Game: Cosmic Wimpout

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willco — 2008-11-22T00:31:07+00:00

Screen shot of the nifty and very popular digital version of Cosmic Wimpout, but where's the stickers?

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cir1842 — 2008-09-14T02:06:19+00:00

Cosmic Wimpout 1978 components

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cir1842 — 2008-09-14T01:44:26+00:00

Cosmic Wimpout 1978

Thread: Re: strategy suggestions

Phlegm — 2008-08-16T16:24:49+00:00

The one strategy I use in this game is ... Keep going as if nothing were wrong.

I am currnetly in the midst of a 74 game losing streak so take my advice as you will.

Thread: Re: strategy suggestions

referee — 2008-08-16T15:56:49+00:00

This is interesting. How do you derive those strategies, though?

And a couple questions:

What does "2/ Used to clear a flash" mean? At first I thought I knew what that meant, but that's what says in the next spot.

And in what cases will it be scored as a 5, if scored as a 10 overrules it?

I can see scoring it as a 5 if using the same spot rule and you want to stop, and 10 will force you to keep rolling.

Also, I once made it non-scoring because I had gotten a total 35 points in the four white dice and that was opening roll, so I didn't want to risk a train wreck or snowballing into a wimpout.

Thread: Re: Totally wacked but lovable dicefest

referee — 2008-08-13T21:04:39+00:00

Oh man, is this game evil. Sometimes the game tricks you to keep rolling and rolling and rolling without the possibility to stop, until you see with agony those 180 points go away in a cosmic wimpout. The game can use every rule to not let you stop. The Futtles rule, You May Not Want To But You Must, opponent pegs in the way...

Then, as someone crosses the 600 points mark and triggers Last Licks, while your marker is still waiting at the start, those 30 stars come up and let you win.

Thread: Re: Totally wacked but lovable dicefest

atholbrose — 2008-08-13T15:43:23+00:00

This game is the go-to palate-cleansing/night-ending game around our house. We play a lot.

We also play with a rule where the person who has the third train wreck (or sixth, or ninth -- it has happened!) has to wave their hands over their heads in a cautioning manner and shout "Clear the tracks, clear the tracks!"

Thread: Re: Totally wacked but lovable dicefest

remus — 2008-08-13T12:07:31+00:00

Nice review! I've been playing CW for years. Actually I played it alot about 15 or 16 years ago and I recently bought a new set and now I play it with my colleagues while on lunch break almost every day! I like your reference to Woodstock and the Haight because this game was introduced to me while traveling on tour with the Grateful Dead.

CW is so simple and mindless, but so much fun. While playing CW you experience the epitome of hot dice and cold dice. Sometimes you're accumulating tons of points real quick. Other times you can't get any points while your opponents have hundreds. It's kind of like life. I love moments in CW when you're accumulating tons of points, you push your luck and get a bunch more, but then you have to clear a flash of 10's with a 5 kicker and it's all down to one white die where the only way not to lose all your points is to roll a 5. ...ah the drama!

Another great aspect of CW is the concept of last licks. When someone reaches or exceeds the target score, everyone gets one last chance to try to beat that score and if someone does, last licks begins again...

Cosmic Wimpout. It's not just an experience. It's a game.

Thread: Totally wacked but lovable dicefest

Talisinbear — 2008-08-13T10:45:32+00:00

So you want value when you turn your hard-earned dollars into gaming options?

Well of course we all want that, but in few instances will you get better bang for you buck than when you plop down four or five dollars for the game Cosmic Wimpout.

Cosmic Wimpout is a game which reinforces the old adage good things come in small packages, although you might update it to 'great things' in the case of this little gem.

Cosmic Wimpout is a dice game, so not technically a board game, but hey it still fits here. The game consists completely of a set of five dice, which fit in a little plastic tube which is only 3 3/4 inches long.

Talk about your portable classic. You could take this one backpacking up the side of a mountain without knowing you had it in terms or space and weight in your pack.

And, as a dice game, it can be played on any flat service, so take it down to the local coffeehouse and play away over a cup of your favourite cappuccino.

The game, as most dice ones are, is rather straight forward, once you get a handle on the rules.
The rules are where this game, first released in 1975, gets its quirks and charm.

The six-sided dice have unique faces. As an example, there are crescent moons, star bursts and lightning strikes which fit nicely with the cosmic theme, as well as having a 5 and 10 side. Four dice are white, a fifth is black, the black dice having a flaming sun side, which is essentially wild, allowing you to use it in a number of different situations throughout the game.

The game centres around collecting points, usually attempting to be the first to reach 1,000.

Points are achieved by rolling flashes, three of a kind on a single roll. Ah, but wait, don't add up the points so quickly. You have to clear a flash in this game, meaning you have to roll the remaining dice and add to the score before you get to keep the flash points.

Roll five of a kind, called a 'Freight Train' and you could be in for a big win. Five of the moons are 200, five of the fives is 500 etc. Roll five of the star-sixes and you instantly win.

Of course you might 'Supernova' too. That is rolling five-10s on a single roll, which is deemed 'just too many points' and you are automatically out of the game.

When you have satisfied the rules, you can chose to stop rolling the dice, and take your points, or keep rolling to add to the total. But you must score points on every roll, or you 'wimpout', losing any points accumulated on your turn so far.

The only exception, score with all five dice, and you must push your luck and roll again.

For flavour, if you fail to score when rolling all five dice, you have managed a 'train wreck'.

This game has zero skill requirements past rolling a handful of dice, and enough math to keep score, but there is such a quirky feel to the game, and it goes so quickly, who cares. This one is all about fun.
Created in the 70s, it has that sort of smoky, Woodstock, Haight Ashberry feel to it, sort of Yahtzee on speed, being way more fun than the more familiar dice-toss and add game. Highly recommended.

Thread: Re: strategy suggestions

RVoisin — 2008-07-06T11:49:44+00:00

I just ask myself, Am I feeling lucky with 1 black cube or 2 or more white cubes left to roll. Not the most sound strategy, but after many train wrecks, it is all in the dice!!!

Thread: strategy suggestions

SquidFishous — 2008-07-06T10:50:22+00:00

Any comments to improve this cosmic wimpout strategy?

Rough Guide on Opting to Stop

Until Last Licks apply -

Keep the last 2 white cubes.

Throw the last remaining black cube if you’ve scored 20.
Keep the last black cube if you’ve scored 25 or more.

Throw 1 black, 1 white cube if you’ve scored 15.
Keep 1 black, 1 white cube if you’ve scored 20 or more.

Re-throw the Flaming Sun if there are 3 white cubes to be thrown with it.
Re-throw the Flaming Sun with 2 white cubes while trying to score you’re opening roll,

Throw 3 white cubes if you’ve scored 15 or less.
Keep 3 white cubes if you’ve scored 20.

Throw 1 black, 2 white cubes.

After You May Not Want To But You Must, stop as soon as you can.

A Flaming Sun is in priority order to be

1/ Used for The Flaming Sun Rule
2/ Used to clear a flash
3/ Used as a non-scoring cube, to be rerolled with one other cube to attempt to clear a flash.
4/ Re-thrown with 3 white cubes, or with 2 white cubes while attempting your opening roll.
5/ Scored as a 10.
6/ Scored as a 5.

Winning/Losing Adjustments

Winning - Keep 20 scored with 1 black, 2 white cubes remaining.

Losing - Throw 3 white cubes if scored 20.
Throw 1 black, 1 white
Throw 1 black

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

atholbrose — 2008-06-16T01:07:31+00:00

briand wrote:
Wouldn't you wimp out if you rolled a 6? No version of the rules I've ever seen says you can reroll dice that matched the original roll when trying to clear a flash. With only one die left, you can only clear the flash (rolling a 5, 10 or sun) or wimp out (anything else). If the 10 were a 4 in the example above, you'd have to roll again if you rolled a 2 - 5 on the clearing roll (since you matched the flash), but not if you rolled a 4 - 5 or 6 - 5.

Well, there was one thing wrong with my example, now fixed; you're re-rolling the 6, and would have to reroll if you rolled a 2.

Flashes come along one at a time; the roll of 2-2-2-10-6 cleared the flash of 5s, so it's safe to roll 5s when trying to clear the 2-2-2 flash.

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Talisinbear — 2008-06-15T19:12:39+00:00

thanks all

think we have it down now and were doing things right

now to decide if a farkle set is different enough and good enough to add to the collection

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Starsunsky — 2008-06-15T18:49:07+00:00

Talisinbear wrote:
still not clear what happens if on first roll you get four 2s, 3s, 6s or 4s?

There is an example in http://www.cosmicwimpout.com/howtoplay.html

IF you roll 4 '6', you have to make a flash of '6'. According to "The Futtless Rule", you have to clear the extra (the 4th) '6' by re-rolling.

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Starsunsky — 2008-06-15T18:47:39+00:00

Talisinbear wrote:
Can you use a Flaming sun to make 5 of a kind?

No, you can't.

According to the rule,
"The Flaming Sun is WILD. It can be used to score 5 or 10 points (you must if it´s the only scoring cube in that roll), as part of a flash or as a non-scoring cube and then it can be re-rolled.". It can't be a part of a freight train.

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Starsunsky — 2008-06-15T18:46:13+00:00

Talisinbear wrote:
I just rolled a fright trains of 6s, since that is an instant win I imagine that supercedes, you may not want to. but must roll again rule ?

If you rolled a freight train of 6, you win immediately. You don't need to roll again.

p.s. A freight train of 6 is that you roll all 5 '6's at one roll.

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Talisinbear — 2008-06-15T06:51:35+00:00

still not clear what happens if on first roll you get four 2s, 3s, 6s or 4s?

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Talisinbear — 2008-06-15T06:48:11+00:00

I just rolled a fright trains of 6s, since that is an instant win I imagine that supercedes, you may not want to. but must roll again rule ?

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Talisinbear — 2008-06-15T03:03:34+00:00

Can you use a Flaming sun to make 5 of a kind?

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

briand — 2008-06-15T02:54:09+00:00

atholbrose wrote:
2 - 2 - 2 - 10 - 6

That's a flash of 2s (80 points) and a 10 (90 points), and you reroll the one non-scoring die and roll again if you roll a 6. If you don't roll a 5, 6 or 10 you'd wimp out and lose all those points.

Wouldn't you wimp out if you rolled a 6? No version of the rules I've ever seen says you can reroll dice that matched the original roll when trying to clear a flash. With only one die left, you can only clear the flash (rolling a 5, 10 or sun) or wimp out (anything else). If the 10 were a 4 in the example above, you'd have to roll again if you rolled a 2 - 5 on the clearing roll (since you matched the flash), but not if you rolled a 4 - 5 or 6 - 5.

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Talisinbear — 2008-06-15T02:12:18+00:00

OK on first roll you roll four 2s and a three

what do you keep, a flash of 2s and roll the others?

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

atholbrose — 2008-06-14T18:41:54+00:00

No, you're exactly right. The only way to get a freight train is to roll them all at one go. You must put aside every dice that scores on a roll, and further rolls may not add to the combination that scored.

So let's say you roll 5 dice, and get

2 - 2 - 5 - 6 - 6

You must put aside the 5 (5 points), because it scored, and roll the rest of the dice.

5 - 5 - 5 - 5

That is a flash of 5s (running total: 55 points) and another 5 (for 60 points), and then you MUST reroll all 5 dice (both because of the you-might-not-want-to-but-you-must rule and because you must clear a flash). If any one of the five dice was a 5, you'd have to reroll them all. So let's say you get

2 - 2 - 2 - 10 - 6

That's a flash of 2s (80 points) and a 10 (90 points), and you reroll the one non-scoring die (6) and roll again if you roll a 2. If you don't roll a 2, 5 or 10 you'd wimp out and lose all those points.

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

Talisinbear — 2008-06-14T18:11:14+00:00

That helps a lot with the somewhat ambiguous rules.

One more thing.

I roll a flash with three 6s. I must then role the remaining two dice and get a 5 or 10 to score, without getting a 6, If I get a 6 I reroll both again.

But what happens if I roll four of a kind? can I reroll the odd dice to go for 5 or a kind?

Otherwise it seems the only way to get 5 of a kind is to roll them on the first toss of the game. Or, am I missing something?

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

fivecats — 2008-06-14T16:13:39+00:00

Talisinbear wrote:
if you have scored with all five dice, say a flash and two 10s, can you reroll all 5 dice and go for more points, risking the points already scored ?

thanks

ab-so-freakin'-lutely!

in fact, to me, the only way to play cosmic wimpout is to "encourage" people to keep rolling and rolling up higher and higher scores. taking anything less than 300 points or so is a call for making obnoxious chicken-clucking sounds.

seriously, if you were just rolling out five dice and stopping, there isn't much fun to the game. it's just another roll and move game. throw in the 'high stakes gambling' aspect and you add in some fun, peer-pressured excitement.

(of course, my wife hates this game. the last time we played it she patiently rolled her 25 to 50-ish point scores and moved her marker along the board, rolling her eyes and shooting me "i can't believe you're being so obnoxious and childish" glares every step of the way. i think her idea was to have someone win relatively quickly -- which we did -- so she could stop playing)

...

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

atholbrose — 2008-06-14T15:34:25+00:00

drbsgold wrote:
Many people play that you still must clear the flash, and are forced to re-roll if any cube shows the symbol that you built the flash with....
Them are, in fact, the rules. Well, the default rules.

Thread: Re: can you keep rolling?

drbsgold — 2008-06-14T06:46:46+00:00

As a matter of fact...you MUST roll all five dice.

"You may not want to, but you must" rule requires you to keep on rolling when you have scored all five dice.

Many people play that you still must clear the flash, and are forced to re-roll if any cube shows the symbol that you built the flash with....

Thread: can you keep rolling?

Talisinbear — 2008-06-14T05:46:20+00:00

if you have scored with all five dice, say a flash and two 10s, can you reroll all 5 dice and go for more points, risking the points already scored ?

thanks

Thread: Re: Surprised

Talisinbear — 2008-05-07T07:28:28+00:00

In some cases they come when you buy dice, so just figured somebody with computer skills would have created a variant

Thread: Re: Surprised

unixrevolution — 2008-05-07T01:29:14+00:00

Seeing as the only thing a board would do would be to serve as a scoring track and/or player aid, there must not be much demand for it.

Thread: Surprised

Talisinbear — 2008-05-06T21:59:27+00:00

Given the game's popularity I am surprised no one has uploaded an custom graphic game boards for this one.

They must be out there *smile

Thread: Re: Drugs are bad kids, but Cosmic Wimpout isn’t. A Review.

rrodrick — 2008-04-26T18:17:13+00:00

You've just convinced me to take Cosmic Wimpout off the shelf and put it in my traveling game bag. I'd forgotten, this game is a hoot!

Thread: Drugs are bad kids, but Cosmic Wimpout isn’t. A Review.

AndyHowell — 2008-04-26T16:09:24+00:00

Dude. We, like, totally played a righteous game of Cosmic Wimpout the other day. Was it Thursday? Or was it Sunday? Anyway, whatever man. I ordered a set of cubes after reading Andrew Looney's excellent write up in Hobby Games 100 Best published by Green Ronin. We dropped them out of the Magic Mushroom dice carrier, put on some hippie music and had some laughs.

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Elevator Pitch:
Cosmic Wimpout is a press-your-luck dice game popularized by folks following the Grateful Dead on the road. I’ve never played Farkel, but I’m told it’s essentially the same game with cooler dice and a few special rules.

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What we liked most about it:
1. In till the end! That's the great thing about CW. The right combination of rolls and you can win the game in a single turn, or even a single toss of the dice.

2. Also, I completely dig the “Guiding Light.” The rules explicitly encourage you to come up with houserules. We decided that we’d give the option of rerolling an entire 2 3 4 5 6 straight, rather than just scoring the five.

3. Playing this game made me realize that I really love things that are high quality, yet somehow manage to not take themselves seriously. Things like the writing of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, music by Southern Culture on the Skids, the first few seasons of Ren and Stimpy, etc, etc. In fact, that notion pretty much defines most of the people I work/game with. I digress. Cosmic Wimpout is one of those things. Nice cubes with cool trippy artsy pips, rules written with a sense of mystical gravity. I read this rule to the players: “Some players practice Cosmic Cube Control. Energizing your cubes contributes to the fun.” One of the guys looked at me and said, “Do you think it works?”

4. Oh yeah, the price. $3.50 for a set of cubes, about the best $3.50 you can spend in the dollars:fun ratio.

Things I didn’t really love all that much:
1. If the dice hate you, the dice hate you. And the dice hated me this game. I couldn't get on the board. For most of the game my poor pawn sat off to the side while the other kids worked their way to 300.

2. We lost count on some of the really big scoring runs. When you get hot with the dice you don’t really want to slow down to do arithmetic.

Favorite moments:
1. For some reason, early in the game we were getting steady fives and tens with no big flashes. Then suddenly about half way along, the flashes came exploding out on nearly every roll. Weird and chance-based I know, but it really added to the game.

2. After one player reaches the scoring goal, the other players get one more chance to score. The game rules call this “last licks.” Our runaway leader reached 300 and we passed the dice around one more time. The dude in second place needed 80 points. He went on to throw and clear four full houses in a row, easily getting him the points to win, but invoking the Y. M. N. W. T. B. Y. M. (you may not want to but you must) roll again rule. His fifth(!) straight roll was another big flash, a ten, and one non-scoring cube. It came down to the roll of one die, and after that explosion of scoring he wimped out cosmically. It was beautiful. It was exciting. Laughs all around.

Looking forward to playing again because:
1. Playing Carcassonne is always fun, but seldom exciting. It’s true that the only real decision in CW is when to stop rolling, but there are mechanisms in the rules that amplify the tension. Throwing a flash always brings some excitement. Can I clear it? The last round of our game came down to a throw of a single cube; a moment that had all four players leaned over the table holding their breath. That’s not too uncommon in hobby games, but still magical when it happens. Next time I think we’ll put some kind of prize on the table just to pump up the tension even more.

2. It’s a great excuse to force your friends to listen The Dead/Allmans/Robin Trower. (Like you need one.)

Music:
The Grateful Dead - American Beauty (what else?)

Notable Quotations:
“Oh come on, you can make that roll!” Peer pressure.
“Push it!” More peer pressure.
“Nothing?!?” Carlos rolls his third cosmic wimpout in a row.

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AndyHowell — 2008-04-26T15:43:31+00:00

The Magic Mushroom Dice Carrier, crafted by Jarrod W. A gold farthing goes to the first person to name all 13 albums depicted. (Yes I with I had them all on vinyl!)

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AndyHowell — 2008-04-26T15:40:34+00:00

Our Magic Mushroom Dice carrier, crafted by Jarrod W. The rules are tucked in there as well. A gold farthing for the first person to name ten of the albums depicted. (Yes I wish I had them on vinyl!)

Thread: Re: Can a Burning Sun be part of a Freight Train?

jeffpdx — 2008-03-28T17:24:53+00:00

Actually the score would be 100 and you would be required to role the 10 and (if you want the W) to clear the flash.

I have always played that you must complete freight trains with a W as you would with a flash.

Thread: Re: Cosmic Wimpout, the game of one decision

tonguepaste — 2008-03-22T22:40:50+00:00

Great review, Seth! I've always enjoyed this game ...

Thread: Cosmic Wimpout, the game of one decision

wargamer55 — 2008-03-22T04:34:04+00:00

Cosmic Wimpout is a weird little push-your-luck dice game that's been around for more than a quarter century.

Like Pass the Pigs, the game basically revolves around rolling certain dice combos which score varying amounts of points, with an ever-present chance of rolling a combo that ends the player's turn with no points being scored at all.

Unlike Pass the Pigs, which uses charming little rubber pigs for "dice," Cosmic Wimpout does use cubes, although they are custom cubes with New Age-style symbols on them. Four of the dice are white and have symbols representing "2" "3" "4" and "6" on four sides and a "5" and "10" on the others. There's a fifth, black die, which replaces one of the symbols with a "Sun" which serves as a wild card.
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When playing a push-the-luck dice game there's really just one decision to make: Do you stop and score what you have so far or go on in hopes of more. It's a great way to tease out your level of tolerance for risk.

Cosmic Wimpout adds a delicious twist to the mix, which is why it's a more intense game than Pass the Pigs. In Pass the Pigs you can always stop, so it's a pretty straightforward test of risk tolerance, complicated only by the fact that there's absolutely no way to compute any probabilities because the dice are odd-shaped little rubber pigs.

It's a little easier to get a handle on the odds in Cosmic Wimpout because it uses cubic dice, but it may not do you any good. That's because under some conditions you're forced to roll again, generally under conditions that have already netted you some pretty good scores. Perversely. this makes the moments when you can stop even more precious and the decision more agonizing, which is why this very simple little game has managed to stay popular and build up a dedicated following.

(There are, on occasion, times you can make a minor choice, usually about whether or not to score the "Sun" or roll it again, but this limited choice doesn't change the nature of the game).

Most games are all about choices, Cosmic Wimpout is the rare game that's about just one.

From my blog: http://pawnderings.blogspot.com

Thread: Re: Can a Burning Sun be part of a Freight Train?

drbsgold — 2008-02-20T16:44:15+00:00

Actually the score would be 115...because you would have to make the Sun a five....

Thread: Re: Am I missing something? (Unspoken convention?)

Morganza — 2008-02-01T05:11:17+00:00

ixnay66 wrote:
mr.codepoet wrote:
...only re-roll those that don't give you points.

That's how you play. Reroll everything but 5s and 10s and triplets.

A common variant of that rule, so common that many people think it is the official rule, is that you must keep any triples you roll, and you must keep at least one scoring die, but you may re-roll other scoring dice. For example:

On your first turn you throw 1, 2, 5, 5 (on the black die), 6

You can keep the two fives and re-roll three white dice, or you can keep white five and roll three white dice and the black die (the one that has the Sun wild token on every set I've used.)

Forgoing 5 points for a better chance of getting a triple seems like a good tradeoff much of the time.

Counter-example:

On your first turn you throw 5, 5, sun, 10, 10

Once you get over your shock, you must pick up all 5 dice and keep going, trying to clear both 5s and 10s at the same time (a rather hard task, as you must roll a triple with no side 5s or 10s), even though you might rather just stop with 100.

Thread: Re: Comparing Cosmic Wimpout and Farkel

Aldaron — 2007-12-14T22:18:47+00:00

I think the thing to look at is whether there's a difference in the frequency of high stakes decisions.

Farkel has more dimensions along which to decide, since when you have an opportunity to choose whether to re-roll, you often also have a choice of what to re-roll, while Cosmic Wimpout only lets you choose whether to. But that's not really what matters, what matters is how quickly the game moves along through unimportant decisions to the critical ones. So I think the quantity you want to measure when comparing these games is the distribution of time between high stakes decisions. I'm not sure exactly how to measure this, but my feeling from playing is that CW is better in that regard.

Thread: Re: Am I missing something? (Unspoken convention?)

mr.codepoet — 2007-11-14T19:33:35+00:00

kevinwho wrote:
So, it is quietly mentioned somewhere. But still, you shouldn't have to look so hard to find a very basic part of the rules!
That's what I mean. While I was able to find that most people played this way, it was only after I had tried to teach straight from the rules. I would have preferred it if it was mentioned somewhere, and not only by inference, but I can accept that part of Cosmic Wimpout is making up some rules as you go.

That said, the funny thing is that the first time I made a few practice rolls by myself, I used the "re-roll non-scoring cubes only" rule intuitively. It was only when I went to teach others and was expecting challenges to the rules ("What do you mean I lose if I roll five 10's?!") that I had to go back to a more basic approach because I couldn't find any reason for doing it my way.

Moral of the story: intuition beats paper.

Thread: Re: Am I missing something? (Unspoken convention?)

kevinwho — 2007-11-13T23:42:51+00:00

True, you do have to read between the lines. There is an example, for example, of a roll consisting of four 4s and a 5. Three 4s are a flash (40 pts) + the 5 is 5 pts. The fourth 4 is a non-scoring cube. The rules discuss possible outcomes when you roll this remaining cube (which you must, because you have to clear the flash).

So, in the Futtless rule it does specify that you have to reroll all non-scoring cubes, but otherwise the rules themselves are non-specific. I guess you are meant to work out intuitively that whenever you roll, you roll only the non-scoring cubes (unless all 5 cubes scored, in which case you roll all 5 -- but that is covered in the You May Not Want To But You Must rule).

I looked in the FAQ, and found this bit under "What does Opting to Stop or Opt to Stop mean?"

Otherwise, you may risk all of your points for the turn by opting to roll again. You can only roll the dice that do not count as points (unless of course another rule would override this)

So, it is quietly mentioned somewhere. But still, you shouldn't have to look so hard to find a very basic part of the rules!

Happy gaming,

Kevin

Thread: Re: Am I missing something? (Unspoken convention?)

Aldaron — 2007-11-13T20:34:57+00:00

mr.codepoet wrote:
I'll switch to this method for future plays, but I'm curious as to how everyone seems to know this rule even though it was omitted in the rules. Or perhaps "omitted" isn't the right word. Is this just an unspoken gaming convention?
You're not alone. I recently dug this up from my collection and tried to play it after many years of playing other things, and was immediately reminded of why I'd put it in storage in the first place: nowhere in the rules or FAQ is the answer to your question made clear.

Thread: Re: Am I missing something? (Unspoken convention?)

ixnay66 — 2007-11-13T20:30:33+00:00

mr.codepoet wrote:
...only re-roll those that don't give you points.

That's how you play. Reroll everything but 5s and 10s and triplets. Download a free PC version of it and play it on your PC. That will clear everything up for you. Here's the link:

http://www.hutchrick.com/default.asp?r=1?

Thread: Am I missing something? (Unspoken convention?)

mr.codepoet — 2007-11-13T20:17:37+00:00

I tried teaching this after reading the rules, and feeling like I had a good handle on the intricacies. But, after the first roll, the most basic question stumped me. How do you re-roll? After my memory came up blank for any references in the rules, the snap decision (against my intuition) was made to re-roll all 5 dice, unless you wimpout. From this point on, the game just felt too easy, as we would get 5/10/15 points, re-roll, get another 5/10/15, and so on until we felt like stopping. There was no real risk that you might wimpout unless you happened to throw a flash.

The obvious alternative to re-rolling all 5 dice is to only re-roll those that don't give you points. This is what I had expected when I got the game, and makes more sense within the rules (makes freight trains more probable) and adds tension with the wimpout rule. Many of the reviews, session reports, and even the FAQ at www.cosmicwimpout.com imply that this is the way to play, but after reading and re-reading the rules, both the printed ones from my copy, and at http://www.cosmicwimpout.com/howtoplay.html, I can find no mention of using this method.

I'll switch to this method for future plays, but I'm curious as to how everyone seems to know this rule even though it was omitted in the rules. Or perhaps "omitted" isn't the right word. Is this just an unspoken gaming convention?

Thread: Re: Barnes Variant

dead jawa — 2007-10-08T06:50:04+00:00

Well there are decisions, and then there are meaningful decisions. The choice to roll more dice instead of less to try to clear your flash, for example, isn't a meaningful decision. I don't see how adding the opportunity to make rather obviously unwise decisions would really give you any more options in the game.

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jpsharp — 2007-09-12T21:28:11+00:00

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jpsharp — 2007-09-12T21:26:18+00:00

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Terry Egan — 2007-08-18T05:35:28+00:00

Square Deal: Before its current tube-shaped packaging appeared, Cosmic Wimpout was marketed in a clear plastic box.

Thread: Re: Can a Burning Sun be part of a Freight Train?

referee — 2007-07-28T02:14:40+00:00

Playing against an AI on gametable online, AI rolled 6-6-6-6-W and didn't pick 6. This tells me that Dominick, Chris, and Paul are right. So, I guess 10-10-10-10-W can have W as 10, score 120 points, and Futtles and You may not want to but you must rules apply, correct?

Thread: Re: Is it mandatory to keep all scoring dice?

Curtis Anderson — 2007-06-20T01:25:57+00:00

The decision making mostly involves whether or not to keep rolling. Even if you're choosing to roll more or fewer dice, there isn't much decision-making--it's usually best to roll as many dice as possible, so you're less likely to wimp out.

Thread: Re: Is it mandatory to keep all scoring dice?

Morganza — 2007-06-20T00:43:34+00:00

We have always played with optional scoring.

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KSensei — 2007-06-10T04:11:38+00:00

Working on that score of 35 to enter the game...

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Arneji — 2007-04-29T13:00:44+00:00

Published by Koplow Games

Thread: Re: Can a Burning Sun be part of a Freight Train?

pahool — 2007-04-11T22:59:07+00:00

Officially, it can't be part of a freight train, but you can have a house rule that enables this. It's included in this list of popular house rules:

http://www.rawbw.com/~zio/CW/HOUSERULES.html

see the "SUN FT-3 Completion" rule.

Lots of other good house rules here.

Thread: Re: Stickers

Watti — 2007-03-12T15:27:03+00:00

Don't forget that DeadHeads, to whom this game is guite popular, sticker each other at shows" http://www.cosmicwimpout.com/tales.html

"One of the high points of Cosmic Wimpout folklore was the moment during the Spring tour of 1979 when the Grateful Dead politely but firmly asked Wimpout fanatics to stop stickering their tour bus."

Thread: Re: Is it mandatory to keep all scoring dice?

Salt-Man Z — 2007-02-03T17:26:53+00:00

Yeah, I thought the rules were pretty explicit about rerolling only non-scoring dice.

Thread: Re: Can a Burning Sun be part of a Freight Train?

Salt-Man Z — 2007-02-03T17:23:43+00:00

I'm with Dominick on this one, for precisely his stated reasons. (And not just because he's wearing my GMtB! microbadge! )

Thread: Cosmic Wimpout - A quick review

Esarel — 2007-01-11T18:33:53+00:00

Cosmic Wimpout is a push your luck game involving five special dice. It is a very simple game that is easy to learn and play, but in which the players have relatively limited control.

Production Values

Cosmic Wimpout is composed of five dice, a slip of rules, and some stickers. The stickers are used to mark the tube the dice come in as Cosmic Wimpout, or at least that is what I used mine for. The rules are printed on a small slip of paper in a small font. The dice are of excellent quality, with all symbols engraved. The packaging and rules could have been better, but the dice are excellent.

Gameplay

The rules of this game are extremely difficult to understand at first. Fundamentally you roll the dice and see how many points you have, then decide if you want to push your luck further by rolling again. However, often you do not have the choice. Scoring works as follows:

The four white dice have a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 side. The black die has a 2, 4, 5, 6, 10 and wild side.

If you cannot form a set of three or more matching symbols from them fives are each worth five points and tens are worth 10 points. A set of three matching symbols is worth ten times the symbol in points. A set of four does not count and a set of five is either a lot of points or puts you out of the game.

So you start a turn by rolling the dice. If you score nothing you pass the dice. Otherwise you decide if you have to roll again. You must roll again if you scored with every die, and you must roll non-scoring dice again if you have a set. If you do not roll again you collect your points and play passes on. If you do roll again you repeat the above.

This is a pure push your luck game without any real frills. You consult a randomizer, see how lucky you are, and decide if you want to consult the randomizer again. There is not a lot of strategy here.

Negative Thoughts

The rules of this game are poorly written. It took several readings through the tiny rule sheet for us to figure them out. It would not have hurt to use a slightly larger piece of paper for the sake of clarity. You also do not have a lot of control. Often you will have to reroll some or all of the dice when you do not want to.

Positive Thoughts

It is a fast game, and once you figure out the rules it is easy to teach. It travels well, after all it is only five dice. The lack of control can be a positive, as it tends to build tension. Rather than rolling the dice and seeing the result you roll the dice and see only part of the result. So often you find yourself really hoping a die roll turns out well so you will be able to get out.

Overview

This is a heavily luck oriented game that runs fast enough that the luck may not matter to you. I find that the mechanics that force you to reroll dice help to build tension, but everyone will not feel that way. For what it is this is a good game, though I feel there are better push your luck games out there. It plays very quickly, and easily lends it self to alternate versions which may not be child friendly. Your mileage may vary, but as a game you toss into your overnight bag for the hotel room layover it does the job. If you buy it to bring to your gaming groups monthly meeting you are bound to be dissapointed.

Thread: dicefest introduction

xofour — 2006-12-04T08:38:13+00:00

Okay here it is, a dicefest at the Onstad house. It started simply enough. Well not tasked per say, but on the other hand, I have been married 16 years, so I know the options. In any instance, there were chores to be done. Which I don’t mind, but there were a couple of surprises, and my wife still owed me for the week and a half worth of thanksgiving with her family that I had to be involved with. So I declared before starting the chores that I have been going above and beyond the call of duty, and deserve a reward. I choose boardgames. I picked Betrayal at the House on the Hill as my game of choice, but anybody could invite friends. So I do my jobs, and am ready to play. My child is ready, but waiting for her mother. (a clever move on her part) So I approach the woman I love. It being winter, she has snuggled under the covers, and started watching television. I present my case…she listens, but plays the “I’m a woman card” and in trivial matters, well I have to be a gentleman. The wife wins. I won’t force her to play a game. I announce this to the child, who is absorbed in the television. Then I start to read…get bored… go on the internet and answer some geek questions…get bored. I am not trying to play a guilt card, but I am bored. I start wandering the house aimlessly. I just go from room to room trying to entertain me. Finally after the 3rd or 4th circuit, my wife asks me what’s wrong. I tell her I am restless. She asks if I want to play a game. I say “Yes, but I don’t know what, and nobody is interested.” She springs up and says “Yahtzee” a game from pre-engagement that a good friend dearly loved, and we all have remember fondly. So I said sure, cause any game is better than restless boredom and a game with the wife scores extra points. It provided a dicefest for the entire evening. A couple of yahtzee games, cosmic wimpout, liars dice and then more yahtzee we pulled out cupts, dice towers, and laughed and had a good evening of throwing randomness at each other.

The highlight to me was Cosmic Wimpout. None of us had ever played it before. I saw it at goodwill for 99 cents, and it had very different dice. I bought it for the dice, figuring even if I never played the game, the dice may be useful for something. But it came with the rules, and after my child bored of TV and the wife bored of yahtzee, I suggested Cosmic Wimpout. They said the equivalent of “why not”. So I explained the rules. We started with a 300 point game, to get used to the rules. My wife led off with a wimpout. But it turned out she didn’t understand the rules. She had like 50 points, and didn’t realize she had to stop to collect. (or she didn’t realize she could stop and collect, I’m still not certain she was confused with the rules, or she was trying to do better at the game.) Then my child went, and got like 25 points. I fortunately had points, and a choice. And because they were new (we were all new, but I had read the rules, and had the firmest grab on the game) explained my points, and that I chose to stop and get those points. Which “clarified” that confusion for the stopping to my wife, and the games went smooth from that point onwards. So we got to 300 and the bug (my daughter) won.
We went on to game 2, but first I wasn’t sure how comfortable they were with the game. So I offered tv, yahtzee, or more cosmic wimpout. They took the wimpout, and since they understood, we went for a 500 point game. B
This game was lots of fun for everybody. It is at the core, a push your luck game, and we embraced that aspect. But we embraced it with fun. Bug (my daughter) was first to thrust herself into the spirit of the game, instead of her hands, or the yahtzee dice up I used, she got out my first primitive balsa wood dice tower to roll her dice. She did pretty well, and got like 60 points. Well this was a challenge, so I got out the latest balsa wood dice tower, tossed them down, and wimped out. But I set a precedent. My wife used a tower. And actually got like 70 points on one roll, and got to re-roll dice. And the game progressed, I kept emphasizing the “magic” black die with the sun, gives you a 50% chance to score. And they kept falling for it. Bug took an early lead at like 80 points. Between all of us, she parlayed it to me 50, my wife 80, and bug 140 points. Then lady lucked French kissed me in the ears, and I was unstoppable. Everybody inched up, so that I think I was barely over 100 my wife was barely under 100 and bug was at like 225. So I said “let me show you how it’s done.” (this is my magic phrase) and just tossed the dice into the closes tower not looking. I got 3 white 10’s and the other two random. I figured I the black die has a 50% chance of scoring might as well continuing. And I was just having fun, tossed them in next, and scored on both dice, so continued. Tossed again and got a triple (but used the black die.) figured smart money was to score, but felt bad about being over 200 on the dice roll, so went again, and wimped out. But this brought on the competitive spirit. Suddenly they could all see what a roll could do,. We spent another hour rolling dice. We used towers, cups, and hands, it was cool. There were a couple of amazing quotes that I thought I should remember for the review, but forgot. But we were together as a family, and interacting. It was light enough that we could joke, and have fun. The score was high enough that we could experiment with luck and still play the game. It was recommended for the men’s campout we have every summer, and I will try it. But it’s a little non-standard, so may take a bit of explaining. Anyway, first experience is that it is a fun game, definitively suited for light round the table play. Easy to learn…impossible to master. Okay not impossible per say, but it’s dice, so it’s more measuring probablitites. And even there you can go wrong. It’s like farkel, only with special symbols. Anyway, we like it and will play again as a family. Don’t know if I will ask others to play, but if you enjoy craps, or any other edge of the seat on a die roll game, this is right up your alley.