Game: Dungeon Dice

Thread: Re: Spoon Guy Rules!

Geosphere — 2008-09-08T18:04:04+00:00

My daughter wins repeatedly with Spoon Guy (Whom she calls "Old Dude").

My son is a fan of fist guy.

I pick from remainders randomly to not incur some strange curse.

Thread: Re: Spoon Guy Rules!

wiz8mom — 2008-09-02T08:00:40+00:00

Actually, according to my kids, the mice rule. Mostly because of their freaky powers of levitation, allowing them to hang upside down from the ceiling.

Thread: Re: Spoon Guy Rules!

BlondieWan — 2008-06-15T14:36:29+00:00

Hm. Spoon Guy has clearly either been in the dungeon a long, long time, or has found himself running afoul of The Man and locked away for some late-in-life transgression, clearly indicating he's just the sort of anti-authoritarian rebel I like, and deserves respect, especially as a spoon is clearly the tool of a methodical, laborious digger - someone undeterred by the length and arduousness of the journey ahead, working diligently and patiently for his worthwhile goal. Mad props to Spoon Guy.

OTOH, Fist Guy is digging his way out with his bare fists, so clearly he's no one to be trifled with. One might at first say "Pickaxe Guy rules," since after all, one might normally expect that out of a group of a guy with a spoon, a guy with a pickaxe, a guy with a shovel and a guy with diddly-squat, the guy toting a pickaxe will get to make the rules - but if the guy with nothing but his own two fists is able to smash rock with them, he might just be the one you don't want to mess with. Heck, he might be able to smash the pickaxe with his bare fists, too. Or maybe not; maybe he's digging more through dirt, and he's not really that tough. Still pretty tough though, methinks.

Clearly, this subject warrants careful, serious study.

Thread: Re: Spoon Guy Rules!

Jatoha — 2008-06-11T23:36:40+00:00

Spoon! Spoon! Spoon!

Thread: Re: Spoon Guy Rules!

reapersaurus — 2008-06-11T19:11:42+00:00

I voted Fist Guy, but now Soundgarden's "Spoon Man" is going thru my head fiercely.

Thread: Re: Spoon Guy Rules!

Mike A — 2008-06-11T17:15:26+00:00

Definitely, fist guy.

What are you smoking, Jess?

Thread: Re: Spoon Guy Rules!

quozl — 2008-06-11T17:07:40+00:00

No way! Fist guy rules!

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[poll=8659]

Thread: Spoon Guy Rules!

Jatoha — 2008-06-11T16:43:22+00:00

That is all.

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Luminous — 2008-04-13T22:38:37+00:00

A typical roll. The 2 lanterns would go up on the side and the rest re-rolled.

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Luminous — 2008-04-13T22:37:28+00:00

Guards on dice, guards on the wall, guards watching you!

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Luminous — 2008-04-13T22:36:28+00:00

The four prisoner cards

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Luminous — 2008-04-13T22:35:33+00:00

Kids' favorite cards to steal when winning a challenge: mice, bones, or in a pinch, falling rocks

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

Henry Rhombus — 2007-11-08T17:58:05+00:00

Such a fun game! My brother and I played this non-stop in our youth. He inherited the game when our parents cleaned house, and now it rests unplayed in a storage facility while he travels in the UK. For shame...

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

P_J_Keller — 2007-11-08T17:14:22+00:00

Excellent review, very well written

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

happyjosiah — 2007-11-08T13:52:36+00:00

Gola wrote:
Nice review! I had this game when I was a kid and playing it with my family at Christmastime back in 1977 is one of my favorite gaming memories. Maybe I'll take your advice and see if I can't score a copy off of ebay....

You might enjoy Pickomino, which has all the good stuff of Dungeon Dice plus portability. It also goes up to six players, though there'll probably be a fair amount of down time with that many.

Thanks for the recommendation! I will definately check that one out.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

Tom Vader — 2007-11-08T10:55:00+00:00

I always saw this game around here and there but knew nothing about it.It sounds like alot of fun,so I'm going to jump on e-bay and buy one. Thanks!

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

Gola — 2007-11-08T00:14:14+00:00

Nice review! I had this game when I was a kid and playing it with my family at Christmastime back in 1977 is one of my favorite gaming memories. Maybe I'll take your advice and see if I can't score a copy off of ebay....

You might enjoy Pickomino, which has all the good stuff of Dungeon Dice plus portability. It also goes up to six players, though there'll probably be a fair amount of down time with that many.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

gamemark — 2007-11-07T21:16:51+00:00

You missed a "pro" in your list of positive elements:

The dungeon in the middle of the board makes this an EXCELLENT dice game to introduce younger (age 5-6) children to... as they have somewhere specific to throw the dice.

Of course, there are any number of adult gamers who should be given their own dice dungeon so they don't play havoc with the board as well.

Great review.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

happyjosiah — 2007-11-07T20:51:48+00:00

I'm actually rather surprised at the attention this review is recieving. Dungeon Dice is a personal favorite of mine, but I thought it was a bit too obscure to warrant much attention. Hopefully this gets some people to buy it and raise its currently abyssmal rating.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

reapersaurus — 2007-11-07T20:26:05+00:00

alterson1 wrote:
We used to have that game when I was a kid. I forgot it even existed until I saw that picture.That's funny - when I made the picture, I was hoping that people who had played the game would appreciate the guards set up on the wall, watching the pick-axe-guy tunneling under their watchful vigilance, they'd thumb it, and it would get enough to get on the Hot Images so that more people could get exposure to the game and they might remember playing this underappreciated kid-friendly push your luck game.

Alas, only my wife ended up thumbing it, so my plans for more exposure for Dungeon Dice died. (Only later did I realize that there probably aren't enough people that have ever played the game on BGG that would recognize the image...)

I had mentioned in a recent session report that I didn't get why Can't Stop gets so much BGG cred, and not DD. I was planning on writing a review to potentially highlight DD's strenghts, but happyjosiah here beat me to it, with an excellent review that hit everything I would have liked to say about it, and more. :thmubsup:

And he succeeded in getting some attention for DD. Fantastic!

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

DJHastings — 2007-11-07T19:36:21+00:00

We used to play this when I was little, but when I read your review I realized that we played it completely wrong. We let the players keep their cards when they failed a roll, which eleminated the "push-your-lucK" factor. No wonder I never found it very exciting! I'll have to dig it out and give it another try.

Excellent review, by the way. I like the comparisons to other games at the end.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

happyjosiah — 2007-11-07T18:25:03+00:00

For those who enjoyed this review style, I have just posted another review in a similar style. Thanks for all the positive feedback!
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1842109

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

Oni no board — 2007-11-07T16:46:02+00:00

Heh, I clicked on this review thinking, "what was the reviewer smoking when he played this game?". The game I was thinking of was the Yu-Gi-Oh Dungeon Dice boardgame.

Nice review, by the way.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

habermanm — 2007-11-07T16:44:23+00:00

Great review. I like the "What's it better than" part.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

alterson1 — 2007-11-07T15:49:35+00:00

We used to have that game when I was a kid. I forgot it even existed until I saw that picture.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

happyjosiah — 2007-11-07T13:35:24+00:00

Mike A wrote:
happyjosiah wrote:
My version is missing Fist-Pounding-Strong-Dude, so he has been replaced by a yellow post-it note with a drawing by my dad of a character we affectionately refer to as Jack Hammer. Guess his digging implement.

I don't know how you can properly review this fine game if you're missing Fist-Pounding-Strong-Dude. Real men dig with their hands, no wimpy tools like shovels or spoons or hammers.

It's okay though. My wife's parents have a copy of this as well, so I have had the pleasure of playing with Fist-Pounding-Strong-Dude.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

mi_de — 2007-11-07T08:49:03+00:00

Very nice review. Interestingly for me, I just introduced my 5.5 year old to the game last week, and he loves it. And papa can play and still have fun as well.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

Tory Adore — 2007-11-07T07:53:29+00:00

Very nice review! We have this game and love it. Our 6yr old really enjoys it too.

It's funny you chose that picture. So far I'm the only one that's thumbed it.
It isn't just a components shot though. There is actually a carefully framed caption joke hiding there in plain sight.

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"Do You Ever Feel Like You're Being Watched?"

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

Mike A — 2007-11-07T05:14:15+00:00

happyjosiah wrote:
My version is missing Fist-Pounding-Strong-Dude, so he has been replaced by a yellow post-it note with a drawing by my dad of a character we affectionately refer to as Jack Hammer. Guess his digging implement.

I don't know how you can properly review this fine game if you're missing Fist-Pounding-Strong-Dude. Real men dig with their hands, no wimpy tools like shovels or spoons or hammers.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

happyjosiah — 2007-11-07T03:25:05+00:00

atholbrose wrote:
A wonderful review of a game I used to own as a kid and never got to play, much like most of the games I owned as a kid.

The only thing this review needs? A picture of JACK HAMMER.

Actually, I agree. I will have to get one uploaded soon. I will let you know when I do.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

cferejohn — 2007-11-06T23:38:43+00:00

Oh my god. I totally had this but had no memory at all of it until I saw the pictures! I really have to dig through my parent's garage sometime soon and dig all these old games out. Assuming my mom didn't throw them away. Of course, my mom can't throw *anything* away. Thus a garage that has to be "dug through." Short sentences. Very Hemingway.

Thread: Re: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

atholbrose — 2007-11-06T22:34:46+00:00

A wonderful review of a game I used to own as a kid and never got to play, much like most of the games I owned as a kid.

The only thing this review needs? A picture of JACK HAMMER.

Thread: Dungeon Dice: The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

happyjosiah — 2007-11-06T21:05:37+00:00

Okay maybe that’s an overstatement. It’s actually very possible that you have seen Dungeon Dice gathering Dungeon Dust on the thrift store shelf or on Ebay for prices lower than the shipping cost. Yet despite its 70’s cartoon graphics and its low demand of late, this is a seriously fun little push-your-luck game.

What’s in the box?
Well, given its age, your contents may vary, but I can tell you what is supposed to be in the box. The most important component is the six wooden engraved painted dice. Each one is identical and has 6 different symbols of things to help you escape your false imprisonment in the titular dungeon. It also comes with a board, the standard size for 70’s Parker Brothers games, but with a hole cut out of the middle. Into this whole is placed a gray plastic “dungeon” (essentially a square bowl) in which the dice are rolled. Around the outside are pictures of a dungeon wall onto which the tunnel cards are placed. Collect 8 tunnel cards and you win. You also have a character card, mostly for decoration, but it gives you some personality. Choose from Bad-Haircut-With-Shovel guy, Old-Man-With-Spoon, Fist-Pounding-Strong-Dude, and Generic-Guy-With-Pickaxe. My version is missing Fist-Pounding-Strong-Dude, so he has been replaced by a yellow post-it note with a drawing by my dad of a character we affectionately refer to as Jack Hammer. Guess his digging implement.
This picture does an excellent job of showing all the components in once concise picture.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/235641?size=medium

Hrmph. Components do not a good game make.
Well, that’s true. So let’s take a look at the gameplay and mechanics. On your turn, you roll all the dice into the pit. Any that match MUST be moved onto the wall. “The wall” is basically the four corners of the pit. They are raised and provide nice little shelves for placing matching dice. Matching 2 of a kind does not get you anything. However, 3 of a kind gets you one tunnel card, 4 two tunnel cards, 5 three tunnel cards, and 6 of a kind gets you 4 tunnel cards and a slap in the face from all the other players. (Whose dice gods are smiling now!?) Additionally, getting 3 pairs gets you a card and getting 1 of each symbol (only possible on a single roll) gets you 3 cards (and perhaps a gentler slap in the face).
Alright, that’s the basics, now I am going to get into the nitty-gritty with some examples, so if you don’t really care about mechanics, skip ahead to the next boldface section, just like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book.

Example Time! Yay!
Let’s say it’s your turn and so you shake those dice in your hands (clackity-clack!) and then cast them into the tray (thockity-thock!). You have rolled a pair of lanterns, a pair of keys, a ladder, and a knife. You move the lanterns and keys onto the wall. You may now choose to re-roll any dice that aren’t on the wall. Since you haven’t won any cards yet, you have nothing to lose and so you re-roll the ladder and the knife. They come up a lantern and a knife. You move the lantern onto the wall with its lantern buddies and you have made a set of 3. At this point you could stop and add one tunnel card to the dungeon in front of you, or you could push your luck and re-roll that knife. You would need to get either another lantern or a third key to go with his key buddies. Either way, this would win you two cards (either 4 lanterns is 2 and 2 keys is none for a total of 2 tunnel cards OR 3 lanterns is 1, 3 keys is 1 for a total of 2 tunnel cards). However, if after a roll, you are unable to move anything onto the wall your turn immediately ends and you lose any tunnel cards won this turn. In our example, this means you have a 1 in 3 chance of getting two cards instead of 1 if you roll.
So why would you roll? Great question! The reason is also the rule that makes this game so much fun: IF YOU EVER GET ALL 6 DICE ONTO THE WALL YOU MAY ROLL ALL SIX DICE AGAIN. In other words, if you get the lantern or key you need, not only do you win 2 cards, you can start all over again (risking your two cards if you lose, but with potential for serious gains). This situation of 2 of a kind and 3 of a kind comes up often enough that in our group we refer to rolling the last die as THE POWER OF ONE IN THREE! The power comes not from your odds, which are not so good, but from the ability to “keep going” and get a lot of cards in one turn.

However, making ANY roll is not without risk. You see, one of the faces on each die is a guard. If you ever roll three guards, your turn immediately ends and you lose all cards won on your turn so far. In fact, if you ever get a pair of guards, you move them to the top like any other pair, with one notable exception: they force you to keep rolling. So if your opening roll is 3 keys and 2 guards you can’t just stop and take the 1 tunnel card for the 3 keys. You have to roll again. And the only good thing you can roll is another key. Rolling a guard would make you have 3 guards and end your turn and rolling anything else would not let you move a die onto the wall, also ending your turn and losing all your cards gained on this turn. Ouch!

Okay, but it sort of sounds like multiplayer solitaire. Can’t I send the guards after my fellow players?
Why yes you can, you little snitch! Instead of a normal turn you may perform what is called a CHALLENGE. This allows you not just to get tunnel cards from the top of the draw pile, but to actually steal them from another player. Call a challenge, choose a player (the one with the most tunnel cards, or the one you want revenge on for stealing your milk money in fourth grade) and then you “try” to roll guards. Unlike a normal roll, you get a straight 3 rolls. On each roll, you move any guards rolled to the wall and re-roll the rest. If you have rolled at least 3 guards within 3 rolls, you make take someone else’s tunnel card and use it for yourself.
But isn’t that just pure chance? Where’s the push-your-luck?
Glad you asked. You see, once you have successfully challenged, you can risk that card and do another challenge. You get a second set of 3 rolls in which to roll 3 guards. If you do it, you steal an additional card. If you don’t, your turn ends and you leave empty-handed.

Here’s the place you were skipping to if you don’t like mechanics
(They fix your car for you and you don’t even like them. For shame!)
Now that you know how to play, let’s look at the pros and cons of this game.
CONS
--Only for 2-4 players. There is really no reason you couldn’t play with six or so and just place the tunnel cards in front of you, but there won’t be enough character cards or dungeon spaces on the board for more than 4.
--The box is too big. It’s a standard size Parker Brothers box, but a quick filler like this should be more easily portable.
--It’s luck driven. If you only like abstracts and meaty Eurogames, this may not be for you.

PROS
--Easy to teach
--Just the right length (30 minutes is probably a bit of an overestimate)
--Fun theme
--Great “take that” aspect to keep runaway leaders in check
--Creates some tough decisions and some tense moments.
--Emotional payoff. A game that makes you cheer or pound the table depending on how well you are doing.
--Something for everyone. Analyzers like me will sit there and carefully calculate the odds. Others just chuck the dice and pray.
--Multiple paths to victory and tactical adaptation based on other players. What? Yeah that’s right. If everyone keeps taking risks going for the big payoff, so can you. But watch out for the quiet “I’ll stop at one card” each turn person. They can sneak up on you.

What Is It Better Than?
--Pass The Pigs Better in every way except portability. Allows for calculation of odds, better to look at, better theme, allows hurting other players.
--Diamant/Incan Gold At certain points in the game, there is no risk. You know you are always safe, so you just keep collecting. THEN something happens and you start taking risks. In Dungeon Dice, every roll could lead to a disaster (3 guards!) so you should consider each one.
--Can’t Stop Certainly wins in theme. Can’t Stop quickly degenerates into playing “the right way.” If you have 11’s and 12’s, you stop. If you have 7’s and 8’s, you keep going. Dungeon Dice does not have right or wrong answers to when to push your luck. It is very much based on how well other people are doing. And that doesn’t even take challenging into consideration.

Bottom Line
An underrated gem that is so cheap you can’t afford not to own it. If you like any of the above games, get Dungeon Dice now!

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HiveGod — 2007-10-11T22:08:58+00:00

Replacement prisoner I whipped up for the kids on the back of a business card. Forget spoon-guy--this is the one everybody fights over! [CUSTOM BITS]

Thread: Re: In which we learn that mercy is for losers

reapersaurus — 2007-10-09T19:39:24+00:00

Nice structure, and use of words.
Cute, too.

I recommend this game to anyone that wants a kid-friendly version of Can't Stop. Why it gets so much cred, and not Dungeon Dice, is a shame.

From a Can't Stop session report, though, I got my son to say "I can't stop!" whenever he grabs the dice from the walls and goes back for more pushing of his luck.

Thread: Re: In which we learn that mercy is for losers

MattShepherd — 2007-10-09T14:25:13+00:00

Great report! Spoooon!

Thread: Re: In which we learn that mercy is for losers

Mike A — 2007-10-09T13:16:33+00:00

Spoon guy? Bah. Real men use their bare hands!

(Although my son usually beats me as the spoon guy now that I think about it...)

Thread: In which we learn that mercy is for losers

mistermarino — 2007-10-09T05:01:38+00:00

Everybody loves the spoon guy. I love the spoon guy. The Tick's war cry is "Spoon!" I assume my 7-year-old will want the spoon guy for his first-ever game of Dungeon Dice.

I spread out the four prisoner cards. I linger on the spoon guy for a moment and gently comment that the card is really cute.

Nat pauses, narrows his eyes and fixes his face in an expression that is almost, but not entirely, unlike a smile. "Give me the pickaxe, daddy."

I have the odd notion that possibly I should have been a little more nurturing. I shake it off. It helps to repeat to myself, "He's only seven, he's only seven." I select the spoon guy, because it seems like the nurturing thing to do.

We have an unspoken agreement that he always goes first--it's nurturing!--so he flings the dice and gets most of them in the tray. After a few minutes and a couple forays under the table, he acquires a tunnel card.

I take a turn and get two cards. He takes a turn and gets nothing. There is a certain amount of good-natured scowling.

I take a turn and gain a card. He takes a turn and gets nothing. There is a certain amount of mild scowling.

I take a turn and acquire a card. He takes a turn and gets nothing. There is a certain amount of genuine scowling. I take it to mean that these are not the dice rolls he would expect if he had a nurturing father.

A brief but sincere telephatic communique to the dice--it's what any nurturing daddy would do--appears to have an effect.

Nat successfully challenges me. He develops an array of specialized dice-rolling techniques, including The Dribble, The Splat and The Volcano (which simply must be seen to be believed). My luck turns middling. But despite it all, he is unable to make a big run, and I emerge with the same 4-1 advantage.

Make it 5-1. Then 5-0. Then 7-0 and 8-0. I've won. Mr. Spoon, as he is now known to me, is ready to party like a guy who spent several days underground, used a completely inadequate tool to dig to freedom and was forced to eat those cute little mice to survive.

But there is the matter of the nurturing thing. Not to mention the scowling thing. Nat sees my tunnel squares are full and fears the worst. So I say, with the requisite guilt of a nurturing father who's about to tell his son a well-intentioned lie, that I need one more to win.

He sighs, grabs the dice and invents a charming but painfully long ritual to enchant the dice. (Note to self: tutor son in art of detecting obvious lies).

He rolls. And rolls. And presses his luck. And again. And again. He pauses only to cry out at appropriate moments, "I'm gonna keep going!" The matches pile up. The tunnel grows. And at the end of a long, improbable run possibly fueled by some sort of dark magic, there is a small boy pointing at a nine-card tunnel and dancing in a most undignified manner.

Dang it, son. That's my dance. Get your own. And I mean that in the most nurturing way possible.

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reapersaurus — 2007-08-07T06:31:16+00:00

Do You Ever Feel Like You're Being Watched?

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Luminous — 2007-07-14T21:13:01+00:00

Front cover

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Luminous — 2007-07-14T21:12:17+00:00

Back cover

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Genre_Fad — 2007-06-09T10:55:26+00:00

inside the box and underneath the game board.

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Genre_Fad — 2007-06-09T10:54:30+00:00

open the box and... WHAT THE? There is a HOLE in my BOARD! ...OH... it is supposed to be that way?

Thread: Session Report

Styro — 2005-04-26T14:45:05+00:00

I introduced Dungeon Dice to my kids last night. It is the first time I had played it in about 20 years. Playing with me were my three daughters: Rebecca (7), Emily (5), and Eve (3 1/2). We played three games and they wanted to keep going but it was bedtime.

All three girls caught on to the basics of the game very quickly. Even Eve had no problem with matching up the dice. I only had to couch the younger two occasionally on when to stop rolling (so they wouldn't lose the tunnel cards they had earned).

Rebecca won the first game, and Eve the second. In those first two, I never got a single tunnel card. Early on I was rolling too many guards and later I would push my luck too far trying to catch up. In the third game all four of us were close to winning. Emily had several chances to win (only needed one more card) but could never get sets of three without gaurds coming up and ruining it. Rebecca needed 2 cards and rolled all six different pictures, earning her 3 cards and the victory.

Overall very fun game. The kids really enjoyed it and I am sure it will be played more in the future.

Thread: User Review

relic10 — 2004-11-28T14:42:18+00:00

Dungeon Dice is a game for 2 to 4 players, ages 8 to adult.

First of all, one must consider that this is a childrens' game from 1977. That being said, this game is really not that bad at all.

Here's how it works: The game is played on a standard folding game board, but this one has a big hole in the center of the board. In that hole is placed a plastic pit, where the dice are rolled. On each side of the board is a start place (one for up to 4 players) and seven blank spaces to the right of it. Each player takes one of the four possible player cards (used as a place marker) and places it on his or her start space. On his turn, a player rolls all six dice into the pit area. Now the dice are all the same, with one each of the following pictures per die: lantern, shovel, ladder, knife, key, and guard. On his turn, a player is trying to roll as many as he can of any given escape aid (anything but the guard). After his first roll, he pulls out any matching dice and puts them on the "wall" of the pit. For example, let's say he rolls two shovels, two lanterns, a guard, and a knife. He would pull out the pair of lanterns and the pair of shovels and set them aside. A matching pair does nothing for you, so he would have to roll the two remaining dice in hopes of getting a third lantern or shovel. Three of a kind would allow the player to draw one dungeon card. At that point the player could stop or could continue rolling. When he stops, any dungeon cards acquired this turn are played to the board in front of him. If he continues and rolls unsuccessfully, all cards obtained this turn (not placed in his play area, since that happens when his turn ends) are lost. In the example above, if the player had two pair, he would have to roll the two remaining dice, because at this point he has nothing that will win him a dungeon card. If he rolls for example a guard and a knife, his turn ends because he cannot remove at least one of the dice from the pit. The object is to collect eight dungeon cards and play them to the path in front of his start space. When this is accomplished he has tunneled out and won the game.

Rolling and Cards: Rolling the dice on your turn is how you acquire the dungeon cards needed to win. All of the dungeon cards, though not identical in their artwork, are all identical in their purpose. In other words, the cards are just pictoral extensions of the tunnel, nothing more. As far as the dice go, I'll try to give a more in depth explanation of how the rolling works: As stated above, each of the six dice contain six different pictures, so each picture occurs with equal probability. any matching dice must be removed from the pit when rolled, and on subsequent rolls that turn, any dice rolled which match two or more dice already removed from the pit must also be removed and added to their counterparts. Two of kind gets you nothing, three of a kind gets you 1 card, four of a kind gets you 2 cards, five gets you 3, and six gets you 4. The tricky part is, if you ever roll and can't remove at least one die from the rolling pit, your turn ends and any dungeon cards you've collected this turn are lost. If you manage to remove all six dice from the play area, you can continue rolling by starting again with all six dice. There are also some special results rolls: Even though a pair gets you nothing, three pair will get you one card. If you roll all six dice and get one of each picture, that gets you three cards. If you ever roll two guards, they must be removed from the pit area like anything else, but now you MUST keep rolling. At this point you keep rolling until your turn ends when you either 1) lose your turn (and all cards acquired this turn) because no dice can be removed from the pit, 2) all six dice are on the wall (you're in the clear and can stop or continue at this point by starting over with the dice), or 3) a third guard appears. If ever you have 3 or more guards present, your turn ends and you not only lose dungeon cards acquired this turn, but you lose one already on your board. As another option, on a player's turn he may, instead of rolling regular, challenge any player. This means he rolls all six dice and removes any guards from the pit, even if there is only one on his first roll. If after three rolls he has at least three guards, he takes one dungeon card from the challenged player and immediately puts it in his own play area. He can then end his turn or again challenge the SAME player he just challenged. This continues until he chooses to stop or fails to roll three guards. If he continues and fails, ALL cards taken this turn are returned to the player they were stolen from.

This game is quick and simple, but again, it is a childrens' game. And even though it's a dice rolling game, it is designed so that there are still decisions to make, in terms of when to end your turn or when to press your luck. Though by no means a "gamer's" game, it is still fun for adults to play with the kids, however, and if you are a parent of children in the right age group, that makes it nice in its own right.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2002-11-04T16:02:16+00:00

I finally got to try this old Parker Brothers game with Ryan, Erin, and my kids. No, it's definitely *not* Dragon Dice (the collectible game from old TSR--a game I do like and want to play again). I'd heard fluffy Mark Jackson speak highly of this game for a while, so I'd been anxious to try. My own thrift store copy was missing some of the dice, but after two years I made a connection through gameparts.org that completed my copy of the game for less than $5. (Along the way, I discovered you can pick up copies of this game on ebay for about $10.) It's a push-your-luck dice game, so draws instant comparisons to Can't Stop, Fill or Bust, or Cosmic Wimpout. This one is a little more straightforward, which means there's less strategy going on. I think it's a nicer overall presentation, though, which may make it a little better for kids than the others.

You roll the six custom dice into a plastic "pit" in the center of the board. Multiples and some rare combinations allow you to draw one or more tunnel cards, which are basically victory points. (See, thematically you're prisoners trying to dig out of a dungeon.) You can keep rolling for more cards, risking the ones you've collected so far this turn. Sometimes this isn't even a choice--you *have* to keep rolling. So it doesn't recommend itself over Can't Stop when playing with gamers, but I'm glad I've got the game onhand to play with my kids now and then. There's a Challenge rule that allows some direct action against other players (presumably someone about to win), but that looked like it would both lengthen the game and lead to an annoying dogpiling on the leader, so we didn't use it.

Ryan: "Although I always like the press your luck aspect of games, but I would rather play Bupkis or Cosmic Wimpout to get the same effect. I have to add, I'm always a sucker for that early eighties "PCP Earth Tones" artwork and my rating would rise to a 7 if I had a step-van with tinted bubble-windows painted to look like the game."

Ratings: Mark 5 (for adults, 8 when played with kids), Ryan 4

Thread: User Review

BoardGameGeek — 2002-04-21T05:15:15+00:00

This is an interesting little game in which players strive to "dig" themselves out of a dungeon.

The "digging" is represented by tunneling cards being placed side-by-side behind the player's character card who gradually makes his way off his side of the board and victory.

The tunneling cards are gained by rolling a set of six wooden dice (kids will have their hands full!) with various tunneling sybols on them (lantern, pick axe, key, etc.) and getting matching symbols.

The players can keep rolling as long as they keep getting matching symbols or quit. (3 matching dice will get you one card, 4, two and so on).

The danger of rolling is getting a match of "guards" in which case you must continue to roll until all the dice have either been matched off or three guards are matched...if this happens, you lose your turn.

Opposing players can also "Challenge" another player instead of a taking a regular turn, in which case the challenger has three rolls to match three guards...and confiscate an opponents tunneling card. This can be repeated every time a challenge succeeds...but upon failure ALL confiscated cards are returned!

Play: Lucky die rolls (and a large # of tunneling cards) during the first turns ofthe game tends to define the winner.

Challenging helps even the score with players who are ahead, but it is still tends to be an act of desperation!

Play is quick and suspensful. You can easily play three rounds without tiring!

Appearance:

I really like the dice! (easily usable with any other fantasy game according to player's imagination)

Also, the plastic dungeon pit (in which the dice are rolled is attractive, along with the walls where the matching dice are placed.

Happly Dungeoneering!

--Mr. Public