Search
Search results
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Goblin Teeth in Tabletop Games
Nov 5, 2019
You know a game is going to be great when you actually enjoy reading the rules. Please take a moment to consider what I just wrote. I *enjoyed* reading the rules to a game. To this game. Why? Well, the intro to the rules that introduces the setting of the game, is written in the voice of a goblin. For those of you who may uninitiated into fantasy lore, goblins are small, gross humanoids that are greedy and not at all known for their academic prowess. Ok, so the rules started out pretty entertaining. Did this set us up for an entertaining game or a boring slug… er, slog? I have high expectations from Jellybean Games now, so will this be a winner as well?
Goblin Teeth is a fantasy take-that, auction, set collection, dice and card game. Each player is a goblin attempting to impress the goblin boss enough to become the right hand gobbie by offering a collection of items that the boss enjoys.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. As this is a preview copy of the game, I do not know if the final rules or components will be similar or different to what we were provided. -T
To setup, create the offering mat by randomly drawing a red and blue offering card to be placed in their respective locations. Shuffle the Cheat cards and Item cards into separate decks. Each goblin player chooses a set of three matching dice they will use throughout the game. Give each goblin one Cheat card to begin their collection. From the Item cards, place as many Items face-up as the number of players and one more face-down at the end of the row near where the sacrifice altar will be placed. You now have your offer row for the first round and are ready to play.
Before the round begins, all players will roll all three of their dice simultaneously. These dice represent your bid amounts for the Item cards on display (including the face-down Item). Whomever is in possession of the first-player marker will take their turn first. This goblin may choose to play any number of Cheat cards in their hand, and then must place a die on an Item card or into the altar. These Item cards feature items to be collected and used to satisfy an Offering card – like skulls, goblin teeth, glow worms, and others. By placing a die on an Item card, a goblin is casting their bid. By placing a die into the sacrificing altar, the goblin is instead giving up a bid die in exchange for drawing a Cheat card (which can be very powerful). Once the die is placed, the next goblin in clockwise order can take their turn following the same order of operations. The goblin who wins the face-down Item card becomes the new first player and receives the first player token. A new round can now begin by laying out new Items and rolling all dice simultaneously.
The game continues in this fashion until one sneaky goblin has all the Items they need to satisfy one of the Offering cards (or the pre-printed space on the Offering mat). There are dice placement rules and Cheats-a-plenty that I did not describe at all, but per the disclaimer, you can back the game or purchase from your favorite board game retailer (naturally, your FLGS). All goblins then tear each other to shreds over jealousy and greed. Ok, I added that last bit myself, but it should go into the rules. Just sayin’.
Components. Again, this is a prototype version of the game and some components may (and probably will) change over the course of a successful Kickstarter campaign. That said, I will comment on what I can here. The physical components themselves are fine for a prototype game. The cards are big tarot cards that are fun to handle. I hope they keep that size. The first player token in this is a green translucent plastic meeple that I’m sure they will be upgrading during the campaign. Similarly, the dice will more than likely see an upgrade (I am totally projecting here, I have no information on any future plans for components). What needs very little upgrading is the art on the cards. The card backs for the Cheat and Item cards feature an excellent logo (I hope) for the game, and the art on the Item cards are clear and really really good. I hope the art style doesn’t change as the art is amazing here. The Cheat cards look good, are clear, and although they feature several different fonts, I was not at all ever turned off by the presentation.
So here are my thoughts. Goblin Teeth is an excellent game of outbidding your opponents, double-think, and Cheating your way to victory! I absolutely adore this game. Without those Cheat cards it would still be decent, but those Cheats are what make this game special. Being able to play as many Cheat cards as you want on your turn, with some of them being good and some bad, but being able to place them on yourself or your opponents is just gold. I cannot wait to see this game go to Kickstarter and just kill it. Seriously, it’s an amusing, frustrating, beautiful game that I cannot wait to own in its full glory. If you enjoy experiences that pit you against your opponents and you find yourself giggling at thwarting their plans, this is the game for you.
Goblin Teeth is a fantasy take-that, auction, set collection, dice and card game. Each player is a goblin attempting to impress the goblin boss enough to become the right hand gobbie by offering a collection of items that the boss enjoys.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. As this is a preview copy of the game, I do not know if the final rules or components will be similar or different to what we were provided. -T
To setup, create the offering mat by randomly drawing a red and blue offering card to be placed in their respective locations. Shuffle the Cheat cards and Item cards into separate decks. Each goblin player chooses a set of three matching dice they will use throughout the game. Give each goblin one Cheat card to begin their collection. From the Item cards, place as many Items face-up as the number of players and one more face-down at the end of the row near where the sacrifice altar will be placed. You now have your offer row for the first round and are ready to play.
Before the round begins, all players will roll all three of their dice simultaneously. These dice represent your bid amounts for the Item cards on display (including the face-down Item). Whomever is in possession of the first-player marker will take their turn first. This goblin may choose to play any number of Cheat cards in their hand, and then must place a die on an Item card or into the altar. These Item cards feature items to be collected and used to satisfy an Offering card – like skulls, goblin teeth, glow worms, and others. By placing a die on an Item card, a goblin is casting their bid. By placing a die into the sacrificing altar, the goblin is instead giving up a bid die in exchange for drawing a Cheat card (which can be very powerful). Once the die is placed, the next goblin in clockwise order can take their turn following the same order of operations. The goblin who wins the face-down Item card becomes the new first player and receives the first player token. A new round can now begin by laying out new Items and rolling all dice simultaneously.
The game continues in this fashion until one sneaky goblin has all the Items they need to satisfy one of the Offering cards (or the pre-printed space on the Offering mat). There are dice placement rules and Cheats-a-plenty that I did not describe at all, but per the disclaimer, you can back the game or purchase from your favorite board game retailer (naturally, your FLGS). All goblins then tear each other to shreds over jealousy and greed. Ok, I added that last bit myself, but it should go into the rules. Just sayin’.
Components. Again, this is a prototype version of the game and some components may (and probably will) change over the course of a successful Kickstarter campaign. That said, I will comment on what I can here. The physical components themselves are fine for a prototype game. The cards are big tarot cards that are fun to handle. I hope they keep that size. The first player token in this is a green translucent plastic meeple that I’m sure they will be upgrading during the campaign. Similarly, the dice will more than likely see an upgrade (I am totally projecting here, I have no information on any future plans for components). What needs very little upgrading is the art on the cards. The card backs for the Cheat and Item cards feature an excellent logo (I hope) for the game, and the art on the Item cards are clear and really really good. I hope the art style doesn’t change as the art is amazing here. The Cheat cards look good, are clear, and although they feature several different fonts, I was not at all ever turned off by the presentation.
So here are my thoughts. Goblin Teeth is an excellent game of outbidding your opponents, double-think, and Cheating your way to victory! I absolutely adore this game. Without those Cheat cards it would still be decent, but those Cheats are what make this game special. Being able to play as many Cheat cards as you want on your turn, with some of them being good and some bad, but being able to place them on yourself or your opponents is just gold. I cannot wait to see this game go to Kickstarter and just kill it. Seriously, it’s an amusing, frustrating, beautiful game that I cannot wait to own in its full glory. If you enjoy experiences that pit you against your opponents and you find yourself giggling at thwarting their plans, this is the game for you.
The Marinated Meeple (1848 KP) rated Catan: The dice game in Tabletop Games
Jun 7, 2018
Easy for everyone to understand (3 more)
Yahtzee mechanics are universally understood.
2 versions on the sheets, front and back slightly different games.
Great for travel, only 6 dice a pad and a pen.
Yahtzee: The Catan Theme
I wish to re-roll Sheep and hoping for brick..... We have taken this out with us, easily tucked into a purse, and we play in the cabana by the pool on vacation or at a small table while waiting for a table at dinner. maybe a picnic table in the middle of the day exploring a new city. Basically its one of our go to travel games. very simple, easy to play, small footprint, and light entertainment. Not an amazing game, but a solid value for 5-10 dollars, and easily taken everywhere.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Elder Sign in Tabletop Games
Jul 17, 2020 (Updated Jul 18, 2020)
The Theme (3 more)
Solo Gameplay
The Setting
High Replayabity
Little Pieces, Easy to lose (1 more)
Luck of the dice
Call of Cthulhu
Elder Sign- is a excellent fantasy adventure, horror card game. I learn about this game through Tabletop. And to me it looked really good. And plus you can play it solo. So i had to buy it, cause of the solo experience. I only played this solo and its fun, but hard to win. I love the theme of the game which is based on the Cthulhu Mythos of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. I love both H.P. Lovecraft, and Cthulhu. If you don't know what Elder Sign is I will explain it.
Elder Sign- is a cooperative card and dice game, based on the Cthulhu Mythos of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. It is published by Fantasy Flight Games, which also produces the Cthulhu Mythos games Arkham Horror, Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, Mansions of Madness, and Eldritch Horror.
Gameplay:
Players randomly select a monster (known as an Ancient One) to oppose. The Ancient One requires a certain number of elder sign tokens to "seal" or imprison it. Conversely, the Ancient One can be "awakened" or released by a number of doom tokens.
There are also many other less powerful monsters that can appear during the game.
Each player chooses an investigator to play as (usually randomly), each investigator having unique abilities.
Players take turns exploring a randomly generated room (there are Adventure cards and Other World cards). If a player succeeds at completing all of the tasks in the room they are exploring, they obtain a reward. Conversely, if they fail, they receive a penalty. If the player's investigator is devoured (either by losing all of their stamina and/or sanity), they lose what they originally had, a doom token is added to the doom track, and the player returns to play as a different investigator.
Rooms are explored until either the Ancient One is "sealed" or "awakened". If the Ancient One is sealed, the players immediately win. If the Ancient One awakens, the players must face it in battle. This battle is designed to be extremely difficult with a low chance of success, so players must try to prevent the Ancient One from awakening at all costs.
Its a excellent gothic horror game, it has fantasy, dice, cards and adventure and alot of replayablity. Buy it if you havent already. Cause its excellent.
Elder Sign- is a cooperative card and dice game, based on the Cthulhu Mythos of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. It is published by Fantasy Flight Games, which also produces the Cthulhu Mythos games Arkham Horror, Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, Mansions of Madness, and Eldritch Horror.
Gameplay:
Players randomly select a monster (known as an Ancient One) to oppose. The Ancient One requires a certain number of elder sign tokens to "seal" or imprison it. Conversely, the Ancient One can be "awakened" or released by a number of doom tokens.
There are also many other less powerful monsters that can appear during the game.
Each player chooses an investigator to play as (usually randomly), each investigator having unique abilities.
Players take turns exploring a randomly generated room (there are Adventure cards and Other World cards). If a player succeeds at completing all of the tasks in the room they are exploring, they obtain a reward. Conversely, if they fail, they receive a penalty. If the player's investigator is devoured (either by losing all of their stamina and/or sanity), they lose what they originally had, a doom token is added to the doom track, and the player returns to play as a different investigator.
Rooms are explored until either the Ancient One is "sealed" or "awakened". If the Ancient One is sealed, the players immediately win. If the Ancient One awakens, the players must face it in battle. This battle is designed to be extremely difficult with a low chance of success, so players must try to prevent the Ancient One from awakening at all costs.
Its a excellent gothic horror game, it has fantasy, dice, cards and adventure and alot of replayablity. Buy it if you havent already. Cause its excellent.
Russell Evans (179 KP) rated Gaslands Refuelled in Tabletop Games
Feb 23, 2020
Super cheap miniatures game (3 more)
Easy to get into
Fun rules
Unlimited modelling options
No official pre-made pre-painted miniatures (1 more)
Print off your own templates or buy from 3rd parties
A brilliantly written and illustrated book for a tabletop game of post-apocalyptic racing – fast cars with big guns – Mad Max in miniature.
It’s tons of fun and easy to play the basics straight away. After that, there is more depth to the rules to explore and building teams to keep things interesting and have long term playability. To get started, you can use templates copied and printed from the book and normal dice, or like I have done, you can get plenty of third-party companies selling templates, scenery and ‘skid’ dice.
One of the main reasons I picked this game up, apart from the raving reviews I’d seen online, was the DIY modelling aspect of the game. As a long time mini-gamer of things like Warhammer and Star Wars FFG, I’m used to my miniatures burning a big hole in my pocket. Re-modelling and repainting HotWheels cars (Super cheap – a couple of quid vs about £30 for a Star Wars ship) is the best part of this game for me, you can use standard cars if you want to, but there are no official pre-made pre-painted ‘cars’ which may be a negative, if you’re not into modelling.
Fun is the main priority and my favourite rule is that if a rule is unclear, you choose whichever option results in the most carnage for all concerned … This is ‘The Rule of Carnage’.
Highly recommended – if you want a different mini game that’s fun and won’t break the bank, check this out!
It’s tons of fun and easy to play the basics straight away. After that, there is more depth to the rules to explore and building teams to keep things interesting and have long term playability. To get started, you can use templates copied and printed from the book and normal dice, or like I have done, you can get plenty of third-party companies selling templates, scenery and ‘skid’ dice.
One of the main reasons I picked this game up, apart from the raving reviews I’d seen online, was the DIY modelling aspect of the game. As a long time mini-gamer of things like Warhammer and Star Wars FFG, I’m used to my miniatures burning a big hole in my pocket. Re-modelling and repainting HotWheels cars (Super cheap – a couple of quid vs about £30 for a Star Wars ship) is the best part of this game for me, you can use standard cars if you want to, but there are no official pre-made pre-painted ‘cars’ which may be a negative, if you’re not into modelling.
Fun is the main priority and my favourite rule is that if a rule is unclear, you choose whichever option results in the most carnage for all concerned … This is ‘The Rule of Carnage’.
Highly recommended – if you want a different mini game that’s fun and won’t break the bank, check this out!
The Marinated Meeple (1848 KP) rated Jamaica in Tabletop Games
May 7, 2018
Easy to Learn (4 more)
Simultaneous Movement Selection based on cards in hand
It's a racing game where you fight when you land on the same space
The Art.
The theme is rich and evocative.
Amazing Gateway Game, Easy to Learn, Beautiful, Fun Theme, light strategy.
Although this game can have frustrating moments, it's a really fun light game for kids. the light choices of going around the outside for more treasure, or the inside for more speed, and the idea of rolling the dice first and then choosing how to use them based entirely on the cards you have in hand, provides a touch of strategy, but not enough for A.P.
For heavier gamers who like complexity, this is way too light. But the art is gorgeous and fun.
For heavier gamers who like complexity, this is way too light. But the art is gorgeous and fun.
The Marinated Meeple (1848 KP) rated The Castles of Burgundy in Tabletop Games
Mar 19, 2018
Component quality isn't very good. (1 more)
More luck based than I would like
I give the game a 6, my wife gives it a 10, so we'll settle on a 7.
My wife adores this game, she's incredible at it, my parents love it... I'm the wet blanket. It's ranked very highly on board game geek, but yet i don't love this game myself. It's a cool concept with a very boring theme. I love the idea of owning a village in burgundy and placing castles and boat houses, but it doesn't really make me feel anything when I play, and I worry too much about the dice and how to make them actually work with what I need. This one isn't for me, but everyone else loves it so you shouldn't listen to me.
The Marinated Meeple (1848 KP) rated Stone Age in Tabletop Games
Mar 21, 2018
Great worker placement for beginning gamers (1 more)
The Art is Great!
Great Gateway Game: In the stone ages, you send your village out to accomplish different things
Worker placement is essentially you being the boss, and you tell people what to do, and you do this by putting your people in different areas like hunting for food, cutting down wood, building a farm, making tools, or maybe even making some more villagers (brown chicken, brown cow) You roll the dice to see how good your workers are at the jobs you assign them. This is a great version of this genre of game, It also has an ipad app we love as well. The expansion is out of print and very expensive, but we would love to own it when it gets reprinted.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Roar and Write! in Tabletop Games
Jul 2, 2020
Roll and write games have been surging in popularity recently among many gamers, but Purple Phoenix Games never really got too into them. The game industry has many wonderful entries now, and finding a great one may be somewhat daunting. Are we recommending Roar and Write! from Galactic Raptor Games? Read on (okay you don’t have to read too far, we love it).
A new ruler in The Animal Kingdoms is needed and it is up to you to appease the five sitting council members for consideration. By giving them exactly what they want you will be able to improve your standing and possibly rise to the top in this quick-playing dice game.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and the final components will probably be different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to back the game through the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, order from your FLGS, or purchase through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
Setup for Roar and Write! is simple. Choose a difficulty level to be played, assign the required council leaders, each with their own requirements to satisfy, deal each player a pencil, scoresheet, and one Personal Agenda card (secret goals to satisfy throughout the game). You are now ready to begin appeasing!
Roar and Write! takes place over five ages (rounds) and each age consists of three dice rolls. Each time the dice are rolled, players may choose which, or all, dice results to be used to influence the council members on their sheet. Any leftover dice results can be used in the Kingdoms area at the top of the sheet – first number is free each roll, but will cost a Council Offering spot for every Kingdom result added thereafter. Example – I use three 4s for Council Offerings, and the remaining results are two 5s and a 1. I want to use the two 5s so I mark both of them up in the Kingdom area and mark one Council Offering box with an X to decrease my ability to fill more spots there. A sacrifice and a gamble. Gotta love it!
Each Council member has unique requirements to satisfy, and players can only concentrate on one Council member per age, and choosing one early in the age to complete has advantages in extra points scored. Players also have their secret Personal Agendas (agendae?) to consider each age as well. Play continues through three rolls in each of the five ages. Once the final roll has been completed and players have done what they can to score as many points as possible, end game scoring happen to determine the winner of the game and the next ruler of the Animal Kingdom!
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, and certain components will probably be adjusted throughout the course of a successful Kickstarter campaign. That said, what we were shipped is a GORGEOUS game in a Tiny Epic-sized box. The table footprint is excellently small, the artwork is simply stunning, and I truly cannot wait to see what upgrades the KS campaign will bring.
What I love about roll and writes is probably true about most games in the genre: being able to see what is rolled and create my own strategy. Players aren’t rolling to move ahead more spaces than other players. They aren’t attacking each other. They are simply trying to get the best score. To maximize the usage of the resources provided to them. That said, this game has no player interaction whatsoever. I typically frown upon games where it is, “multiplayer solitaire” (thanks Duke Alex). However, Roar and Write is so fast and so engaging, that I really didn’t have time to worry about other players, nor did I really care what they were doing. In the end, it’s all about the points, and that’s what makes this a great game – I can play it with any group size, and I have been pleasantly surprised at how happy I was to play it solo as well.
So, if you are in the market for a roll and write game that is small in size, packs a decent crunchy punch, and has simply amazing art, Roar and Write! should be next on your wish list. Please consider backing it on Kickstarter, which will be launching at the end of June, 2020. I know I’ll be on the prowl to be gifting these little cuties to my friends and family!
A new ruler in The Animal Kingdoms is needed and it is up to you to appease the five sitting council members for consideration. By giving them exactly what they want you will be able to improve your standing and possibly rise to the top in this quick-playing dice game.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and the final components will probably be different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to back the game through the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, order from your FLGS, or purchase through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
Setup for Roar and Write! is simple. Choose a difficulty level to be played, assign the required council leaders, each with their own requirements to satisfy, deal each player a pencil, scoresheet, and one Personal Agenda card (secret goals to satisfy throughout the game). You are now ready to begin appeasing!
Roar and Write! takes place over five ages (rounds) and each age consists of three dice rolls. Each time the dice are rolled, players may choose which, or all, dice results to be used to influence the council members on their sheet. Any leftover dice results can be used in the Kingdoms area at the top of the sheet – first number is free each roll, but will cost a Council Offering spot for every Kingdom result added thereafter. Example – I use three 4s for Council Offerings, and the remaining results are two 5s and a 1. I want to use the two 5s so I mark both of them up in the Kingdom area and mark one Council Offering box with an X to decrease my ability to fill more spots there. A sacrifice and a gamble. Gotta love it!
Each Council member has unique requirements to satisfy, and players can only concentrate on one Council member per age, and choosing one early in the age to complete has advantages in extra points scored. Players also have their secret Personal Agendas (agendae?) to consider each age as well. Play continues through three rolls in each of the five ages. Once the final roll has been completed and players have done what they can to score as many points as possible, end game scoring happen to determine the winner of the game and the next ruler of the Animal Kingdom!
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, and certain components will probably be adjusted throughout the course of a successful Kickstarter campaign. That said, what we were shipped is a GORGEOUS game in a Tiny Epic-sized box. The table footprint is excellently small, the artwork is simply stunning, and I truly cannot wait to see what upgrades the KS campaign will bring.
What I love about roll and writes is probably true about most games in the genre: being able to see what is rolled and create my own strategy. Players aren’t rolling to move ahead more spaces than other players. They aren’t attacking each other. They are simply trying to get the best score. To maximize the usage of the resources provided to them. That said, this game has no player interaction whatsoever. I typically frown upon games where it is, “multiplayer solitaire” (thanks Duke Alex). However, Roar and Write is so fast and so engaging, that I really didn’t have time to worry about other players, nor did I really care what they were doing. In the end, it’s all about the points, and that’s what makes this a great game – I can play it with any group size, and I have been pleasantly surprised at how happy I was to play it solo as well.
So, if you are in the market for a roll and write game that is small in size, packs a decent crunchy punch, and has simply amazing art, Roar and Write! should be next on your wish list. Please consider backing it on Kickstarter, which will be launching at the end of June, 2020. I know I’ll be on the prowl to be gifting these little cuties to my friends and family!
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Cindr in Tabletop Games
Oct 29, 2020
Finally! A game to simulate dating dragons. I have been waiting for this theme all my life and it’s now a reality!! Well, okay, I have never really considered dating a dragon. But I know I would be signing up for a service app like Cindr to find my true dragon mate FO SHO if it were real. So how does a card game dragon sim play?
Cindr has players taking on the persona of a lonely fantasy creature looking for dragon love on a dating app. Players will be building their character by making choices and then swiping left or right to attempt going on dates with dragons that may be a great match. Roll the dice well and things may go to the Next Step, or even the Next Level. Roll poorly and your dear dragon date may send you home aflame.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. Furthermore I will be covering the game using the Solo rules (which are no different than the multiplayer rules). For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, each player (or just yourself if playing the solo rules as I am) will choose a Character Profile card, filling in the blanks and circling choices to build their new fantasy persona. Each player will take one Try Again card that is useful during game play. Shuffle each Cindr App Dragon Profile and Whelp App Location card deck and place near each other. The dice will be placed near all the cards as well and the game is ready to begin!
On a turn a player will do each of these steps in order: Choose a Dragon to Date, Assemble the Dice Pool, Draw a Location Card, Check Dragon Powers & Location Bonuses, The Date / Roll Dice, Burned by a Dragon, and End of Turn. In the solo game players will be playing long enough to complete five dragon dates.
Choosing a Dragon to Date consists of reading the profile on the top of the deck and deciding whether to date or not. If not, swipe the profile into The Dating Pool below the deck. Players may swipe twice for free, and pay for additional swipes. After a dragon has been chosen, players will Assemble the Dice Pool by flipping the profile card and comparing with the stats they had made for their character at the beginning of the game. For each match players will receive a green die. For each value one space away a blue die, and for two spaces away a red die. Each die color has a different value of faces, but all have hearts and fires. Next the player(s) will Draw a Location Card from the top of the deck, read the front, then flip to the back. The back of the card will list any die up/downgrades and bonuses that may activate at different times during the date. Checking Dragon Powers & Location Bonuses will happen next and are self-explanatory.
Now that a dragon date has been procured and a location chosen, The Date may occur! When on the date, players will roll the four dice up to three times. The first time they are rolled is considered the Meet Up. The Next Step and The Next Level are the second and third rolls respectively. To be considered a full date, players will need to at least roll a second time. It is during The Date that players will be collecting hearts and trying to avoid fires. Three fires and the hearts are lost and the turn over. Players may stop rolling any time they wish and bank the hearts they have won to that point. The hearts then transfer to Love Points that are tracked at the bottom of the Character Profile card.
Should a player roll three flames and have no way to mitigate them, they lose all earned hearts for that round and their turn is over. They were, after all, Burned by a Dragon. The End of Turn is a cleanup phase to setup for the next player (or next round if playing solo). Play continues in this fashion until a player reaches 21+ Love Points in a multiplayer game or after the solo player has gone on five complete dates. Total the points to see who is the winner, or compare against the Love Meter card to see where you stack up.
Components. I’m just going to come out and say it now: I love everything about the components in this game. The dice are excellent and feature GOOD colors (not just boring primary colors). The app cards look like a phone’s screen and that’s brilliant. The Location cards are using a review service named Whelp, and also a stroke of brilliance. The art is amazing, save for the somewhat boring Second Chance cards, and one of the fonts is the same as my favorite game of all time – Valeria: Card Kingdoms, so I am fan for sure.
It’s no use hiding the fact that I am giddy playing this game. Even solo! Yes, I missed out on being able to date dragons from other players’ Dating Pools, but I have access to all the dragons anyway! Being able to adjust your choices during the game as a result of dragon powers or location powers is a neat twist that I wasn’t expecting. Those powers and bonuses are great and can really change the game, and contribute to an already large replayability score from me. It’s just a superb game that I love more and more every time I play it.
Cindr will probably never make my Top 10 Games of All Time, but it will most certainly remain in my Top 100 for years. Again, I wish I had not missed out on the Kickstarter for this one as I am gluttonous for KS stretch goal extras, but I am quite happy with where this game is at retail level. If you are looking for a great game with a hilarious and wonderful theme, plays quickly, and is excellent as a solo game too, then check out Cindr. You will never look at dragon dating sites the same way again. I promise.
Cindr has players taking on the persona of a lonely fantasy creature looking for dragon love on a dating app. Players will be building their character by making choices and then swiping left or right to attempt going on dates with dragons that may be a great match. Roll the dice well and things may go to the Next Step, or even the Next Level. Roll poorly and your dear dragon date may send you home aflame.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. Furthermore I will be covering the game using the Solo rules (which are no different than the multiplayer rules). For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, each player (or just yourself if playing the solo rules as I am) will choose a Character Profile card, filling in the blanks and circling choices to build their new fantasy persona. Each player will take one Try Again card that is useful during game play. Shuffle each Cindr App Dragon Profile and Whelp App Location card deck and place near each other. The dice will be placed near all the cards as well and the game is ready to begin!
On a turn a player will do each of these steps in order: Choose a Dragon to Date, Assemble the Dice Pool, Draw a Location Card, Check Dragon Powers & Location Bonuses, The Date / Roll Dice, Burned by a Dragon, and End of Turn. In the solo game players will be playing long enough to complete five dragon dates.
Choosing a Dragon to Date consists of reading the profile on the top of the deck and deciding whether to date or not. If not, swipe the profile into The Dating Pool below the deck. Players may swipe twice for free, and pay for additional swipes. After a dragon has been chosen, players will Assemble the Dice Pool by flipping the profile card and comparing with the stats they had made for their character at the beginning of the game. For each match players will receive a green die. For each value one space away a blue die, and for two spaces away a red die. Each die color has a different value of faces, but all have hearts and fires. Next the player(s) will Draw a Location Card from the top of the deck, read the front, then flip to the back. The back of the card will list any die up/downgrades and bonuses that may activate at different times during the date. Checking Dragon Powers & Location Bonuses will happen next and are self-explanatory.
Now that a dragon date has been procured and a location chosen, The Date may occur! When on the date, players will roll the four dice up to three times. The first time they are rolled is considered the Meet Up. The Next Step and The Next Level are the second and third rolls respectively. To be considered a full date, players will need to at least roll a second time. It is during The Date that players will be collecting hearts and trying to avoid fires. Three fires and the hearts are lost and the turn over. Players may stop rolling any time they wish and bank the hearts they have won to that point. The hearts then transfer to Love Points that are tracked at the bottom of the Character Profile card.
Should a player roll three flames and have no way to mitigate them, they lose all earned hearts for that round and their turn is over. They were, after all, Burned by a Dragon. The End of Turn is a cleanup phase to setup for the next player (or next round if playing solo). Play continues in this fashion until a player reaches 21+ Love Points in a multiplayer game or after the solo player has gone on five complete dates. Total the points to see who is the winner, or compare against the Love Meter card to see where you stack up.
Components. I’m just going to come out and say it now: I love everything about the components in this game. The dice are excellent and feature GOOD colors (not just boring primary colors). The app cards look like a phone’s screen and that’s brilliant. The Location cards are using a review service named Whelp, and also a stroke of brilliance. The art is amazing, save for the somewhat boring Second Chance cards, and one of the fonts is the same as my favorite game of all time – Valeria: Card Kingdoms, so I am fan for sure.
It’s no use hiding the fact that I am giddy playing this game. Even solo! Yes, I missed out on being able to date dragons from other players’ Dating Pools, but I have access to all the dragons anyway! Being able to adjust your choices during the game as a result of dragon powers or location powers is a neat twist that I wasn’t expecting. Those powers and bonuses are great and can really change the game, and contribute to an already large replayability score from me. It’s just a superb game that I love more and more every time I play it.
Cindr will probably never make my Top 10 Games of All Time, but it will most certainly remain in my Top 100 for years. Again, I wish I had not missed out on the Kickstarter for this one as I am gluttonous for KS stretch goal extras, but I am quite happy with where this game is at retail level. If you are looking for a great game with a hilarious and wonderful theme, plays quickly, and is excellent as a solo game too, then check out Cindr. You will never look at dragon dating sites the same way again. I promise.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Dicetopia in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
As board gamers, we are always looking for cool new games to play! Occasionally, that search takes us to Kickstarter, which is where I found Dicetopia. After reading the campaign page, I was immediately hooked and decided to back it! I enjoyed following Dicetopia through production, and the finished product is everything I hoped it would be! Maybe after reading this review, you’ll want to give it a try too!
Welcome to the Dicetopia – a vast city teeming with opportunity. Some people capitalize on those opportunities for the greater good, but not you. You and your faction have more dubious motivations – you see a city ripe for the taking. Unfortunately for you, other factions in the city see the same thing. Now, you must work quickly and quietly to gain control over the city’s neighborhoods before your opponents! Pick up loot, carry out secret missions, and undermine your opponent in any way possible. The sneakiest and most clever faction will come out on top – will it be yours?
In Dicetopia, you are a member of a faction vying for control of the city. You and your opponents have secret missions to complete, and your strategy will vary depending on those missions. On your turn, you will swap one of the agents from your faction board with a die from any neighborhood. Each neighborhood has an action associated with it, and placing an agent there allows you to take the designated action. Neighborhood actions could be beneficial for you (re-rolling a die on your faction board), or they could be detrimental for your opponent (swapping one of their dice for one from the board). A controlling presence is one key to success, so make sure you have more agents than your opponent in any neighborhood! End-game scoring is in three parts: 1. Die total from your faction board, 2. Points for controlling a neighborhood, and 3. Successful completion of your secret missions. The player with the highest score wins!
Overall, I love Dicetopia. It’s kind of a game of worker placement without the weight that is sometimes associated with that mechanic. As someone who has not played many worker placement games before, I think Dicetopia does a good job introducing players to the mechanic. You place your agent, take the die, perform the corresponding action, and that’s your turn. Easy peasy. And since your secret missions dictate your strategy, the game is really more about dice/set collection than it is about worker placement. Another thing I like about the game is that it is dictated by dice, which means you’ll never play the same game twice. All of the dice are rolled and randomly placed during setup, so your city board will always be different for each game. And depending on your secret missions, the die values could make completing your secret missions easier or harder! That means you have to strategize your use of neighborhood actions even more! There is so much more strategy involved in this game than meets the eye, and I love that.
The one thing I do not like about Dicetopia is that whenever you place an agent in a neighborhood, you must take the corresponding action. Even if you don’t want to, or if it would be against your best interest. That gets a little frustrating as the game goes on, because some actions (later in the game) could essentially undo your entire game, costing you points by altering your success on secret missions. I wish the neighborhood actions were optional, because then it wouldn’t feel like my entire game strategy had been thrown out the window in the last couple of turns.
Besides my one grievance with the neighborhood actions, I really thoroughly enjoy playing Dicetopia. It was definitely a great find on Kickstarter for me, and I hope you’ll decide to give it a shot too! Purple Phoenix Games gives it a 9 / 12.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/dicetopia-review/
Welcome to the Dicetopia – a vast city teeming with opportunity. Some people capitalize on those opportunities for the greater good, but not you. You and your faction have more dubious motivations – you see a city ripe for the taking. Unfortunately for you, other factions in the city see the same thing. Now, you must work quickly and quietly to gain control over the city’s neighborhoods before your opponents! Pick up loot, carry out secret missions, and undermine your opponent in any way possible. The sneakiest and most clever faction will come out on top – will it be yours?
In Dicetopia, you are a member of a faction vying for control of the city. You and your opponents have secret missions to complete, and your strategy will vary depending on those missions. On your turn, you will swap one of the agents from your faction board with a die from any neighborhood. Each neighborhood has an action associated with it, and placing an agent there allows you to take the designated action. Neighborhood actions could be beneficial for you (re-rolling a die on your faction board), or they could be detrimental for your opponent (swapping one of their dice for one from the board). A controlling presence is one key to success, so make sure you have more agents than your opponent in any neighborhood! End-game scoring is in three parts: 1. Die total from your faction board, 2. Points for controlling a neighborhood, and 3. Successful completion of your secret missions. The player with the highest score wins!
Overall, I love Dicetopia. It’s kind of a game of worker placement without the weight that is sometimes associated with that mechanic. As someone who has not played many worker placement games before, I think Dicetopia does a good job introducing players to the mechanic. You place your agent, take the die, perform the corresponding action, and that’s your turn. Easy peasy. And since your secret missions dictate your strategy, the game is really more about dice/set collection than it is about worker placement. Another thing I like about the game is that it is dictated by dice, which means you’ll never play the same game twice. All of the dice are rolled and randomly placed during setup, so your city board will always be different for each game. And depending on your secret missions, the die values could make completing your secret missions easier or harder! That means you have to strategize your use of neighborhood actions even more! There is so much more strategy involved in this game than meets the eye, and I love that.
The one thing I do not like about Dicetopia is that whenever you place an agent in a neighborhood, you must take the corresponding action. Even if you don’t want to, or if it would be against your best interest. That gets a little frustrating as the game goes on, because some actions (later in the game) could essentially undo your entire game, costing you points by altering your success on secret missions. I wish the neighborhood actions were optional, because then it wouldn’t feel like my entire game strategy had been thrown out the window in the last couple of turns.
Besides my one grievance with the neighborhood actions, I really thoroughly enjoy playing Dicetopia. It was definitely a great find on Kickstarter for me, and I hope you’ll decide to give it a shot too! Purple Phoenix Games gives it a 9 / 12.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/dicetopia-review/