Upon reading the advice in Game Design Workshop, I’ve decided to keep a Game Journal in order to improve my game design skills. So the first game I’m looking to analyse is a game called Dice Town. I’m not traditionally into dice games, as I’ve predominantly played card games, video games and board games but I thought that I’d give it a go. The game is set in the Wild West and is a combination of Poker-like elements using dice. The game goes very fast, it was very quick to pick up (so much so that even my Dad got into it). Firstly, let me explain how to play.
Playing The Game
The Dice Town dice
Each player starts the game with a dice cup, 5 dice and 8 dollars. Each round starts with a dice rolling phase. During each round, players discreetly roll their dice and can choose any number of dice they want to keep. Any dice past the first one will cost $1. Once everyone reveals what they’ve kept, these dice are put to one side and this cycle repeats until one player has put aside all 5 of their dice. Then each of the other players have one final roll which will complete their final “hand”. On each side of the dice are 9, 10, J, Q, K and A.
The Dice Town board which shows each reward
Once the hands are determined, then the reward phase commences. Depending on the hands chosen you can win different rewards each with an impact on the final result.
The player with the most…
- …9s will get a gold nugget for the number of 9s that they have. Gold nuggets are worth 1 victory point at the end of the game.
- …10s will receive all the money in the bank. Money is used in the dice rolling phase to keep more than 1 die or at the end of the game they are 1 victory point for every $2.
- …Js will get to look at one General Store card for each J they have, select one and discard the rest. General Store cards contain either points, abilities to modify your dice roll, or cards which influence the rewards won.
- …Qs can steal 1 card (either property or General Store card) from any other player. They are allowed to look at the number of cards equal to the number of Qs that they rolled (but they can only steal 1 card).
- …Ks becomes the Sheriff. The Sheriff decides all ties (if multiple players have the same number) and is worth 5 Victory Points if you’re the Sheriff at the end of the game.
- …best Poker hand will receive a property card. These property cards have 1-5 victory points which contribute to your final score. For every A you have, you can draw extra property cards up to a maximum of 2. The 3 property cards that are up for grabs are face up during the whole round (including the dice rolling phase).
If any player doesn’t win anything during the round, they get to visit Dr Badluck which gives them a reward depending on what they rolled. These rewards are either the ability to protect 2 property cards they own, drawing a General Store card, receiving $2 from each player or receiving 1 gold nugget from every player. Once the reward phase ends, you pick up your dice and start a new round. The game ends when you run out of gold nuggets or you run out of property cards.
Game Analysis
What Worked
The family really enjoyed this game. We’re a competitive group by nature and there have been many games in the past that have created frustration due to uncontrollable random mechanics or difficult learning curve. This game had a great balance of learning curve and strategic elements that have kept us coming back every night thus far. Here’s some of the parts that worked:
- Everyone is rewarded. It’s great that no matter how the rolls ended up, you will always win something per round. In fact, sometimes it’s better to not win such that you can protect your big properties from being stolen. But as everyone is rewarded, you never feel like you’re that far off the pace for winning.
- You’re always making decisions. During the dice rolling phase, you’re constantly making decisions on which dice to keep and which ones to take and re-roll. Keeping dice comes with a cost but could also vastly improve your chances of winning but at the same time, if an opponent is pushing for the same number as you it’ll give you less chance to change your strategy (kinda like Agile vs Waterfall).
- Winning feels like you’ve earned it. The best part about the game is that it feels like you have to earn the win. Comparing what dice other people have chosen, remembering what property cards they’ve taken, should I be stealing now or protecting my properties. What I’ve found is that there is no “perfect game” and winning and losing boils down to the choices you make and the dice you roll.
What Didn’t Work
It’s actually quite difficult to find things that didn’t work for me for this game, and to be honest it’s really just minor nitpicking to identify these elements.
- Winning relies on having a good memory. To be honest this isn’t a negative for me (but I have a pretty good memory), but what I’ve found, especially in games which you win resources, that because the “score” is unknown most people end up going after the people who have the most cards. But, because properties range from 1 – 5 points, you could have 4 properties and still be behind someone who has just 1. Most casual players don’t remember what other people have won.
- Collecting some numbers just aren’t as useful as other ones. Again, this probably adds to the game in general, but having multiple 9s, Js, Qs and As provide usefulness because it synergises the goal of trying to get the best poker hand with an added benefit of being able to get more gold, see more general store cards or see more of the opponent’s cards. Whereas, collecting more 10s or Ks only contribute to getting the majority. Most times in the game I’ve seen money (10s) or the Sheriff (Ks) won just by keeping a single die.
- It’s easy to cheat. The game relies on an honor system especially in the discreet dice rolling. There have been a few times where I was trying to pull a die out from under the cup and I accidently bumped one that I wanted to keep. Obviously this is not in the spirit of the game but on the plus side the dice rolls are not complete game changers.
Final Comments
The game had a good amount of random elements but not enough to make the game not worth playing. The strategic elements and varying game play keeps the game entertaining.