Designed by: Brett J. Gilbert,Trevor Benjamin
In Dice Heist the players are calculating criminals, trying to pull of a series of audacious robberies from art museums in different parts of the world.
At the start of the game four museum cards are laid out on the table – each one represents an art museum, and the number on the card shows how strong the security is. They’re pretty lax in St Petersburg (2) for instance, whereas at the Louvre security is high (5). Each player takes one black die. On a given turn, the active player turns over the top card in the deck, and adds it to the collection of the matching gallery. Then you have a choice; you can either attempt a heist, or hire a sidekick. If you attempt a heist, you roll your die. If it beats the number of the place you’re trying to rob, you can take everything from that museum’s collection, and add it to your haul. If it doesn’t, your turn is immediately over.
If you hire a sidekick, you take a white die from the supply and add it to your black die. On a future turn you can choose to roll one or more of your sidekicks as an extra shot at pulling off a successful heist, doubling, tripling or quadrupling your chances of success. If you pull off a heist successfully using sidekicks, they return to the supply. If you fail, you keep them.
The art cards themselves are made up of three kinds: artefacts, gems, and paintings. Artefacts score one or two points at the end of the game, gems score more the more you have of a kind (i.e. lots of the same colour is good, as each card is worth an extra point) and paintings (which have a monetary value) only get points for the player who has the most valuable collection. The player with the least valuable collection is docked points!
Play continues until all the museums have been completely depleted of their stock! (You can choose to play the targeted raid rule if you like too; where the active player announces they are going for one card only. In this instance your heist role only has to match the security on the museum card, not beat it)
There's no stealing from each other, so the only frustration will be born of the dice not doing your bidding. You could, one supposes, calculate who is leading and go for the things they'd be going for...
Very low. Even with 5 players Dice Heist moves rapidly.
Almost none. The game asks you keep your artefact and gem cards face up (so others can see what you're collecting) and painting cards hidden (so they can't) so the most you'd be doing is checking that you're not leaving some bonzer haul open for someone who's already doing a bit too well... but with the dice rolling, there's no guarantee your plans will pan out!
Simple rules, manageable luck to an extent (if you're sensible; don't ignore the option of those sidekicks!) and fast playtime make Dice Heist a likeable family game.
2-5
Players
8+
Years
5-15
Mins
Sam says
If you like a luck-heavy game that plays in 20 minutes Dice Heist is a keeper. It plays pretty fluidly, leans heavily on the dice-rolling but does counter that with the option of getting those sidekicks. Rather neat and nimble.