ackmondual
United States
Virginia
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Game #1
two 6p games we did. This is pegged as a 2p-4p game, so right off the bat this was a variant. Done to squeeze in the 2 extra players. We passed the reference card that lists “special powers” (discard a card, add a dice card to an opponent’s hand, roll again, etc.) around as needed.
I figured there may be some uneventful downtime playing with so many players, but that wasn’t an issue for the most part. It was interesting to see if the other players would roll what they needed to. Assuming I’m p1, p6 (to the right me) tried 3 times to roll the “bookend” card 3 times, but wasn’t able to get it. Not surprisingly since it calls for rolling 7 dice and getting 3 ones, 1 three, and 3 sixes. Worth 7 chips and you get to reroll dice of your selection, but with only 3 rolls, it seemed to be a statistical crapshoot. P5 played the “Avalanche” card. Only p6 and p2 had to draw a card. Pretty good since each player had to roll higher than a 3.
I tried rolling “multiples of three” (With 5 dice, allowed to reroll certain dice, which in the end must add to any # divisible by 3 from 6 through 30. Worth only 1 chip though  Should’ve been 2 or 3 IMO) and gave up after my 2nd turn. It took me 2 turns to get the “Two Pair: 2s and 5s” (With 5 dice, allowed to reroll certain dice, and worth 2 chips). Then I tried the “Even Out” card, but after 3 rolls, I was out and p2 (player to my left) still had one die left that didn’t roll an even number.
In the end p4 ended up finishing off his hand and won. I still had the “Even Out”, “Multiples of Three”, and a 3rd card I can’t remember to finish off. Overall, we used the “Extra Roll” (1 chip) a lot, and “Swap a card with any opponent” didn’t seem to slow him down p4.
Game #2
not many rounds of play this time either. There was noticeable downtime (though nothing excruciating) again due to having extra players.
P4 was poised to win this one as well. That was certainly the sentiment when 1st, he kept paying one chip to “reroll the dice” across all of his turns, and after using that action several times per turn, managed to break even. Secondly, someone paid 5 chips to do the “Force an opponent to draw a card” action on him.
In actuality, I could've won. The plan was to get rid of my “hard sixes” card. 3 sixes with 5 dice, worth 4 chips. 3 tries, but no keeping die rolls. That would’ve put me down to one card left where I could pay 9 chips to “eliminate a card”, specifically, that wretched “Bookend” card. I ended up going from 13 to 10 chips since I kept using the “reroll” action. Shortly, p4 ended up getting his hand down to one card and paid 9 chips to get rid of his last card. Why didn’t I reroll one last time, from 10 chips down to 9 at a final stab for the win? I didn’t feel lucky. I figured my “luck quotient” would regenerate when (if apparently) the turn gone back around to me. In hindsight, what I would’ve done differently was kept rerolling down to 5 chips. Getting rid of that card would’ve gotten me back up to 9 chips in which I could’ve tossed my last card for the win. That also would’ve left me with not a whole lot of money in the end, but eh, you figure in this game, someone else is bound to win sooner than you think, and sometimes you gotta really throw your luck out there and see if you can push ahead faster than everyone else.
final thoughts
I enjoyed this. Very casual, not a whole lot of thinking required perse, mind you there are statistics to consider and who’s in the lead when paying for action cards that affect other players, but still, it can be fun. The pure luck element would NOT get me coming back often to this game, which helps relates this game’s BGG 6.0 rating, but I wouldn’t go so far as to shun it completely.
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