Dice Dice and More Dice OR How Beginner's Luck is Personified

Yahtzee


So first, Yahtzee is probably my second most played game due to having a handheld version which gets a lot of play time.  Also, I took an initial liking to the game by rolling all 6's on my first ever roll, which I know no one will believe but hey it happened. Those are my personal biases coming in.

There are many things to like in Yahtzee. First, DICE, and lots of rolling.  I know that I loved dice early on.  It appealed to my love of numbers, but it was also fun to take the dice and see what could be done with them.  Secondly, having limited options with what to do with the dice make you plan ahead and also react to the rolls you get.  Finally, who doesn't love shouting YAHTZEE!? I mean really, it's just fun to get into the game.

Yahtzee is not without it's problems.  As much as I like the diminishing choices, it also makes it not a very good game.  It would be better if there were limited choices early and you had to unlock further scoring opportunities as you went.  Also, there's not a game beyond the dice rolling, so ultimately the game comes down to luck of the roll.  It would be great to see some special power awarded for completing that large straight, or full house.

Yes, I know that Yahtzee would be a completely different game with those things, and it probably exists. I still enjoy playing Yahtzee as is, but that's on the handheld which is just me, so a game takes about 5 minutes.  I'm not sure I'd want to get out a specific game of Yahtzee, or even 5 dice and some paper to play.  Simply put, there are better dice games out there.

On a random note, the theoretical maximum score is 1540, something I've never even gotten close to half way; though I consider a 630 game pretty good.


Here's some ideas for random dice games

• Liar's Dice
• Decathlon, a fun game using different Decathlon events. Requires 8 dice and a pencil to play
• Delve, an adventure style game, meaning 4 heros go on a journey, meet bad guys, get stuff, etc.  I've played this and it's a tough game, but fun and plays in about 30 minutes.

This is not an inclusive list, so if you have any dice games you enjoy, leave a comment and I'll edit the main post to include them.

Also, don't forget to enter the contest, see the previous post, and vote in the poll.