Everyone who has ever played a role playing game, an RPG if you will, has had the urge to throw at die. Maybe several. Maybe several dice at one individual. Maybe at their head.
Asteroid Dice from Camden Games helps us deal with that urge. Sort of. It comes with large, foam dice which you can throw at people. In fact, the rules tells us to throw them at people. The rules also tell us we shouldn't throw them at people's heads. So, there's that.
The rules to the game are simple. Each player has seven cards each. These cards correspond to the d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20 included with the game in addition to two special cards. The special cards are the "Losteroid" and "I Can't Diecide."
All players choose one of their cards and place it face down in front of them. Simultaneously, all cards are revealed. If any players have the same card, they immediately grab the corresponding die and throw it at the other player(s) who chose the same card. If players both chose a Losteroid or I Can't Diecide, they may choose any die to throw. This is called a "Brawl" in game terms. The player who got hit must choose a lower available die to roll for the final part of the round. Starting with the highest die, each player will roll their die and try to get the highest number possible. Whoever rolls the highest number collects all of the cards played that round and keeps them for points at the end. Points are scored based on the number in the lower left hand corner of the cards.
The Losteroid throws one major wrinkle in this point collection game. When the card is played, the player who played it must call out a number from 1-20. If this number is rolled at any point that round, all cards are lost for the round. Finally, the player who played this Losteroid will choose to add the Losteroid to any other player's discard pile and it will score negative 6 points at the end of the game.
The game proceeds this way until any single player is out of cards. Each player then counts all the points they have, minus 6 points per Losteroid in their discard pile. The player with the most points wins.
I like this game because it's fast, has easy rules, and helps get some aggression out without being mean. My boys like the game too because they get to throw things at people and there is a little luck and second guessing in the game. It's a good game for releasing some tension, as long as the tension isn't already too high. Blaise wanted to note that is a game where you have to react very fast, and that's definitely true too. For those reasons, it's probably a game a lot of teenagers and kids are going to enjoy.
Who might not like this game? Well, it's pretty obviously not for those looking for any sort of strategy, or decisions, or planned timing, or pacing, or slowness, or you get the idea. The game is another take on dexterity and rock, paper, scissors but it does it all in a nice quick package.
We recommend the game for at least 3 players and think it is best at 4-5. Larger groups make dynamic, kinetic games like this a little more fun and chaotic.
Thanks to Camden Games for the review copy. They sent it to me for review, but I was not compensated in any other way- my opinions are my own.
Asteroid Dice from Camden Games
Teaching 9.5/10
Aesthetics 8/10
Strategy 2/10
Gameplay 7/10
Time 10-15 Minutes
Players 2-5