A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

tabletop

One Meeple: Dice Stars

Solo games take on different levels of complexity and skill. Some are simple games that challenge you to beat your previous best score, while others involve skill and a deeper thought process.

Dice Stars has a lot to like.

  • It’s quick
  • It has a lot of dice
  • There’s some thinking involved

While the bigger view of the game is that there is a lot left to chance (totally true), there’s some thinking involved as you need to know when to push your luck and when to go with what you have.

Dice Stars is a simple game where you draft dice, and roll them. Before you draft the dice, you have to decide how many you are taking out of the bag — from 1 to 3 dice. While you can get gutsy and go for three, it could also come back and hurt you. Any dice you don’t use will be put in the reserve, which can end up hurting you even more.

The goal is to match up colors and numbers to try and maximize your scoring. You don’t want to “X” out too many boxes, though, as it could hurt your points in the end.

The interesting part with the solo variant is the “AI” grid. As you play, you need to cross off grids in the AI’s spot based on what you did. It could hurt quite a bit if your rolls aren’t going your way. If the AI grid fills, that automatically triggers the end of game scenario. I can assure you, it’s not easy to win (I haven’t yet).

Though the box shows a “space” feel to this game, there’s really no theme. You could put the Wild Wild West on the box and it would likely play the same way, with different art. Still, it’s a fun little game that makes you think some and makes you want to go back for more to try and win.

This game isn’t easy to win, as I’ve noted.

It’s small and compact and is easy to travel with. It’s a light game overall — both in physical form and game play. But it’s fun and it challenges you a little. It’s also cheap, which is nice. On Amazon right now, it’s less than $15. My only concern is if you play it a lot — what happens with scorecards. Can one buy more? Of course if you are spending 8-10 bucks on a big pad, why not just buy a new game. So many beautiful dice!

Overall, the game is enjoyable. The speed you can play it in makes it better and that there’s some thinking involved helps as well. Though I don’t think this is a game I could play every single day, it’s one I don’t mind busting out and challenging myself for 15-20 minutes.

I would like to see how this is as a multi-player game, though, as I think it could be rather interesting.

In the end, it’s worth the small investment and is something I’ll definitely keep around for a quick solo game when needed.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

One Meeple: Hostage Negotiator

Multi-player games with solo variants are a lot of fun. But they often can be anti-climactic for the ending.

Not so with Hostage Negotiator, a game specifically made for playing solo. The idea of the game is simple – you are a hostage negotiator, trying to get somebody to release hostages. There are three scenarios that you can use to start, but no game is ever the same with all the different aspects of the game.

I’ve had this game in my collection for a while as I have been tending to do a bit more solo gaming lately. With that in mind, I will usually only add to my collection if there’s a solo variant, but I really love games specifically for solo play.

For whatever reason, I took a while to play this one. I finally got around to setting it up, reading the rules, and watching a play-through video. At that point, I felt I was ready to go.

Things I have read about the game made it sound quite difficult. Early in the first game, I didn’t think I stood a chance. Surely the bad guy was going to wipe me out.

Still, I loved how the game unfolded. And I didn’t even utilize one thing I should have – turning in cards for conversation points, as I forgot all about it.

I really thought I was done for. I had some dice come back bad a few times in key spots and one of my terror cards added two more hostages. Not good. Still, I was enjoying the game and trying to figure when to and when not to use cards. I thought things out the best I could.

And as the game dwindled, I was done for. Alas, one of the terror cards I had drawn earlier was going to allow me to take any card I wanted. Knowing I needed to go for it, I grabbed the final card that would allow me to save four hostages and eliminate the abductor – if all went well.

Then I came to the ending. After the final turn, it was time to go all in or go home. I had built my hand for this final conversation, figuring it was going to be the time to do it. As I set things up, I had the two re-roll cards ready to use. I used the “You need to trust me card,” which would hopefully make it so a four would be a success. I got one hit on it, thus meaning only the roll would give me a chance to win with 4, 5, or 6. But I needed two hits.

On the first roll – one hit and one “4,” which gave me the improbable win! I had the two re-roll cards still left that I was ready to use, but I didn’t end up needed to play them!

Such a fun game. I am definitely looking forward to many more plays. I look forward to all the expansions to come from the Kickstarter campaign. Great fun for sure!

Overall thoughts

This game is a lot of fun. It plays pretty quick and there are some good decisions. There’s definitely the luck factor with dice rolls and such, but it’s all part of the game. I love that you either win or lose. It’s not beating your previous score — it’s you won or you lost. End of story.

The graphics are nice and the game play is pretty smooth. This is definitely a keeper for me.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!