Great video Jamey. Here's My top 6: 6 - Fuse 5 - Roll Player 4 - D-Day Dice 3 - Sagrada 2 - Rajas of the Ganges 1 - Troyes And one kickstarter that hasn't been made yet, but looks like it might join this list is Tumble Town.
Roll Player is my number one dice driven game Edit: lol, I wrote this before even watching the video. Glad to see there is someone else out there that loves this game as much as me. Dice Forge is awesome too!
Excellent list, I think you made a good point that Space Base is really the next evolution of Machi Koro. I had some issues with Machi Koro but they were mostly addressed with the great design that is Space Base.
I love Roll for the Galaxy, I love the feeling of rolling that whole cup of dice and sending them around my tableau. I feel like it has luck mitigation from the dice in a great way in that there are different uses and ways to acquire specific dice. I also love Formula D, which while being a roll and move, really captures the gear shifting with ROLL THE BIGGEST DICE. That game really doubles down on the luck factor of the dice, and that's what makes it so fun.
Great list as always! Dice driven games are some of my favorites.. so long as the luck is intelligently mitigated. My Top 10: 10. Sentient 9. Signorie 8. Cupcake Empire 7. Fleet: the Dice Game 6. Coimbra 5. Rajas of the Ganges 4. Grand Austria Hotel 3. Macao 2. Santa Maria 1. Oracle of Delphi
I share your insights on dice, they're exciting and satisfying to roll, I also prefer when a game gives the players a way to mitigate a bad roll or a way to share a good roll.
Great list! I would add from my collection in no particular order: Too many bones, Attack on Titan the last stand, Champions of Midgard, Reavers of Midgard, Run, Fight or Die reloaded, Claustrophabia, Unearth, Artifacts Inc. and Black Angel.
10. Rolling Realms :P 9. Qwixx 8. Bang! The Dice Game 7. Space Base 6. Ganz Schon Clever 5. King of Tokyo 4. Arcadia Quest 3. Sagrada 2. Castles of Burgundy 1. Circadians: First Light Great list Jamey
Tiny Epic Galaxies packs a lot of game into a tiny box and has this “follow” mechanic that keeps all the players invested in everyone’s dice rolling. Too many bones. The dice in this game are just beautiful (screen printed?) the dice are complicated symbols-based, almost like reading pictographs.
Ergin Artesia the publisher also has a free printable version of Tiny Epic Galaxies that allows you to try out the basic gameplay; I bought the full version after we played several rounds of the free one and loved it.
We love Dice Forge! **Tip: use a Swiss Army knife screwdriver/bottle opener to change the dice faces with ease. Can't wait to buy Roll Player and it's expansion, looks awesome! Thanks for this list Jamey 🙌🏼
We also love a D12, I got a full set of 'double-sixes' (D12s with the numbers 1-6 on twice) when they were on ks a few years ago, so when we're playing Eldritch we can enjoy rolling a huge handful of D12s. Glorious. Having a lot of dice to roll at once is pleasing. I also like Pulsar 2849, for the crunchy dice choices and the payment system, and the sheer amount of cardboard and stating variability.
Great video Mr. Stegmaier! Here are my top ten dice games: 10. Livingstone 9. Coimbra 8. Sagrada 7. Roll For the Galaxy 6. Castles of Burgundy 5. Bang! The Dice Game 4. Dice Forge 3. Seasons 2. Too Many Bones 1. Roll Player I found the part about hurting yourself every time you play Dice Forge interesting, I haven't heard this complaint from anyone yet in my game group, we use the corner of the new die face to pop the replaced one off into a cupped hand and it has worked well.
It may sound crazy, but King of Toyko is one of my favorite dice rollers. It was sort of a gateway game for me, but still love going back to it for those Yahtzee style rolls.
I absolutely love Dice Throne (or as I nickname it, "Battle Yahtzee") and am glad to see it on this list. Roll Player and Space Base are also faves, glad to see them too.
A solid list of good games. Fantastic Factories has been a favourite of mine lately. Games that I would probably put on a list are: Nations the Dice Game, Tiny Epic Galaxies, Teotihuacan and Stone Age..
Jamey - I totally feel you with Dice Throne. It is my #1 game, but I don't often play it with my wife because of how swingy the luck can get. One person getting hammered on bad luck is a little more sensitive with your S.O. than it is with perhaps a sibling or gaming buddy. Still my favorite, still love those amazing dice, but it's not my go-to at home. Great video!
I’ve really got to check out Fantastic Factories. Some of my favourite dice-driven games (besides the ones you named) are Tiny Epic Galaxies, Pandemic:The Cure, Seasons, and Grand Austria Hotel (though that’s more drafty than driven). Also I have a soft spot for Elder Sign. But on a design note, I always thought the way Doughnut Drive-Thru used dice was clever: it’s a racing game, good for teaching kids simple worker placement. But the dice in the game basically level the playing field for players at any level.
Great list Jamey, loving your videos at the moment - great to hear a game designer’s view on their favourite game and why they like them. My favourite dice rolling games are: • Roll for the Galaxy (it’s fantastic and has to be played) • Champions of Midgard • King of Tokyo • Star Wars Destiny - this is a really fun game and doesn’t get the credit deserves
Stone Age is the holy grail of dice driven games in my book. The core mechanism of selecting how many dice you roll for different resources is just beautiful and so elegant, along with the axe mechanism. I love that the dice are all identical standard d6 with no different colors or special abilities. I think those are dice in their purest form, and making a modern game with just those is truly a work of art. And finally, since you roll the dice so many times throughout the game, and no singular roll is usually a game-changer, it is a dice game that although has a lot of output probabillity depends a lot on player's skill and much less on their luck, while keeping the play time relatively low. I really love Stone Age and was very surprised not to see it on this list.
You know, I enjoy Stone Age, but I consider it driven by worker placement, not dice. But that's subjective, and I think you make some great points about the use of dice in it.
Though I've heard others complain about the challenge of removing die faces in Dice Forge, personally I've never experienced it. We use the corner of the new die face and just pry the old one right off, no pain or flying components! Jamey's experience is valid, but I just wanted to provide a counterpoint for anyone thinking about playing or buying the game. It's fun, unique, engaging, attractive and has good replayability. If you like dice games you really should try this one!
Steampunk Rally is another great game that uses dice in unique ways. They are resources that drive your machine but must be mitigated before you can use the space again. This is one you have to try. Thanks for the list.
Our family loves Era: Medieval age. It's a roll and write except there's no writing. You build out the city with small miniatures. It really scratches a fun combination of a roll based game with a lot of custom dice while implementing miniatures.
Too Many Bones is my fav dice game as of a month ago. I've only played Undertow, but it's sooo great! It's the first game in a while that's been on my table constantly for weeks. Awesome solo and even better with 2 since it's co-op. Check it out!
One that probably hasn't been mentioned that I like quite a bit: Discoveries - The Journals of Lewis and Clark, from 2015, by Cédrick Chaboussit. Nice wooden custom dice that are always moving around as you steal them from each other and try to gain powers and resources to collect sets of cards that you try to grab before the other players. Medium-weight, sort of a sleeper; it doesn't leap off our shelves, but it's fun every time we get around to it. A bit heavier, and more well-known is the recent Trismegistus, by Federico Pierlorenzi and Daniele Tascini, where the colors and symbols (including the infinity symbol, which is wild) of the dice make for interesting trade-offs as you try to sequence chains of actions. Lots of interesting mitigation choices also, in a game that can be punishing, making dice mitigation a big part of strategy.
I’ve heard of most of those but haven’t played them. I’m glad you list them in the description. My criteria may be different of the games I know about or own in no particular order. Coralia, Wreck Raiders, Tortuga (Queen Games), Hit Z Road, Star Wars Destiny (with cards), Herbaceous Sprouts (SW Destiny style dice), Deadwood 1876 (I made a good solo variant), Tootsie Roll, Rock em Sock em Dice, Zombies!!! Roll them Bones, Remnants (dual purpose dice), BGG Star Trek the Dice Game, Bang the Dice game (I made a good solo variant) are ones that come to mind. There's a dice game you roll and attack each others dice with them can't recall the name. I might have forgot a couple. I’d go with D&D too lol X-wing and Outer Rim use the same dice but that’s pushing it lol I just love the tense excitement of rolling dice as opposed to Euro games. A BGG user Kevin Cook (DICE_COLLECTOR) uploads a lot of dice photos.
Thanks for the video. Elder Sign and Pandemic: The Cure are definitely near the top for me, as is the (much underrated, IMO) Firefly: Shiny Dice. I've played countless games of that. Trying to maintain a high 5-game average score rather than just trying to beat a single high score completely changes how you manage your risk and feels like more of a campaign. After all, it's all about Keepin' Flyin'.
“Escape!” Escape: Curse of the temple is a simultaneous, real-time, co-op freezing dice play that my wife played once and declared that it was too stressful and was not playing it again. My recommendation is to TH-cam “Escape Yakety Sax” to use the old Benny Hill music as your timer for a second or third game. 🤣
My favorites are- 5. Roll for It (works better at higher player counts. If you have both the red and purple editions you can combine them.) 4. King of Tokyo 3. Machi Koro 2. Star Wars: Destiny 1. Sushi Roll
Thank you for all the yummy dice driven game suggestions! One dice driven game that I will play any time someone will play it with me is Roll for the Galaxy. I love that game! I love, not only the sensation of rolling the dice, cup or no cup, but the many ways the worker dice are used in this game. They lend themselves to imagining not only workers, but goods, shipping containers etc.. I really like the limited choice I have upon rolling them coupled with the few bonus dice manipulation actions. The differing face distributions among the colors provide the added element of needing to diversify. Having to puzzle together strategy for each turn within these parameters is fun for me. And there is the added fun of collecting more dice throughout the game! I recently purchased Euphoria and have played it twice now. It is not so much the dice that are satisfying to me in this game, but the other clever mechanics. I really like the use of sliding tunnel miners and markets, plus the ability to bump another worker. These all provide the feeling of a moving factory in action; very clever additions.
I'm not really a big fan of competitive game and more of a narrative/campaign driven game so I'm only watching this with curiosity... but THAT CAT! Such patience 17:40! Sat there for a whole 7 minutes.
I'm not usually a big fan of dice driven games, but I came back to watch this video since I've recently picked up a game that fits this category. I got Circadians: First Light by Garphill and we are big fans so far. I want to get a few more plays before I give it a final rating, but as of now it is rivaling Architects as my favorite Garphill game. I noticed you didn't mention it, have you had a chance to play it? I think it is definitely worth it and really flew under the radar.
Hi Jamie, great list and many in your top10 I have. Was surprised not to see a mention of either Elder Sign or Roll for the Galaxy. Wondered if you'd played either and what were your thoughts?
I recently tried to play Elder Sign Digital, but I was utterly confused. I have played Roll for the Galaxy and enjoy it, but it's just not near the top of the list for me.
Agreed I like custome dice, Sagrada and Roll player is tops on my list as well. I like Cosmic Run Regen as well. D12 is fantastic to roll. I backed double D6 d12 KS, they did custom 3d4 d12 . Did you get expansion for Dice Forge?
Other than ones already mentioned. (I especially like Space Base) Other dice based games that stand out for me. Roll for the Galaxy King of Tokyo Las Vegas Mountain Goats Railroad Ink And I prefer Can't Stop to Deep Sea Adventure. They have a similar niche with push your luck
@@jameystegmaier If you like rolling dice, it's got that in spades, lol. It plays like a super satisfying RPG. Adding 40 Days in Daelore and Age of Tyranny make it feel like a legit roguelike.
I also love Sushi Roll & Marco Polo! Bought Kingsburg but haven't played yet & want to try Castles of Burgundy & Dice Throne, but don't own them. It might not be quite dice driven, but our family favorite is Legends of Andor. A lot of the game is based on rolling dice to progress the story, place enemies, resolve battles... last night my son rolled triple 6 on our final battle for the win! So exciting! I like the dice usage in Above and Below & Forgotten Waters too, but they also aren't truly dice driven. I think I just really love story & theme in my games + the act of rolling dice.
I've just started playing Sagrada on the app and I'm loving it. For a solo game, probably one of the better dice-driven ones. My wife and I love Pandemic: The Cure, all that great Pandemic co-op in half the setup and playtime. +1 for Champions of Midgard, great dice chucker. Dead of Winter probably counts as dice-driven and I love the tenseness of that game. Overall great list!
My son and I love playing Dice Masters. Fun dice mechanics with good theming (we have both Marvel and DC themes). Good mechanic with how the dice work adding variability and allow you to increase your abilities as you go.
Chris Douglas I love the idea of DM and own several core sets (two of each to control 4 dice/card) and the TMNT box but didn’t get into it until the popularity died out so I’ve only half played it once learning it with a friend. But I’m still holding hope that one day... 🤞
We really like Taverns of Tiefenthal. I need to check out Euphoria, it looks gorgeous. You have mentioned Dice Throne before, I need to check that out. We also like Atlantis Rising. Roll Player is in our top ten games. And we love the expansions for it as well.
Bora Bora is my favorite. Also enjoy Quantum, Qwixx, 30 Rails, and King of Tokyo. I really want to try Rajas of the Ganges and Sushi Roll from your list. Also think Kingdomino Duel would be great to play with my wife.
If you like dice as resources, The Artemis Project has a interesting use of dice placement for specific resources/actions and priority by # of pips. Seems like you would like this since you like Rajas of the Ganges. Also, Noctiluca is a good game that really shines at 2 players, which your partner could jump into with you really quickly.
Great choices, and some I need to check out too, good list! I think my favourite dice driven game is XCOM; lots of dice rolling, lots of replayability. Love the push your luck style of the pressure of the alien die increasing with each roll, and love that all the players are rolling dice but that they've made it asymmetrical in how it plays. Love the dice themselves too, they could have gone the Eldritch Horror route of "roll a 5 or 6", but I prefer the custom dice with the two xcom sides.
At least one version of the Catan dice deck has a shuffle card placed randomly in the last 10 cards. 12's or 2's are not guaranteed. I liked the even deck that was both dice and good or bad event. Extra resources sped up the risk reward element and didn't bog the game down.
Kingsburg is the first that comes to mind as one of my favorites, but I think Nemo's War, Vengeance and TMNT: Shadows of the Past make great use of the D6 as well.
Although not dice-driven, my wife and I absolutely love the dice/birdfeeder mechanic in Wingspan. Obviously, if I don't see the food I need to play the card I want in the birdfeeder and don't have the option to re-roll all the dice, that can drive me in a certain direction.....either take the food that's available towards playing another less-than-desirable card or future card to be discovered, or overpaying by way of doubling up to account for the food I don't have, or taking another action in hopes that my opponent (wife) will take the food and prompting a re-roll.
On a note related to your list, absolutely love Dice Throne, especially Marvel Dice Throne. Actually had the fortune of rolling for two of my big powers with Black Panther in one game. The were in early turns and due to some poor rolls subsequently on my part without much energy to spend on cards to modify, and some fortuitous rolls by my wife, I lost that game.
I myself like Star Wars: Destiny, Quarriors!, Dice Masters, and Rise of the Phoenixborn. Mostly two player dice battling game, save Quarriors. Dice Forge is a great game for dice construction game. Pandemic Rapid Response with custom dice and fast game play is amazing.
I really like my Feld's so both Merlin, which I just started playing, and Castles of Burgundy are definitely favorites. Tiny Epic Galaxies with Beyond the Black is al really good still. Alien Frontiers is a good choice as is Coimbra. One that always goes over well is TMG's Pioneer Days and Old West Empressario, both of which are dice drafting games inspired by old Felds, namely In the Year of the Dragon and CoB. I've played Rajas once and really liked it. I keep wanting to buy it. And yes, Too Many Bones, is a hoot
I much prefer Valeria: Card Kingdoms to Space Base or Machi Koro, not only is it simpler to have the card trigger on both your rolls and other people's rolls (just different triggers), but you also have the dual trigger of both triggering the individual rolls as well as the combined roll. It brings the best of both worlds. As for my favourite, I have to say Voyages of Marco Polo (still waiting to receive the sequel, heard it's amazing)
Dice Throne is my favorite. Cant wait for DTA. Sagrada and Roll players are amazing too. I think Too Many Bones would eventually rise up on my list as I get more time to play it. Space base is awesome too. I highly recommend getting D6 with 12 faces...they are more fun to roll. Basically a D12 with faces 1 to 6 times 2.
I would highly recommend Quantum. It might be my favorite dice driven game. Your dice are ships you are flying around a modular board galaxy, their speed is directly proportional to the dice face, but their ability in combat is inversely proportional. You are trying to be the first player to maneuver your ships to place a certain number of cubes on planets to win. And you are often rerolling your dice to reconfigure your ships, either because they were destroyed or you just need to change up your fleet.
I agree--it's great! I think it could have made this list if I had played it in the last few years, but it looks like the last time I played it was 4 years ago. th-cam.com/video/Zscc8eV93sg/w-d-xo.html
Love Space Base (especially with the Shy Pluto campaign expansion)... though, in my game group, Valeria Card Kingdoms has generally replaced Space Base. I love that, in VCK, everyone gets both the individual die values *and* the sum of the dice to possibly gain rewards based on their cards.
I really enjoy Quarriors and Dice Masters for the way the dice take center stage and the incredible variability. I also love Dice Forge and have been playing it a bunch on Board Game Arena, which solves the whole ouchie dilemma!
Discoveries is probably my favorite dice driven game. Somebody else already mentioned Rallyman GT - this and the original Rallyman are also under my favorites.
Are you familiar with Grand Austria Hotel? Its actions are determined by dice and I just love the game in general. Wingspan is the only game I've found that I like as much. Of the ones on your list, I've only played Sagrada, which I do like a lot. I agree about the satisfaction of figuring out the puzzle and filling the grid.
I'm really not a fan of Kingsburg. With your love for custom dice I thought for sure Quarriors would be there. And Can't Stop is such a brilliant yet simple game. Would Merchants of Venus be considered a dice-driven game?
Love Kingsburg! I think Alien Frontiers should have made the Top 10, as dice combos are central to the game, and you have a lot of control as to whether you want to push for 6 or 7 dice, or be happy rolling three dice.
Great video Jamie! Definitely agree on Kingsbury and Sagrada. Haven't played the others. I would add Unearth, though not custom, Wizards of the Wild, Dairyman and Lanterns Dice. Thanks.
Two other Yahtzee style games that weren't mentioned, but that I really like: King of Tokyo/New York and Bang: The Dice Game. In Jamey's actual list, I've actually only played Sagrada and Dice Throne and I definitely like Sagrada more between the two. I thought Dice Throne was fine, but I also found after repeated play the high degree of variance when dueling often makes the game feel a little too luck driven even with card mitigation, which those draws are also based on luck.
Dice driven games sound and look like being among the best one may possess. Don't have mine yet (just some worker placement games or cardgames so far) But dice games inspired me to make my own on which I am working.
Oh and your wingspan dice are gorgeous!! I loved rolling them so much when I first bought the game that we all took turns just rolling the dice through the bird feeder for about 3 mins hahaha
I feel like an argument could be made for Star Wars: Rebellion with dice being used both for combat and action resolution with custom dice. Obviously it's not a pure dice game but them some of the ones on your list aren't either. Atlantis Rising is fairly dice driven given that it has that push-your-luck element with resource acquisition. Dice Hospital uses dice to represent the health of patients and manipulates them through use of tiles to 'cure' them. Pioneer Days has custom dice which are multi-use and which also drive the disaster track based on the colour of the remaining non-drafted dice. Lastly, while I would call it a dice-driven game, I like how Xia: Legends of a Drift System uses the differently sized dice from D6/D8/D12/D20 to represent the ship upgrades that directly effect your ability to move around the map or survive adverse events. All are well worth a play.
Great list of games. I would have included Champions of Midgard though I can see it is not technically a dice driven game but very dice centric and awesome custom dice use.
You really need to try Pandemic: The Cure. The expansion is a must have if you like it. I'm a huge fan of this game, I even bought the viral outbreak minis that were on kickstarter as un official pandemic minis. It's dice driven pandemic and each role gets its own custom set of dice that all play very differently and make the game infinitely repayable. The whole game is beautiful standard size custom d6, even the infection dice are custom. It absolutely haunts my table as I play it 5 handed solitaire. If you like pandemic, zombicide, spirit island and want a dice game get the cure.
My 10 dice games: 11 - Euphoria 10 - Liar's Dice 9 - Kingsburg 8 - Roma 7 - Doctor Who time of the daleks 6 - Las Vegas 5 - Roll For the Galaxy 4 - Tiny Epic Galaxies 3 - Too Many Bones 2 - Castles of Burgundy 1 - Project: Elite Honorable Mentions: BSG Express (Dark Moon), Sushizock im Gockelwok, Quarriors, Dice town, Railroad Dice 2, D-Day Dice, Blueprints, Cubist, Pandemic the Cure, Space Base, Apocalypse Chaos, Elfenwizards Dice Throne fits in here somewhere. I guess I REALLY like Dice games! Dice preferences: I prefer engraved inked dice I extra prefer special dice like marbled or translucent dice. (Dice Throne did this!) I really like Polyhedral dice, but so few games go down that path.
Project Elite : a GREAT real-time mission based tactical game. A true adrenaline pumping game. I fell in love the first time I played. I cannot recommend this one enough!. Too Many Bones : a tactical combat game. GREAT custom dice. Unfortunately this game is VERY expensive, and likely not worth the price of entry, but it is a LOT of fun. Roll for the Galaxy : one of my favorite roll selection games. Comes with over a hundred dice. Quick, light and easy to teach. Highly recommended. Las Vegas : one of my top ten filler games. You use your dice to "bid" for prizes. Tons of dice rolling and a heavy push your luck element. A++. Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks : a competitive version of Elder Sign. I like the theme of this slightly better, but I wish they had made it cooperative instead of competitive. Roma : Stephen Feld 2-player game. Dice/Card game where you use the dice to either activate cards or collect resources. A very nice tug of war element. I love this game and its sequel.
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That kitty is such a good boy, waiting patiently! My cat meows like a screaming goat every time she wants food...
Great video Jamey. Here's My top 6:
6 - Fuse
5 - Roll Player
4 - D-Day Dice
3 - Sagrada
2 - Rajas of the Ganges
1 - Troyes
And one kickstarter that hasn't been made yet, but looks like it might join this list is Tumble Town.
Roll Player is my number one dice driven game
Edit: lol, I wrote this before even watching the video. Glad to see there is someone else out there that loves this game as much as me.
Dice Forge is awesome too!
Thanks Jamey, I always enjoy your videos. Here is a short list from me:
1.Dice Throne
2.The Reckoners
3.Dice Forge
4.King of Tokyo
5.Hero Quest
Excellent list, I think you made a good point that Space Base is really the next evolution of Machi Koro. I had some issues with Machi Koro but they were mostly addressed with the great design that is Space Base.
I love Roll for the Galaxy, I love the feeling of rolling that whole cup of dice and sending them around my tableau. I feel like it has luck mitigation from the dice in a great way in that there are different uses and ways to acquire specific dice.
I also love Formula D, which while being a roll and move, really captures the gear shifting with ROLL THE BIGGEST DICE. That game really doubles down on the luck factor of the dice, and that's what makes it so fun.
my favorite too!
Roll ftG would have been my number 1 or two 2. Such a great game, especially with the Ambition expansion.
Great list as always! Dice driven games are some of my favorites.. so long as the luck is intelligently mitigated.
My Top 10:
10. Sentient
9. Signorie
8. Cupcake Empire
7. Fleet: the Dice Game
6. Coimbra
5. Rajas of the Ganges
4. Grand Austria Hotel
3. Macao
2. Santa Maria
1. Oracle of Delphi
Had to watch this twice couldn't take my eyes off the cat cleaning himself first half of the vid.
Great list thank you
I share your insights on dice, they're exciting and satisfying to roll, I also prefer when a game gives the players a way to mitigate a bad roll or a way to share a good roll.
Great list! I would add from my collection in no particular order: Too many bones, Attack on Titan the last stand, Champions of Midgard, Reavers of Midgard, Run, Fight or Die reloaded, Claustrophabia, Unearth, Artifacts Inc. and Black Angel.
10. Rolling Realms :P
9. Qwixx
8. Bang! The Dice Game
7. Space Base
6. Ganz Schon Clever
5. King of Tokyo
4. Arcadia Quest
3. Sagrada
2. Castles of Burgundy
1. Circadians: First Light
Great list Jamey
Gread video, just starting the planning for my own dice game, so much to consider
Tiny Epic Galaxies packs a lot of game into a tiny box and has this “follow” mechanic that keeps all the players invested in everyone’s dice rolling.
Too many bones. The dice in this game are just beautiful (screen printed?) the dice are complicated symbols-based, almost like reading pictographs.
Ergin Artesia the publisher also has a free printable version of Tiny Epic Galaxies that allows you to try out the basic gameplay; I bought the full version after we played several rounds of the free one and loved it.
We love Dice Forge! **Tip: use a Swiss Army knife screwdriver/bottle opener to change the dice faces with ease.
Can't wait to buy Roll Player and it's expansion, looks awesome! Thanks for this list Jamey 🙌🏼
We also love a D12, I got a full set of 'double-sixes' (D12s with the numbers 1-6 on twice) when they were on ks a few years ago, so when we're playing Eldritch we can enjoy rolling a huge handful of D12s. Glorious. Having a lot of dice to roll at once is pleasing. I also like Pulsar 2849, for the crunchy dice choices and the payment system, and the sheer amount of cardboard and stating variability.
Great video Mr. Stegmaier! Here are my top ten dice games:
10. Livingstone
9. Coimbra
8. Sagrada
7. Roll For the Galaxy
6. Castles of Burgundy
5. Bang! The Dice Game
4. Dice Forge
3. Seasons
2. Too Many Bones
1. Roll Player
I found the part about hurting yourself every time you play Dice Forge interesting, I haven't heard this complaint from anyone yet in my game group, we use the corner of the new die face to pop the replaced one off into a cupped hand and it has worked well.
It may sound crazy, but King of Toyko is one of my favorite dice rollers. It was sort of a gateway game for me, but still love going back to it for those Yahtzee style rolls.
I absolutely love Dice Throne (or as I nickname it, "Battle Yahtzee") and am glad to see it on this list. Roll Player and Space Base are also faves, glad to see them too.
A solid list of good games. Fantastic Factories has been a favourite of mine lately.
Games that I would probably put on a list are: Nations the Dice Game, Tiny Epic Galaxies, Teotihuacan and Stone Age..
Jamey - I totally feel you with Dice Throne. It is my #1 game, but I don't often play it with my wife because of how swingy the luck can get. One person getting hammered on bad luck is a little more sensitive with your S.O. than it is with perhaps a sibling or gaming buddy. Still my favorite, still love those amazing dice, but it's not my go-to at home.
Great video!
I’ve really got to check out Fantastic Factories. Some of my favourite dice-driven games (besides the ones you named) are Tiny Epic Galaxies, Pandemic:The Cure, Seasons, and Grand Austria Hotel (though that’s more drafty than driven). Also I have a soft spot for Elder Sign.
But on a design note, I always thought the way Doughnut Drive-Thru used dice was clever: it’s a racing game, good for teaching kids simple worker placement. But the dice in the game basically level the playing field for players at any level.
Great list Jamey, loving your videos at the moment - great to hear a game designer’s view on their favourite game and why they like them. My favourite dice rolling games are:
• Roll for the Galaxy (it’s fantastic and has to be played)
• Champions of Midgard
• King of Tokyo
• Star Wars Destiny - this is a really fun game and doesn’t get the credit deserves
Stone Age is the holy grail of dice driven games in my book. The core mechanism of selecting how many dice you roll for different resources is just beautiful and so elegant, along with the axe mechanism. I love that the dice are all identical standard d6 with no different colors or special abilities. I think those are dice in their purest form, and making a modern game with just those is truly a work of art. And finally, since you roll the dice so many times throughout the game, and no singular roll is usually a game-changer, it is a dice game that although has a lot of output probabillity depends a lot on player's skill and much less on their luck, while keeping the play time relatively low.
I really love Stone Age and was very surprised not to see it on this list.
You know, I enjoy Stone Age, but I consider it driven by worker placement, not dice. But that's subjective, and I think you make some great points about the use of dice in it.
Though I've heard others complain about the challenge of removing die faces in Dice Forge, personally I've never experienced it. We use the corner of the new die face and just pry the old one right off, no pain or flying components! Jamey's experience is valid, but I just wanted to provide a counterpoint for anyone thinking about playing or buying the game. It's fun, unique, engaging, attractive and has good replayability. If you like dice games you really should try this one!
Steampunk Rally is another great game that uses dice in unique ways. They are resources that drive your machine but must be mitigated before you can use the space again. This is one you have to try. Thanks for the list.
Good vid! Blown away that King of Tokyo isn't on your list though, is a go-to game for me when introducing newer players to higher caliber games.
Our family loves Era: Medieval age. It's a roll and write except there's no writing. You build out the city with small miniatures. It really scratches a fun combination of a roll based game with a lot of custom dice while implementing miniatures.
Too Many Bones is my fav dice game as of a month ago. I've only played Undertow, but it's sooo great! It's the first game in a while that's been on my table constantly for weeks. Awesome solo and even better with 2 since it's co-op. Check it out!
Dice Forge is such a fantastic game. I instantly fell in love with it
Great list, Jamey. I'm a sucker for dice driven games. My current favorites are the already mentioned Marco Polo and also Roll for the Galaxy.
Hi. I really like the way Rajas of the Ganges uses dice to buy tiles for your province. Are there any other games that use dice in this way?
Rajas is pretty unique in the way it uses dice as resources (opposed to using dice as workers, which many games do).
One that probably hasn't been mentioned that I like quite a bit: Discoveries - The Journals of Lewis and Clark, from 2015, by Cédrick Chaboussit. Nice wooden custom dice that are always moving around as you steal them from each other and try to gain powers and resources to collect sets of cards that you try to grab before the other players. Medium-weight, sort of a sleeper; it doesn't leap off our shelves, but it's fun every time we get around to it.
A bit heavier, and more well-known is the recent Trismegistus, by Federico Pierlorenzi and Daniele Tascini, where the colors and symbols (including the infinity symbol, which is wild) of the dice make for interesting trade-offs as you try to sequence chains of actions. Lots of interesting mitigation choices also, in a game that can be punishing, making dice mitigation a big part of strategy.
I’ve heard of most of those but haven’t played them. I’m glad you list them in the description. My criteria may be different of the games I know about or own in no particular order. Coralia, Wreck Raiders, Tortuga (Queen Games), Hit Z Road, Star Wars Destiny (with cards), Herbaceous Sprouts (SW Destiny style dice), Deadwood 1876 (I made a good solo variant), Tootsie Roll, Rock em Sock em Dice, Zombies!!! Roll them Bones, Remnants (dual purpose dice), BGG Star Trek the Dice Game, Bang the Dice game (I made a good solo variant) are ones that come to mind. There's a dice game you roll and attack each others dice with them can't recall the name. I might have forgot a couple. I’d go with D&D too lol X-wing and Outer Rim use the same dice but that’s pushing it lol I just love the tense excitement of rolling dice as opposed to Euro games. A BGG user Kevin Cook (DICE_COLLECTOR) uploads a lot of dice photos.
Thanks for the video. Elder Sign and Pandemic: The Cure are definitely near the top for me, as is the (much underrated, IMO) Firefly: Shiny Dice. I've played countless games of that. Trying to maintain a high 5-game average score rather than just trying to beat a single high score completely changes how you manage your risk and feels like more of a campaign. After all, it's all about Keepin' Flyin'.
Grand Austria Hotel, Dice Hospital, Cupcake Empire were suprises for me, all great games...Lords of Vegas another under the radar gem
“Escape!” Escape: Curse of the temple is a simultaneous, real-time, co-op freezing dice play that my wife played once and declared that it was too stressful and was not playing it again. My recommendation is to TH-cam “Escape Yakety Sax” to use the old Benny Hill music as your timer for a second or third game. 🤣
steelman774 My husband won’t play it anymore either. He says it’s too stressful 🙁
My favorites are-
5. Roll for It (works better at higher player counts. If you have both the red and purple editions you can combine them.)
4. King of Tokyo
3. Machi Koro
2. Star Wars: Destiny
1. Sushi Roll
little lego spanners work perfectly for replacing the dice forge sides
Thank you for all the yummy dice driven game suggestions!
One dice driven game that I will play any time someone will play it with me is Roll for the Galaxy. I love that game! I love, not only the sensation of rolling the dice, cup or no cup, but the many ways the worker dice are used in this game. They lend themselves to imagining not only workers, but goods, shipping containers etc.. I really like the limited choice I have upon rolling them coupled with the few bonus dice manipulation actions. The differing face distributions among the colors provide the added element of needing to diversify. Having to puzzle together strategy for each turn within these parameters is fun for me. And there is the added fun of collecting more dice throughout the game!
I recently purchased Euphoria and have played it twice now. It is not so much the dice that are satisfying to me in this game, but the other clever mechanics. I really like the use of sliding tunnel miners and markets, plus the ability to bump another worker. These all provide the feeling of a moving factory in action; very clever additions.
Thanks Michelle! I do enjoy Roll for the Galaxy--I think it would make this list if I played it often. I'm glad you're enjoying Euphoria! :)
I'm not really a big fan of competitive game and more of a narrative/campaign driven game so I'm only watching this with curiosity... but THAT CAT! Such patience 17:40! Sat there for a whole 7 minutes.
You hit 3 of my top dice games - factories, sagrada, and space base. I would also add Las Vegas - a current family favourite,
I love The Artemis Project.....it's like alien frontiers in a lot of ways but I enjoyed it more. Always fun to watch your sit down, thanks.
I'm not usually a big fan of dice driven games, but I came back to watch this video since I've recently picked up a game that fits this category. I got Circadians: First Light by Garphill and we are big fans so far. I want to get a few more plays before I give it a final rating, but as of now it is rivaling Architects as my favorite Garphill game. I noticed you didn't mention it, have you had a chance to play it? I think it is definitely worth it and really flew under the radar.
I have played it! I really liked a lot of the game, but I was frustrated by the programming aspect.
Hi Jamie, great list and many in your top10 I have. Was surprised not to see a mention of either Elder Sign or Roll for the Galaxy. Wondered if you'd played either and what were your thoughts?
I recently tried to play Elder Sign Digital, but I was utterly confused. I have played Roll for the Galaxy and enjoy it, but it's just not near the top of the list for me.
@@jameystegmaier I confess I've not tried the app of Elder Sign. The physical game however I found to be very simple and enjoyable. 😁
Agreed I like custome dice, Sagrada and Roll player is tops on my list as well. I like Cosmic Run Regen as well. D12 is fantastic to roll. I backed double D6 d12 KS, they did custom 3d4 d12 . Did you get expansion for Dice Forge?
Other than ones already mentioned. (I especially like Space Base) Other dice based games that stand out for me.
Roll for the Galaxy
King of Tokyo
Las Vegas
Mountain Goats
Railroad Ink
And I prefer Can't Stop to Deep Sea Adventure. They have a similar niche with push your luck
D-Day has great custom dice and they certainly drive the game!
No mention of Too Many Bones? Great list though. A few I haven't tried yet. Excited to Dice Throne Adventures when it ships.
I haven't played Too many bones, but I hope to try it!
@@jameystegmaier If you like rolling dice, it's got that in spades, lol. It plays like a super satisfying RPG. Adding 40 Days in Daelore and Age of Tyranny make it feel like a legit roguelike.
I also love Sushi Roll & Marco Polo! Bought Kingsburg but haven't played yet & want to try Castles of Burgundy & Dice Throne, but don't own them. It might not be quite dice driven, but our family favorite is Legends of Andor. A lot of the game is based on rolling dice to progress the story, place enemies, resolve battles... last night my son rolled triple 6 on our final battle for the win! So exciting! I like the dice usage in Above and Below & Forgotten Waters too, but they also aren't truly dice driven. I think I just really love story & theme in my games + the act of rolling dice.
I've just started playing Sagrada on the app and I'm loving it. For a solo game, probably one of the better dice-driven ones. My wife and I love Pandemic: The Cure, all that great Pandemic co-op in half the setup and playtime. +1 for Champions of Midgard, great dice chucker. Dead of Winter probably counts as dice-driven and I love the tenseness of that game. Overall great list!
My son and I love playing Dice Masters. Fun dice mechanics with good theming (we have both Marvel and DC themes). Good mechanic with how the dice work adding variability and allow you to increase your abilities as you go.
Chris Douglas I love the idea of DM and own several core sets (two of each to control 4 dice/card) and the TMNT box but didn’t get into it until the popularity died out so I’ve only half played it once learning it with a friend. But I’m still holding hope that one day... 🤞
I'd highly recommend Rallyman GT. Such a simple and elegant dice system that has so much depth to it.
I thought it had sticker dice. 🤮
Can’t stop watching the kitty
Dat cat chillin in dat sunbeam tho
We really like Taverns of Tiefenthal. I need to check out Euphoria, it looks gorgeous. You have mentioned Dice Throne before, I need to check that out. We also like Atlantis Rising. Roll Player is in our top ten games. And we love the expansions for it as well.
Bora Bora is my favorite. Also enjoy Quantum, Qwixx, 30 Rails, and King of Tokyo. I really want to try Rajas of the Ganges and Sushi Roll from your list. Also think Kingdomino Duel would be great to play with my wife.
My top :
1. Discoveries
2. Roll for galaxy
3. Tiny epic galaxy
4. Troyes
5. Blueprints
6. Castles of burgundy
7. Coimbra
If you like dice as resources, The Artemis Project has a interesting use of dice placement for specific resources/actions and priority by # of pips. Seems like you would like this since you like Rajas of the Ganges. Also, Noctiluca is a good game that really shines at 2 players, which your partner could jump into with you really quickly.
Great choices, and some I need to check out too, good list!
I think my favourite dice driven game is XCOM; lots of dice rolling, lots of replayability. Love the push your luck style of the pressure of the alien die increasing with each roll, and love that all the players are rolling dice but that they've made it asymmetrical in how it plays. Love the dice themselves too, they could have gone the Eldritch Horror route of "roll a 5 or 6", but I prefer the custom dice with the two xcom sides.
Troyes and Roll for the Galaxy for sure!
At least one version of the Catan dice deck has a shuffle card placed randomly in the last 10 cards. 12's or 2's are not guaranteed. I liked the even deck that was both dice and good or bad event. Extra resources sped up the risk reward element and didn't bog the game down.
Kingsburg is the first that comes to mind as one of my favorites, but I think Nemo's War, Vengeance and TMNT: Shadows of the Past make great use of the D6 as well.
Roll Player is also my favorite game!
Although not dice-driven, my wife and I absolutely love the dice/birdfeeder mechanic in Wingspan. Obviously, if I don't see the food I need to play the card I want in the birdfeeder and don't have the option to re-roll all the dice, that can drive me in a certain direction.....either take the food that's available towards playing another less-than-desirable card or future card to be discovered, or overpaying by way of doubling up to account for the food I don't have, or taking another action in hopes that my opponent (wife) will take the food and prompting a re-roll.
On a note related to your list, absolutely love Dice Throne, especially Marvel Dice Throne. Actually had the fortune of rolling for two of my big powers with Black Panther in one game. The were in early turns and due to some poor rolls subsequently on my part without much energy to spend on cards to modify, and some fortuitous rolls by my wife, I lost that game.
Thanks Jeremy! I'm glad you like the birdfeeder mechanism in Wingspan. It's a nice tactical (and tactile) element of the game.
I myself like Star Wars: Destiny, Quarriors!, Dice Masters, and Rise of the Phoenixborn. Mostly two player dice battling game, save Quarriors. Dice Forge is a great game for dice construction game. Pandemic Rapid Response with custom dice and fast game play is amazing.
My favourite game with dice is Roll for the Galaxy. Then Blue print, which I prefer to Sagrada...
I really like my Feld's so both Merlin, which I just started playing, and Castles of Burgundy are definitely favorites. Tiny Epic Galaxies with Beyond the Black is al really good still. Alien Frontiers is a good choice as is Coimbra. One that always goes over well is TMG's Pioneer Days and Old West Empressario, both of which are dice drafting games inspired by old Felds, namely In the Year of the Dragon and CoB.
I've played Rajas once and really liked it. I keep wanting to buy it.
And yes, Too Many Bones, is a hoot
I much prefer Valeria: Card Kingdoms to Space Base or Machi Koro, not only is it simpler to have the card trigger on both your rolls and other people's rolls (just different triggers), but you also have the dual trigger of both triggering the individual rolls as well as the combined roll. It brings the best of both worlds.
As for my favourite, I have to say Voyages of Marco Polo (still waiting to receive the sequel, heard it's amazing)
Dice Throne is my favorite. Cant wait for DTA. Sagrada and Roll players are amazing too. I think Too Many Bones would eventually rise up on my list as I get more time to play it. Space base is awesome too.
I highly recommend getting D6 with 12 faces...they are more fun to roll. Basically a D12 with faces 1 to 6 times 2.
My top 10 would include Roll for the Galaxy and Champions of Midguard (My #1).
I would highly recommend Quantum. It might be my favorite dice driven game. Your dice are ships you are flying around a modular board galaxy, their speed is directly proportional to the dice face, but their ability in combat is inversely proportional. You are trying to be the first player to maneuver your ships to place a certain number of cubes on planets to win. And you are often rerolling your dice to reconfigure your ships, either because they were destroyed or you just need to change up your fleet.
I agree--it's great! I think it could have made this list if I had played it in the last few years, but it looks like the last time I played it was 4 years ago. th-cam.com/video/Zscc8eV93sg/w-d-xo.html
Love Space Base (especially with the Shy Pluto campaign expansion)... though, in my game group, Valeria Card Kingdoms has generally replaced Space Base. I love that, in VCK, everyone gets both the individual die values *and* the sum of the dice to possibly gain rewards based on their cards.
I really enjoy Quarriors and Dice Masters for the way the dice take center stage and the incredible variability. I also love Dice Forge and have been playing it a bunch on Board Game Arena, which solves the whole ouchie dilemma!
Quarriors is a big hit in our house as well. We splurged on the qultimate quedition (or something like that).
Discoveries is probably my favorite dice driven game.
Somebody else already mentioned Rallyman GT - this and the original Rallyman are also under my favorites.
I don't know if I should say thank you or not. I just bought Fantastic Factories and it was so much fun. Ok thank you for the list.
Are you familiar with Grand Austria Hotel? Its actions are determined by dice and I just love the game in general. Wingspan is the only game I've found that I like as much. Of the ones on your list, I've only played Sagrada, which I do like a lot. I agree about the satisfaction of figuring out the puzzle and filling the grid.
Two of my favorites that use dice in interesting ways are Quantum and Teotihuacan. Not much rolling but lots of fun manipulation
I really like Quarriors and Roll for the Galaxy for my dice heavy games. And of course I am a big Dice Throne fan but you already mentioned that one
I couldn't find the Kingsburg app.... Is it Android-exclusive, or something?
It's possible they no longer sell it. I have it on my iPad.
I heard there was a very good game that had an overwhelming number of bones in it
Would you say too many of them?
More Bones Than Strictly Necessary?
A very large discrepancy between the vast number of bones provided and the uses for said bones?
Nowadays I would include Dice Command in this list. Great 2-4 player dice game.
I'm really not a fan of Kingsburg. With your love for custom dice I thought for sure Quarriors would be there. And Can't Stop is such a brilliant yet simple game.
Would Merchants of Venus be considered a dice-driven game?
Does Quantum count? It uses dice to act as the ships, representing both combat power and movement value, and you to drive when you get into combat.
Love Kingsburg! I think Alien Frontiers should have made the Top 10, as dice combos are central to the game, and you have a lot of control as to whether you want to push for 6 or 7 dice, or be happy rolling three dice.
Great video Jamie! Definitely agree on Kingsbury and Sagrada. Haven't played the others. I would add Unearth, though not custom, Wizards of the Wild, Dairyman and Lanterns Dice. Thanks.
Lanterns Dice came pretty close to making the list. I haven't tried those others, though!
It hadn't occurred to me that the D12 in Tapestry is a D4 with 3 of each face! So glad you made that design decision, Jamey. Not a fan of D4's either.
Two other Yahtzee style games that weren't mentioned, but that I really like: King of Tokyo/New York and Bang: The Dice Game. In Jamey's actual list, I've actually only played Sagrada and Dice Throne and I definitely like Sagrada more between the two. I thought Dice Throne was fine, but I also found after repeated play the high degree of variance when dueling often makes the game feel a little too luck driven even with card mitigation, which those draws are also based on luck.
I am going to try Rajas of the Ganges.
Dice driven games sound and look like being among the best one may possess. Don't have mine yet (just some worker placement games or cardgames so far) But dice games inspired me to make my own on which I am working.
I haven't played Kingsburg, but I own Kingsport Festival, and I understand it's a close relative to Kingsburg. I love that game.
Love the cat in the background 😍 how about Dice Settlers have you played??
I quite enjoy Wurfel Bohnanza. Keen to try space base as I've played Machi Koro and enjoyed that.
Great list and game design thoughts!
Oh and your wingspan dice are gorgeous!! I loved rolling them so much when I first bought the game that we all took turns just rolling the dice through the bird feeder for about 3 mins hahaha
Roll for the Galaxy and Champions of Midgard would definitely be on my list.
I feel like an argument could be made for Star Wars: Rebellion with dice being used both for combat and action resolution with custom dice. Obviously it's not a pure dice game but them some of the ones on your list aren't either. Atlantis Rising is fairly dice driven given that it has that push-your-luck element with resource acquisition. Dice Hospital uses dice to represent the health of patients and manipulates them through use of tiles to 'cure' them. Pioneer Days has custom dice which are multi-use and which also drive the disaster track based on the colour of the remaining non-drafted dice. Lastly, while I would call it a dice-driven game, I like how Xia: Legends of a Drift System uses the differently sized dice from D6/D8/D12/D20 to represent the ship upgrades that directly effect your ability to move around the map or survive adverse events. All are well worth a play.
Oh, forgot The Reckoners, almost a bit like a dice-driven Aeon's End with custom dice.
Honorable mention: The Masters' Trials: Wrath of Magmaroth (which is a cooperative dice-crafting game).
My favorite dice-based games are To court the King (Um Krone und Kragen), Sagrada and Steampunk Rally
I own many D12: double six and triple 4 dice. They roll much better than other dice, and should be used much more often than they are.
Great list of games. I would have included Champions of Midgard though I can see it is not technically a dice driven game but very dice centric and awesome custom dice use.
You really need to try Pandemic: The Cure. The expansion is a must have if you like it. I'm a huge fan of this game, I even bought the viral outbreak minis that were on kickstarter as un official pandemic minis. It's dice driven pandemic and each role gets its own custom set of dice that all play very differently and make the game infinitely repayable. The whole game is beautiful standard size custom d6, even the infection dice are custom. It absolutely haunts my table as I play it 5 handed solitaire. If you like pandemic, zombicide, spirit island and want a dice game get the cure.
My 10 dice games:
11 - Euphoria
10 - Liar's Dice
9 - Kingsburg
8 - Roma
7 - Doctor Who time of the daleks
6 - Las Vegas
5 - Roll For the Galaxy
4 - Tiny Epic Galaxies
3 - Too Many Bones
2 - Castles of Burgundy
1 - Project: Elite
Honorable Mentions: BSG Express (Dark Moon),
Sushizock im Gockelwok, Quarriors, Dice town, Railroad Dice 2, D-Day Dice, Blueprints, Cubist, Pandemic the Cure, Space Base, Apocalypse Chaos, Elfenwizards
Dice Throne fits in here somewhere. I guess I REALLY like Dice games!
Dice preferences:
I prefer engraved inked dice
I extra prefer special dice like marbled or translucent dice. (Dice Throne did this!)
I really like Polyhedral dice, but so few games go down that path.
dangit, I also love how dice are used in Claustrophobia. Unfortunately, I think that's the only thing I really like about that game.
Project Elite : a GREAT real-time mission based tactical game. A true adrenaline pumping game. I fell in love the first time I played. I cannot recommend this one enough!.
Too Many Bones : a tactical combat game. GREAT custom dice. Unfortunately this game is VERY expensive, and likely not worth the price of entry, but it is a LOT of fun.
Roll for the Galaxy : one of my favorite roll selection games. Comes with over a hundred dice. Quick, light and easy to teach. Highly recommended.
Las Vegas : one of my top ten filler games. You use your dice to "bid" for prizes. Tons of dice rolling and a heavy push your luck element. A++.
Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks : a competitive version of Elder Sign. I like the theme of this slightly better, but I wish they had made it cooperative instead of competitive.
Roma : Stephen Feld 2-player game. Dice/Card game where you use the dice to either activate cards or collect resources. A very nice tug of war element. I love this game and its sequel.