Dice Games
review by Alapai
As I’ve done in the past, this month I want to talk about a group of games rather than a single game. Over the past year, all of my reviews have been for games that use dice. Games can use dice in a variety of different ways, the ways I enjoy more being in the games I reviewed. So let’s look at dice games.
First off, why would a game use dice? Most of the time, a game will use dice to randomize an outcome. One thing that differentiates RPGs from improv exercises is that RPGs will have a way to randomize outcomes. Most of the time in an RPG, this is with dice, although they can use cards, jenga towers or anything else. In a lot of classic “Ameritrash” board games like Monopoly, dice are used to randomize how far you move your piece(s) on a board. Games like Catan, Machi Koro or Space Base will have dice rolled to determine what resources are at play on any given turn. A lot of miniatures-based games will use dice to determine how much damage an attack does or how well a defender defends against an attack, with more powerful weapons and armor often just using more dice. There are also dice placement games where what gets rolled just determines the types of actions you can take on your turn. And then there are even games like Grove that don’t use dice as randomizers, but as counters to keep track of how much fruit is on a given space.
I’ve talked before about disliking dice games, so why did I spend a year covering dice games? Well, as I mentioned in my Sky Team review, there’s a main reason I dislike dice games. I mostly dislike dice games where player choice is at a minimum. For example, the mechanic of moving a number of spaces around a board based on your dice rolls is one that I generally dislike. In Monopoly, there isn’t a whole lot of player choice. Mostly, choice in the game comes down to “Do you want to buy this thing you landed on?” and it is rarely the right answer to say “No.” Heck, games like Snakes and Ladders remove all choice from players and are played without any player input. And while you might see me at the counter rolling 6 dice to play 1-4-24/Midnight, it’s not a game that I like a lot; it’s a game that I can play with 6 random d6 in about 30 seconds.
So how do the games I chose this year counteract this? Well, in various different ways. Adorablins and Paranoia are both RPGs that use rolling multiple d6s to determine outcomes. In both, the better you are at the action you are attempting, the easier it is to succeed with your rolls. Adorablins has you add a larger number to your 2d6 roll while Paranoia has you roll a dice pool with more d6s in it to try and get successes. Mind Space is a “roll and write” game where what gets rolled on a turn are just the choices you have to mark your sheet with that turn. Sagrada and Blueprints are dice drafting games where a bunch of dice are rolled out and players take turns selecting what die they want to draft, where a higher valued roll isn’t necessarily a better roll as the values determine how you are able to place the die. Dinosaur Island Rawr ‘n Write, despite its name, is actually also a drafting game and less a “roll and write,” with drafting the dice you want to gain resources from, then spending them to create your dinosaur theme park. Sky Team and Solar Sphere have you roll dice at the beginning of the round, then take turns placing them at different locations, each of which is beneficial, but where each location requires specific dice in order to be placed. Terraforming Mars the Dice Game has you gain dice as resources, with each color of die having different resources, then spending them to take actions. Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game has you rolling dice like a miniatures battle game where you roll to see if you deal damage to the opponent, where you try and maximize how many dice you roll to make it easier to succeed. Grove has dice, but only uses them as counters.
Okay, so there are games out there that use dice in a way that I dislike and games out there that use dice in a way that I can enjoy. So then how do you tell the two apart? Well, I can’t say there’s a foolproof way to casually do this, but I’d say that most games made more recently are more likely to use dice in a better way. Board game design has come a long way, especially since 1995 and the board game renaissance started with Catan. For example, roll and write games have improved a lot since Yahtzee and Farkle. Most recent roll and writes don’t punish someone for rolling low or failing to roll a certain thing, but instead have each roll be a different action in the game like how Railroad Ink has each of the dice just provide a different type of intersection that you add to your grid. Beyond that, I’d say that if you go into a store and see a game that has dice, then see if you can determine how the game uses the dice in the game. Most games have a short description of how they work on the back that you can use, or you can visit the game’s website or BoardGameGeek to see if you can find a longer summary, review or rulebook. And, of course, while I try and avoid games where you are just trying to roll the “best” result, that doesn’t mean you have to. If you like games like LCR or Pass the Pigs, then go for it!
Ultimately, dice are a pretty versatile tool that can be used in lots of different ways. I recommend trying out different methods dice are used to get your own feedback for how you look at dice. That way, you can use your own experiences to help guide your decisions. Because while I may like a game and recommend it, you may not like it and vice versa.
Games with dice as the main mechanic are available here from our webstore.
