This is a short, simple, 2-player game that I'll give a short, simple review. If you're familiar with Yahtzee then learning this game is a snap. If you're not familiar with Yahtzee... then what rock were you living under as a child?


The Premise

The premise is light and fun: You and your opponent are competing aliens in space ships on opposite ends of a grazing field of 9 cows. The goal is to tractor beam 3 of the cows to your ship before your opponent does the same. The result is an interstellar bovine tug-of-war. Sound goofy? It is, which is what makes this a good filler game that plays in about 10-15 minutes.


Basic Mechanics

Like Yahtzee, on your turn, you...

1) Roll five dice to create combos
2) May roll them three times

Unlike Yahtzee, you...

1) Will create the same roll combos more than once during the game
2) On each turn, you can re-roll dice that you previously set aside

The game is not won with points, so very little math is required. How does it work? There are 9 possible combos, each corresponding to a cow. The combos are 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's, Small or Large Chance (the only time math is required), Small or Large Straight, and 5-of-a-kind (Yahtzee).

By creating a combo, you pull the relevant cow(s) closer to your side. When you pull 3 cows into your "red zone" (any of the last three spaces on your side) then you win. (Note that a "full house" counts toward two cows, meaning if you roll two 4's and three 6's, you pull the "4" cow two spaces and "6" cow three spaces.) The base choice later in the game is do you play offense or defense once your opponent has almost won? The latter is possible by pulling cows out of your opponent's red zone.


Final Thoughts

That's the game. The components are nice (little plastic cows and a nice colorful board) both of which are cartoony to supplement the bizarre premise. (The cows are even a bit cross-eyed from all the pulling back and forth on them.) It's a perfect filler that's easily taught and played when time is short and you have one opponent. It's also cheap at $10 to $15.

Personally, I like "To Court the King" better, which is also a dice game but with more depth and allows for multiple players. Yet TCtK is not a filler game as it requires a little setup and plays longer. Therefore, I don't think it's fair to compare them as they each fit very different niches, with their only similarity being that they are both "dice games".