Tag Archives: dice game

Medici The Dice Game (Game Review by Brandon Kempf)

Designer: Reiner Knizia Artists: Vincent Dutrait Publisher: Grail Games Players: 1-4  Time: 20 Minutes Times Played: 4 The Medici’s are back and they are still shipping goods and trying to have the most valuable cargo. This time though, there are … Continue reading

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Review of Dairyman

Roll Dice! Milk the Cow! Make Cheese & Ice Cream!

Dairyman is a push-your-luck dice-rolling game in which players compete as dairymen trying to collect fresh milk everyday, fulfilling orders, and making cheese and ice cream. Players take turns rolling, locking, and re-rolling dice to create sets of two or three dice with a total value of 10 to produce milk and then use it to claim milk tiles for points. Failure to produce milk may result in spoilage and the loss of a previously earned milk tile. There are opportunities to flip a tile to turn the milk into cheese for extra points or to freeze it into ice cream. This action provides an extra ability that can be used each turn. Flipping a milk tile also prevents it from being lost. The player with the most points on their milk, cheese, and ice cream tiles at the end of the game is the winner. Continue reading

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Review of Blend Off!

Blend Off! is a real time game in which all players are frantically rolling dice to collect fruit, blending smoothies, and filling orders to earn gold stars. Makes total sense, right? To best understand the theme and mechanisms of the game, it’s important to know the backstory. Here it is as told in the rules…

Blend it Like Becca — a small-town smoothie shop sensation! It’s been a slow night. Becca the shop owner, Kevin the runner boy, and the Master Mixers – including you! – have started closing up shop. One minute before close, the door swings open. Outside, you see parked school buses and a line of people all the way to the street corner! The high school girls’ volleyball tournament has just gotten out, and everyone is craving a smoothie for the ride home. Becca cuts a deal: whoever blends the most smoothies tonight gets free smoothies for a month! The Blend Off has begun, and only one can win. There’s just one problem: Kevin. Skittish at best on normal days, he flies into a frenzy, grabbing fruit for you from the fridge at random. Take the fruit Kevin brings, complete the orders Becca calls back, and blend your way to victory!

In the game, players represent the Master Mixers who are competing to blend the most smoothies. Each Master Mixer rolls a Fruit Die representing Kevin\ and the random fruits he retrieves from the refrigerator. The deck of Blender Cards represents Becca who is continuously calling out smoothie orders to be filled. Unlike many games, there are no individual turns. Players are all playing and taking actions simultaneously until the game ends (when Becca is out of orders). The player that earned the most gold stars from blending smoothies is the winner. Continue reading

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La Granja: No Siesta! (Game Review)

  Designers: Andreas “ode” Odendahl Publishers: Stronghold Games Players: 1-4 Time: 30-45 minutes Ages: 10+ Times Played:5 (with review copy provided by Stronghold Games)   I wanted to start this review by making some kind of sweeping pronouncement about the … Continue reading

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Bang! The Dice Game

Design by Michael Palm and Lukas Zach Published by dv Giochi 3 – 8 Players, 15 – 20 minutes Review by Greg J. Schloesser  I remember first encountering the card game Bang! while attending my very first Spiel in Essen, … Continue reading

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