Lunar Laser Frogs

• Designer: Andreas Preiss
• Publisher: Loosey Goosey
• Players: 3-8
• Age: 8+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Lunar Laser Frogs is the laser-fast dice game for up to 8 players! The dice feature icons in three colors as well as blank faces. When it is your turn, you roll three times to cast all six dice. At the same time, and even before you are finished, each other player tosses one face down card onto a shared pile. The fastest opponent to play a particular color card will get one point per matching die. However, if you do not roll a particular color at all, it will be “lasered” onto every die and suddenly be worth six points.

Each player gets a set of player cards (one each of blue, pink, yellow, blank, gray). The box bottom is placed on the table as a card tray, and the start player is given the 6 dice.  Each of the dice has a single side of blue, pink, yellow, 2 blank sides, and one side with a combo frog that has 2 of the 3 colors on it.

The active player takes the dice and will roll them.  The player will roll exactly three times to roll all of the dice. You must roll at least one die on each roll, and you may not re-roll any dice nor try to hit any previously rolled dice with the new ones.  At any point in your turn, your opponents can toss one of their cards facedown in the box bottom.  The round is completed when all the dice are rolled and all the other players have thrown a card in the box bottom.  

Before doing anything else, the active player chooses one of the other players whose score he wants to copy. Then examine the dice and check to see if any of the colors (blue, pink, yellow) have not been rolled. If so, that color is mentally added to all six dice.  Now, take the cards out of the box bottom, flipping over the entire stack to keep the same order.  Thus, the top card on your stack will be the one first thrown in the box.

You’ll now reveal the cards one at a time, and the first card of each type will score.

• The first blue/pink/yellow card scores one point for each die with that color on it
• The first blank card scores 2 points for each blank die
• The first gray card scores 1 point for each card played prior to it
• All cards that aren’t the first of their type do not score anything.

Players take the scores for the round, and the active player copies the score of the player they said they wanted to copy.   When the designated number of rounds is complete, the player with the most points wins.  If there is a tie, play another round until there is a winner.

My thoughts on the game

Lunar Laser Frogs is a zany rapid paced game where players try to predict the final values on the dice, though of course the possibly laser alteration of the dice adds a big bit of uncertainty to the game.  Players will have to weigh the risk/reward and decide which card to throw in the box, and WHEN to throw it into the box.

At first I thought the dice rolling was pretty mindless, but there is a fair amount of strategy for the roller to implement – deciding how many dice to roll in each of the three batches can definitely affect how players throw their cards in the box – and this may also help the roller figure out whose score they wish to copy!

All of our games have been 4 or 5 players, and it seems to work fairly well at those player counts.  There are enough options of cards to play while still having a lot of timing competition.  At higher player counts, up to 2 cards for each type will score, the earliest of a type scoring as above.  The second of a count scores one point for each card in the box between itself and the first card of the same type.  Though I haven’t played this myself, I have talked to a friend who played an 8 player game at a convention and told me that more often than not, the two cards of the same type often ended up in the box next to each other, meaning that the slower 2nd player scored no points as there were no cards between it and its mate.  That being said, there aren’t many games that can handle 8, so it’s something to remember for late night convention games.

ADDENDUM (29 Jan) – the description of the high player count was wrong.  The designer has corrected me:

"This is only true for the gray cards!




Quoting the rules:


"With six, seven, or eight players, the first two cards of each type that have been tossed into the box will earn their players points (instead of just the very first one of each type)."




The first two blue, pink, yellow, and blank cards will score regularly/full points, based on what the dice end up showing. How many cards are or aren't between these cards is irrelevant.




Revisiting the rules for 6-8 players:

"The second gray card is worth one point for each card tossed into the box after the first gray card but before the second gray card itself."

The player cards are great and I always try to pick my favorite rocketship shape.  I’m a bit down on the scoring cards as there are a bunch of them and they are double-sided.  In general, I don’t like this format as it’s too easy to accidentally jostle or flip them over.  With the number of scoring cards that were included, it seems like there would have been enough available to let players color up as needed.  (Or honestly, just write scores down on a piece of paper).

There is admittedly not a lot of deep strategy to talk about here – this is a game about quick reactions, laughs/groans and having a good time with your friends.  All of my games have been end-of-the-night sorts of things, and this hasn’t failed to provide laughs and a quick burst of excitement to round things out.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Dale, John P
• Neutral. Mark J
• Not for me.