Biddle

• Designers: Ralf zur Linde, Carsten Rohlfs
• Publisher: Amigo
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20-30 mins
• Amazon affiliate link: 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Bet, roll the dice, cross your fingers!

All dice higher than four? That’s possible with six throws!

Or even five? Will you bet the fewest throws for the dice challenge? Undercut each other until two teams are formed: One team accepts the dice challenge, the other bets against it.

Each player chooses a color and takes all the cubes of their color, placing one at the top of the starting space on the board. The deck of cards is shuffled and one is flipped over. In each of the 10 rounds in Biddle, players are presented with a challenge of what must be rolled on six dice, say, two three-of-a-kinds, a sum of less than 12, or four 3s and two 5s.

The first player states how many rolls of the dice they think will be sufficient to satisfy the challenge shown on the revealed card. Each subsequent player either calls the bid, undercuts the bid (by proposing a lower number of rolls), or drops out of the bidding phase, believing that the challenge can’t be met in the stated number of rolls.  Players who drop out move their cube to the left side of the scoring area for the round

Once at least one person has dropped out and all other players are on the same space of the track, the players are divided into two teams. The players who have made the bid try to satisfy the challenge.  They roll the dice, and have as many rolls as they bid on the track.  After each roll, they can set aside or re-roll any number of dice.  If they achieve the desired combination in the allotted number of rolls, they score points – they take their cubes from the bidding tack and place them on the right scoring space for this round. If they failed, the doubters (those who dropped out) score – their cubes remain on the left side of the scoring area.  In each round, there will only be cubes on either the left or the right of the scoring area – depending on who won.   

The game lasts ten rounds with the points escalating over time; you can see the values next to each space in the scoring chart; the right side (rolling and winning) is generally more valuable than the left side (doubting and winning). You can score both for doubting and for completing challenges, and in the end whoever has scored the most points wins.  There is no tiebreaker.

My thoughts on the game

TL,DR.  Biddle is a blast!  

So, when we read the rules to the game – Biddle didn’t seem like much.  A little bit of a “Name That Tune” contest in bidding for the chance to roll for the win each round – and then some cube movement to score.  But, after our first few rounds, we realized just how much fun this little game is.  In nearly every round, the dice cause plenty of excitement…

Maybe, the first roll magically meets the full criteria for scoring – huzzah!  Lots of cheering.  Maybe the round comes down to the final roll – and everyone is on the edge of their seat as they watch the dice roll around before settling on the table.   In between, there are often spirited arguments on what is the best strategy to take for a particular round.

Given the way that the scoring is set up, the game rewards players for taking the risk of rolling the dice – success in each round pays off better if you win with the dice rather than hoping for failure.  This definitely makes for some interesting decisions when it’s your turn to go.  It can be especially hard when everyone is on the same rung of the bidding ladder and then the next person in line has to decide to bail or to drop it down a notch.

The cards are certainly of varying difficulty, and I’ll admit that it has taken me a game or two to figure out which cards are actually difficult to achieve and which are not.  (Yes, I know that it should be just basic probability – but there seems to be some Biddle-warp going on, and it just took me some experience to figure out the suitable range of rolls for a combination).

FWIW, I’m generally not one for house rules, but this is a game that I’d not be against adding a few cubes to the box to allow for more players to play.  Each round just comes down to the group that wants to roll for the win and the other half that is counting on their failure.  As long as everyone can bid rationally, the number of players in the game doesn’t really change much.  The player count seems to be limited more on the components (the number of cubes and then slots in the scoreboard).  Assuming you’re OK working around this, I don’t see any reason why this couldn’t play more than 5.

Biddle is a for-sure keeper for me; it’s been a blast every time that it has hit the table, and I expect it to continue to cause laughs, groans and excitement in the future.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Doug G: How is it that Dale and I are agreeing so much on these games? Biddle is a blast to play with the right crowd and it could work with more than 5 as Dale suggests. LIght fun and a great filler or game to play with your non-gamer friends.

Mark Jackson: This is a smarter (and less-blingy) take on Last Chance/Yahtzee Deluxe Poker. Laughter and fun ensues. (Biddle’s bidding system is substantially better than Last Chance.)

Alison Brennan: Fun quick dice-rolling game. In each of the 10 rounds, turn over a goal card which shows some combination of 6 dice (eg three 1’s plus three other different numbers). The first player declares how many turns they think they will take to meet the goal and, in turn order, players either agree with the bid, or make a lower bid, or declare there’s no way you’ll do in that few turns. The bid keeps getting lowered until everyone has decided if they’re on board with the lowest bid or declared nup, no way. And then there’s a bunch of cheers and groans as the attempt is made because everyone has invested in the result, with points gained by the players who were right. It doesn’t matter that the odds are calculatable – you’re only ever one bad roll away from doom or one great roll away from glory. With 10 rounds playing essentially the same game it’s not ever going to be in high rotation, but we had a lot of fun with it.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!  Dale Y, Doug G., Mark Jackson
• I like it. Eric M, Alison B
• Neutral.
• Not for me…