Oh the joy of Ye Olde England -- Knights, Castles, Foot & Mouth. In this major Dicefest, designer Michael Schacht has pared gaming down to its most simplistic whilst nonetheless providing an energising contest.

Players (it works well with two) must capture Castles and win Tournaments in order to secure a winning hand. The cards depict a variety of bastions and a mounted Knight to reflect competition. Special cards provide traditional flavour -- aiding die rolls, protecting Fortresses and the like.

Each turn, a player must try and capture a card. Initially, this must be from the two draw decks, but opponents' Castles become legitimate prey when more than the "Home" Stronghold are secured. Having decided upon a target, the attacking player rolls six dice and must 'beat' the combination printed at the top of the chosen card. For example: The Yellow domain, resplendent with foaming mug of ale motif, shows three red 'fours' and a yellow 'one'. As the rules state, any quintet is greater than a quartet, quartet than a trio, etc. So four 'twos' would secure the Objective card. If the roll ties with the red combination, then the yellow number must be exceeded. Players have three attempts to succeed. If this sounds a little perfunctory, it isn't, particularly when the victorious card is at hand.

Three card melds assure victory. These are: Four different colour Castles, Three different Castles plus a tilt at the King (defended by four 'fives' and a 'one') or Two different Castles and three Tournament victories. The latter are obtained by beating all opponents when the card is chosen. The active player gains an additional die (four, rather than three).

Much merriment is to be had when circling adversaries Castles, and they must be attacked given the unknown sequence of the pack. Outright victory is only obtained, however, if the defender fails to beat the attacking roll, assuming that the aggressor has exceeded the fixed requirement. As mentioned above, Special cards can provide defence, but these, too, are fair game.

Like Volle Lotte, and the similarly themed (and hugely underrated) Ritter ohne Furcht und Tadel, you must have a kinship with die rolling. Multiple poor rolls would quickly consign Knights to the pyre.

I'm very close to giving this game 5 stars. Yes it's not the ultimate straegy game, but it sure is fun. After you've played a few rounds you pick up on some winning strategy, but just when you think you're there you get a bad roll of the dice. My wife and I have played every night since Christmas and still enjoy it. The three ways to win also add a nice unpredictability. Take a chance and you may topple the king. Very,very enjoyable game. I recommend it for a nice quick play ,light strategy game.

I'll have to preface my review by saying I'm a big believer that certain games end up filling niches--there are games I think of as appetizers, games I think of as main courses, and games I think of as desserts.

To me, Knights is a fairly tasty little appetizer. It's a great way for three or four people to enjoy a game while they wait for other people to show up, or if they want to start with something simple before going on to more complicated games. Knights' simple concept, easy play, and short duration make it perfect for just that.

If one of my friends invited me over and said, 'We're going to play Knights all night,' I'd probably drop it down to a 2- or 3-star rating like the other reviewers. But with my group, it's always, 'We're going to play Knights AND...'

And, yeah, it's way better than [page scan/se=0034/sf=category/fi=stockall.asc/ml=20]Yahtzee.

The graphic on the front of the box depicting a somewhat cartoonish lout blowing a raspberry at a knight in a neighbouring castle does give you a good indication of what kind of game this is. Knights is fairly light, with a well chosen knights-and-castles setting, good artwork, and straight forward gameplay.

Some comparisons have been made to Yahtzee, which may give you the wrong idea. The similarity is that players are trying to roll a certain conbination of dice in Knights as they do in Yahtzee. The difference is that in Yahtzee you have lots of options to roll for, with the possibility to change goals halfway thru your turn, but in Knights you choose your goal then roll for it, all-or-nothing. It may not sound significant, but it is very much so, as it reduces tension and obviously tough decisions.

What Knights lack in tension for decisions in rolling dice, it tries to make up for with neat action cards and a fun theme. To a degree it works. You can roll to acquire new castles, or conquer others' castles; you can win jousting tournaments; you can go after action cards either from the deck or from other playters in order to gain some advantages. The action cards are well chosen with catapult giving you an extra roll when trying to conquer castles, guards helping protect your castles, etc.

This game, given the amount of luck, and the nature and gameplay of the game, seems aimed squarely at families looking for a fun diversion for all ages. And it works as exactly that. Gamers may be disappointed by the lack of meaningful decisions, but kids will enjoy going after different objectives. But as with most dice games, there is a lot of luck present, so beware. Also, forget about this ebing a two-player game, it creates too many runaway leads. 3 or more player means everyone can help keep the leader in check.

Yes it's a dice game, and I suppose one could see the vaguest of resemblances to Yahtzee, but this game definitely is its own game. For better or for worse, depends on your perspective, but Yahtzee does have the nice art Knights has. Fun dice game for 6 years old and up.