Age Rating: 8+
Players: 2-4 (up to 8*)
20 Minutes
Competitive Dice/Card Game
MSRP: $15.00**
“Long Ago, before Ares betrayed Calliope and imprisoned her, the Pegasus—strong and witty but full of love and devotion—had narrowly avoided being enslaved by the war god himself, to be used as a flying warhorse in battle. When the Pegasus learned of Calliope’s capture, he knew that he could never let someone so important sit for all eternity in a cage. Realizing his superior strength, but looking to avoid violence, he cleverly concocted a game of dice and cards that balanced wits and luck. He confronted the muse’s guards and challenged them to Roll For It! The prize at stake? The magical key that would open Calliope’s cell. Using all of his strategy, skill, and just a bit of luck, the Pegasus completed the 15-pointer he needed to win the key—and with it, Calliope’s freedom as well!“ ~Calliope Games
Overview
Roll For It! is a simple and quick dice and card game. The object of the game is to be the first player to collect 40 points by managing dice and matching the appropriate dice to the cards in play.
Contents
The basic game comes in a cardboard box and contains twenty four dice (four sets of six in distinct colors), thirtyRoll For It! cards, and a rules booklet. *It should be noted that this game is expandable. By purchasing both the red and purple sets, you can increase the number of players to eight. **It should also be noted that Calliope Games has released a beautifully designed DELUXE edition of the game that comes with enough dice for eight players, a nice tin box, a dice bag and cards that are more artistic. That edition is priced at $38.00. The cards that come with the basic game are very easy to read and of typical playing card style. The dice are VERY tiny, which adds some small degree of difficulty for young players. However, the dice colors are well chosen to be easy to distinguish from one another.
Gameplay
Game play is quite easy and takes mere minutes to explain to new players. Players take turns rolling their dice sets. On their turn the player completes three actions.
- Roll for it! The player rolls dice once per turn. The number of dice available for you to roll will change during the game, so you’ll want to take great care in managing where you place your dice so as to not tie up too many.
- Match it! The player then matches the results of their roll with the dice images shown on the three face-up Roll For It! cards, ignoring results that don’t match any images. The player can spread their dice out among the cards, but each die can be matched to only a single image on any one card. Place a die next to a matched card, not on it. Because all players are going after the same cards, multiple dice colors can be matched with a single card. Once a die is placed, it cannot be moved to another card. The player may choose not to place a matching die or dice during their turn.
- Score it! Players score a Roll For It! card as soon as they’ve matched all of its die images with dice of their own color; a player cannot use other players’ dice to score a card. A card is worth points equal to the number printed at the bottom. The player will then place the scored card in front of them, creating a staggered score pile with points visible to all players. All dice on a scored card are returned to their owners and can be used on the owner’s next turn. Immediately flip a new card from the deck to replace the scored card. If you still have rolled dice available to match from this turn, you may match them with any of the face-up Roll For It! cards, including the one you just flipped. After the player has rolled, matched, and scored qualified cards, their turn ends and play passes to the person on their left.
Family Gaming Assessment
One of the best features of Roll For It! is its simplicity. Players who do not play games often will pick up this game and understand how to play after seeing one turn. Young players can easily play this game because there is no reading or deep strategy involved. If a child can handle basic matching, then they can easily play this game. The “8+” age guideline seems to be skewed slightly high. We’ve had children around the age of five easily join in.
It is common to have an entire game done in ten minutes once everyone has played a few times. It is very easy to play several games in a row. It is also a very portable game and easy to take with you to play just about anywhere. There is no elaborate strategy needed to be successful at this game. The most complicated issue that players will run into is dice management. Roll For It! is a fun little game that plays well with mixed ages and skill groups. We’ve played with players of various ages and mixed groups made up of family, hard core gamers, and non-gamers. The game was high interest for children because of the dice rolling and kinesthetic aspect. It is an excellent game for teaching counting and math, logical and critical decision making, pattern matching, risk vs. reward, and resource management. The only complaints we received from experienced gamers is that the game is mostly about luck. Yes, there is a some element of strategy regarding dice management, but overall this is nothing more than a simple pattern matching game that works well as an ice breaker or a game to play in between more in depth games.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a simple and fun game that you can play with the whole family, this is well worth the MSRP. All of our young players choose this game regularly and their parents enjoy playing with them. If you are a dedicated gamer that prefers an in depth strategy game, then this isn’t for you. But, this is a great portable game that we use to get players to the table to start up a fun game night!
Click here for more great games by Calliope!
Disclosure: Please note that a copy of this game was provided by Calliope Games for review purposes.
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