Ciub

Amigo Spiel | Dice Rolling | £18 | 2-4 players | 45 minutes | www.amigo-spiele.de

Do you like rolling dice? You do? Well, in that case, Ciub’s the game for you, because it has over 60 custom dice, of various colours. Players are wizards competing in spell-casting at their yearly gathering. Spell cards are laid out in two rows. Only spells in the bottom row can be “cast”. Whenever that happens, a spell is moved down from the top to the bottom, and the top row is replenished.

Each player starts with five white dice, whose faces are 1, 2, 3, 4 and two “dice swap” symbols. Players “cast” a spell by rolling their dice and matching the requirement shown on one of the spell cards: 1,1,1,1, for example, or 1,1,3,3,6,6, or perhaps “20+” (meaning the total value of the dice must equal or exceed that number). If a swap symbol is rolled, the player can choose to exchange each “swap” die for a coloured die, and these coloured dice have different combinations of numbers and symbols – and the symbols enable players to re-roll individual dice, or swap dice two-for-one, or turn a die to a face of their choice.

Players can re-roll as many times as they like, as long as they either set aside a die or swap a die after each roll – dice that show the dreaded skull icon must be set aside, however.

Failed to cast a spell? You get to use all the dice you currently have on your next turn, and add an extra one. Claimed a spell? You take the card, and get the victory points shown on it, but you must discard all but five of your dice. When the final spell in the deck is claimed, the player with the most points wins.

Surprisingly deep with repeated plays, this is actually a “dice management” game, not a gambling game.

(Beresford Quimby)

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