...You Got To Roll Me And Call Me The Tumbling Dice!

Dice Forge

by Régis Bonnessée

Published by libellud

Dice Forge is a nifty game designed by Régis Bonnessée and published by Asmodee, where players roll a pair of dice, acquire the resources depicted on the die faces, and then decide between two options on each turn.  With enough gold saved up, they can purchase new faces for their dice - the sides of the dice easily pop off and can be replaced from those available in “The Temple”.  Or, with enough “Moon Shards” or “Sun Shards” saved up, they can instead perform a “Heroic Feat” and acquire a card that might allow an instantaneous bonus, a bonus they get to use on all subsequent turns, or just a slew of victory points.  The game proceeds over 9 (for 2 or 4 players) or 10 rounds (for 3), so you need to plan ahead - it takes a while to get your dice all tricked out, but then you might not have many chances to use them.  It’s really very well balanced and well-thought out.  For example, though each resource has a limit, there is an opportunity to buy an “extender” to bank up even more.  It’s extremely easy to learn with a low bar for entry and plays in about 40 minutes’ time, so a great length.

How we came to play this game:  

Susan’s colleague and friend Wil bought this and she got to try it at one of the semi-regular AMNH game nights - and was hooked.  Before our Fire Island vacation, we ran to Modern Myths and picked up a copy.  We’ve now played many times - and it’s still a favorite at Museum game nights and lunches and for us.

This reminds us of:

Susan - It doesn’t remind me of much, I have to be honest. The whole process of getting to change your die faces is pretty darn unique. It makes me wish so badly that this game had existed when I was a kid - I would have tortured everyone to play with me (but probably played by myself, taking turns being players, like I did with “Mousetrap” and “Gnomes.”

Mike – As your partner in games I can attest that in your adulthood you are torturing ME to play! This is like the only game you wanna go back to lately! And we have a lot of unopened titles we need to get to! That said it is a different game experience! Outside of the box thinking from a design perspective. It stands alone there.

Game art:  

Susan - It’s very whimsical and colorful - I like it a lot.  The game board and “temple,” not to mention even the box are extremely well designed.

Mike - The design style is interesting, great work on the card art and the board art. Strikes me as similar to a well-illustrated children’s fantasy book and as such, adds that kinda “getting whisked away on an adventure” feeling. It helps sell the storytelling of the game. That’s difficult to pull off most times, as usually, the gameplay mechanic ends up trumping the story. Well executed.

 It is damn good looking!

Best part:

Susan - I love the balance of luck and strategy in this one.  I’ve used a different strategy in every single game I’ve played so it always feels different.  There are multiple versions of several of the cards that symbolize the “heroic feats” that make this game very replayable - in fact, we still haven’t tried a few.  I also love that everyone gets to roll their dice each turn, making it more active for all players at all parts of the game. [Downside - hard to take a bathroom break.]

Mike – Yeah, you need to change up yo strategy, cuz you keep getting beat! Good thing you have options! Game planning what die faces buy and how to arrange them is definitely my favorite thing to do. As you continue to play that strategizing plays a big part in the game experience! Choose wisely!

Worst part:

Susan - I live in fear that I’m going to hit the Temple and send all the die faces flying.  That said, we successfully packed this game into our Bit Box and took it to Fire Island and didn’t lose anything.

Mike – The worst part of this game is the strange dichotomy of a game that sits incredibly well as far as length of play and attractiveness of play to non-hardcore gamers against the arduous setup and clean-up process. So easy on the one hand so damn difficult on the other!

This video has been altered to ease the pain.

Mistakes we made:

Susan - One of our first times playing, Mike moved the 10’s cube to keep score instead of the 1 cube by mistake and there was no way to figure out where he was and we just had to start over.  Also, our friendship was really tested out on Fire Island one night when Mike agreed to play, I got it all set up and then one roll in, he announced he was too tired (ie. too drunk from tequila!), threw in the towel, and went to bed.

Mike – Yes, the mistake there was agreeing to play after drinking for 10+ hours. I did sleep like a baby that night so that one counts as a win!

This is what that first roll looked like from my eyes. You'd have gone to bed too!

Play again?

Susan - I suppose at some point we’ll grow tired of it, but I think it will long be a great game to bring out for friends that don’t want anything heavy but are up to try a fun, unique game.

Mike- As I read this back, it may look like I am tired of this game, but I’m not. I like the game, I just need Susan to move on with me to some other titles. Let's go lady!!

Times played: 

Susan:  Maybe 6 or 8?

Game record -

Susan: I finally won one!!
Mike: Yep ONE!

#BoardGameHaiku

Piling up the gold,

Let’s buy some cool new die faces

Oh crap, it’s round 10.

Go get a copy!
Here