards and draw three which are placed face up in the middle of the table. Then each player picks a set of six dice in their preferred colour.

Each player then takes turns to roll all of their available dice. Any dice that match the dice pictures on any of the cards can be placed on the pictures. Once you have matched all of the pictures on the card, then you take the card. Each card has a score printed at the bottom and you have taken enough cards to score 40 points, you win.

The one thing you have to be careful of, though, is that once you have placed a dice on a card, you can’t roll it again until the card is taken (either by you or someone else). You have to be careful, therefore, that you still have enough dice to actually take the cards you have matched so far.

It’s quite a tactical game and one that is largely driven by the dice rolls — you roll the dice and then decide which cards to go for — and this makes for a quick and easy game that anyone can jump straight into.

The simplicity of the game means that it doesn’t really stand up to repeated plays, but for a quick game which everyone can enjoy, it’s a great way to pass a bit of time.

Also, the box lid is just the right size to use as a rolling tray and helps avoid having to stop the game to hunt for over-enthusiastically launched dice.

Zombie Dice

I have, over the past few months, come to quite enjoy push your luck dice games. These games all have the same — very simple — mechanic at their heart which involves rolling dice and calculating a score. Then you have to decide whether to re-roll to increase your score, but risk losing everything, or stop. The challenge comes from deciding whether to risk rolling again or whether it’s better to stay safe.

Zombie Dice is exactly the same, but with zombies. The game comes with a metal container and thirteen dice, which come with red, green and yellow. The sides of the dice are marked with brains, footsteps and shotgun blasts with the red ones being biased towards the blasts and the green ones being biased towards brains.

On each player’s turn, the player takes three dice at random, rolls them and puts any brains and shotgun blasts to one side. If you want to roll again, you draw more random dice so that (combined with any feet you have already rolled) you have three dice. And you roll them again.

When you decide to stop, you count up the brains and add them to your total score. If you didn’t decide to stop and reach three shotgun blasts, you’ve been blasted and you score nothing. And the first player to eat 13 brains wins.

Zombie Dice is a simple, portable and very quick to play game. It’s a fun way to pass ten minutes and I shall never tire of shouting Brainnns!

Tutto

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that we have seen quite a few board and card games being brought out over the past few weeks. This weekend it’s been the turn of Tutto, and entertainingly simple push your luck game.

The rules are simple, you roll six dice and score if you roll three of a kind or a one or a five. Put the scoring dice to one side and decide whether to roll the remaining dice or end your turn. If you decide to end your turn, you get the points scored so far but if you roll again without scoring anything, all points for that turn are lost.

There are also cards to mix things up a bit and to encourage players to go for a “Tutto”, or full house, which is what you get when you manage to score with all six dice.

The game is played over a number of rounds until someone reaches a set number of points — or until it’s time to do something else.

The game is simple, fun and well balanced as evidenced by the fact that different playing styles — from very cautious to very reckless — can all be successful. Reckless means always going for a Tutto and alternating between scoring nothing and getting a massive bonus. More cautious players don’t allow themselves to be tempted by the bonus and steadily progress towards a win.

With my own approach I tended to strike a balance between the two extremes — which is probably why I kept losing.