Product Description

This is a classic dice game with a twist. Each player has a pawn and a couple of special dice numbered "1, 2, 3, 4, X, 7" and "1, 2, 3, 5, 6, X" in his own color. A small, cross-shaped board features a 20-space track and a movement table in the center showing six rows marked 0-5. During your turn, you may throw your dice as often as you choose. When you feel that your combination is high enough (let's say a "6" and a "4") you simply place the dice on one of the rows in the center. If your dice are still on the Table when the round is over you move forward the indicated number of spaces (0-5).

Naturally, your dice will only occasionally be allowed to lie on the highest spaces, since any player with a higher dice combination will be happy to remove them from the board. Even if you have the highest possible combination, you mustn't rejoice too soon, as following players could, with a bit of luck, still throw you off the board. This is especially irritating if it happens a few spaces from the finish line!

Rolling different number combinations produces different results. With doubles (snake-eyes, two's or three's) you move your pawn 1-3 spaces right away, giving you a slim chance of winning the game in one round. If you throw two different numbers, the highest number is always read as the first digit. The X counts as a 0 (zero) in your first throw and as a game stopper in the rest. This allows a range of combinations between 00 (two X's) and 76. If you throw any X's (apart from the first throw), your turn ends and you must move your pawn backwards one space for each X. When you are satisfied with your results, the dice are placed on an empty row. If you have the highest count, you may be placed above any other pairs, if any rows are available. Your dice can also be placed below any lower or equal combinations. This removes all dice above it. If you have a lower count than other dice on the Table you have to be placed below these. On your successive turn, you move your pawn in accordance with the row number on which your dice lie.

The advantages of this game to other dice games are to be found in the beautiful components, and in Knizia's distinctive touches. Because you receive a "free" shot in the beginning of each turn, it makes sense not to go for the highest combination but instead be satisfied with a lower score. The next little stroke of genius is the Table. Should you go for the higher movement, with everybody trying to pick you off? Or should you go for a lower but safer movement? A great feature is the zero-movement-row; placed here, you will not move forward but you will also lock everybody else out of the game until your next turn.

Counter Magazine Reviews

Alan How

May 01, 1998

This is a race game using dice. There are 21 squares to cover to win the race. Each player throws his dice in order to post a score. This is placed on a grid against a point value and indicates the number of squares you would move on your next turn if it is still on the grid. The board has been attractively produced by Amigo in the shape of an X.

Players have their own set of coloured dice, which are non-standard. Both have 1, 2 and 3, but one die has a 7, 4 and an X, while the other has a 6, 5 and an X. A player may throw his dice as many times as he wants, providing he does not get an X on either die -- an X counting as a failure. At any time a player may stop and post that score on the board. The top position is 5 movement points and a high score normally gets placed here; the bottom is 0 points. (On the first turn an X counts as a zero.). The dice are scored as a decimal score, so a 4 and 6 would be scored as 64. Let's say these are placed on the 4 movement space on the grid. A subsequent player throwing a 64 or higher can dislodge this score by placing on a movement place below the four. This also dislodges any other score of the same or less that is higher on the grid. Thus a player who throws a 76 has the option of going for the 5 spot if it is available, or sacrificing a near certain good move next turn by placing his marker on a low spot to get rid of all other players' pieces above his.

The other way of moving forward is to throw a double and then a player moves forward as many squares as the number of the double. Thus a double one moves 1 square forward, a double two, 2 squares etc.. The player may also continue to throw dice, since these are not very good scores to post on the grid. Each X thrown moves you back one square.

The game is quite good fun and a good one to finish the evening. It hots up as one player gets close to winning and it is then that the other players try hard to prevent the leader moving. This leads to more players getting closer to the winning position and more tension in the end game, but there is enough luck to make you feel that you are being outdone by the dice and enough judgement to allow a player who wins the feeling that it was all down to good play.

Exxtra

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