Tumblin-Dice

Designed by: Carey Grayson,Randy Nash,Rick Soued

Tumbling-Dice feels like a classic pub game -sets of dice, a wooden board – but one you can happily play at home.

The game is simple. The stepped wooden board is placed on a table and players take turns rolling (or flicking, or sliding) dice of their own colour along it. You’re trying to get your dice into the higher scoring places (x3, x4) and/or knock your opponents dice off the board. After all players have used all their dice, scores are totaled by the dice value (the face-up pips) multiplied by the area value. Thus a die with three pips facing up in the x4 area, for instance, is worth 12 points, whereas a die showing six pips in the x1 area is only worth 6 points. Play continues for three rounds and the player with the most points wins. Simple, but fun.

Sam says

One of those games that - unless you detest dexterity games - seems to appeal to almost anyone from intense boardgame enthusiasts to the most casual might-be player. For my personal tastes it errs rather far toward luck to play it regularly - even the best shot can be undermined by your die ending on the 1 pip face-up - but you can't deny it's a lot of fun.

The guru's verdict

  • Take That!

    Take That!

    Yeah, there's room for some Take That - you can play quite aggressively in fact, aiming for other people's dice and attempting to bludgeon them off the board.

  • Fidget Factor!

    Fidget Factor!

    Very low. With four players you're only waiting about a minute for your turn.

  • Brain Burn!

    Brain Burn!

    There might be occasions where you want to calculate the as-they-stand score before making your decision. Do you want to try and get your die in the x4 area, or would it make more sense to try and knock an opponent out of the x3?

  • Again Again!

    Again Again!

    A very quick, very fun, and pretty random game. The wooden board makes it rather pricey, but it is rather more-ish.