Can´t Stop

It sounds like an eighties hit, and in a way it is. Originally published in 1980, Can’t Stop is a blissfully simple game of roll-and-move, the catch being that if you roll the wrong numbers, you don’t go anywhere.

The board shows a series of numbers from 2 to 12, each with a track of varying length. Your goal is to move yourself up these tracks and try and be the first person to get to the top of three of them to win. You can only move up three tracks on any turn, recording your movement using white progress markers.

Each turn you roll four dice, and must be able to move at least one of the progress markers, using two of the dice. If for instance you roll 4, 2, 1, 6 the dice could be split to make 6 and 7, 5 and 8 or  3 and 10. As long as you have at least one of these numbers matches a track where you have a progress marker  (or you have one unplayed, and can start it on a new track) you can move the appropriate marker. If you can move two markers using two sets of dice, even better.

Having done so, you now have two options: stick with the progress you’ve made, placing pieces of your own colour on the tracks to show your ‘banked’ progress… Or roll again. But if you roll dice that can’t be configured to match any of your chosen numbers.. you’re bust! All the progress you made on this turn is lost. The nagging temptation to make just one more roll is where the game gets its name: it really can be hard to stop pushing your luck!