I got to play this at Origins with Tom Vasel and some other great people. I can honestly say it was the most fun I've had playing Yahtzee in some time.

The Components

The box is nested inside itself with flaps that fold open. You essentially open this "wheel" and lay it face up on the table. There is a spoke pointing to each player with place for their dice and their currently achieved card. It's a very nice layout. The folds could have laid a little flatter, but that's a pretty fine point.

The game comes with a deck of card with Yahtzee style objectives on it. You'll see 4 of a kind, Large Straight, Chance, Twos, Sixes, etc. The cards are decent quality, but certainly not top of the line or anything. Each card is worth a certain number of points when you score at the end of the game.

It also comes with enough dice for all 6 players. That's right 30 dice! And these are not cheap dollar store dice. They had a nice feel, with sharp edges. Did I mention there are 30 of them?

A number of black discs are also included, which are used to increase the point values of the cards.

Rules

Before play begins, 3 cards are flipped face up on the board. The first player is trying to achieve one of the goals on these 3 cards. So if you have Large Straight, Full house, and 6's, you are going to try to roll for those specific things. For the number cards (Ones - Sixes) it doesn't matter how many you roll, you just have to roll at least one to take the card.

When you can satisfy the card requirement, you take it and put it on the spoke of the board that is yours, put the dice that meet the requirement in the spot provided, and play moves to the next player. There are some Yahtzee cards that are always available so anytime you roll a Yahtzee you are guaranteed to take a card.

A new card is flipped over and the next player can now roll. However, the next player can either roll for one of the cards in the middle of the table, or any card on another player's spoke. To take another player's card, you have to roll better than that player. So if player A has 3 Fours, and has the Fours card in front of him, you would need to roll 4 Fours. You can also take straight cards if you straight begins with a higher number than theirs.

If a player takes a card belonging to another player, or is not able to satisfy any cards on the board, a black chip is placed below each of the 3 face up cards in the middle of the table. These chips provide extra points and are taken immediately upon achieving one of those 3 cards. The tokens cannot be taken from Players, they are permanent.

Play continues around the table in this manner. When play comes back to you, if the last card you took is still on your spoke, you take it and place it face down as your score pile. All the cards in this pile will count towards your score at the end of the game.

The game ends when you cannot place a third card in the center of the board after a player finishes his turn, or when the supply of discs is exhausted.

Players total up their card values and then add in the number of discs they have taken. The player with the most points wins.

Results

I found myself really enjoying this game. My wife described it as the most fun she's ever had playing Yahtzee. The game plays quickly, with very little downtime during turns, even in a 6 player game. I think this is a great game to take to family gatherings because most people can play Yahtzee and can really jump right into this with very little explanation.

I liked it enough I bought a copy at Origins and I noticed I wasn't the only one. From what they said at Origins, it should hit the shelves in a month or so. I would recommend checking it out.