Dice Splice Review

In June this year, I had the joy of attending UK Games Expo for the first time. It was a great event as I expected but what I didn’t expect was my group to come across a hidden gem of the convention as many smaller developers bring their games to show off and sell. This game had 5 of my friends up most of the evening playing, much after I had. I recently had the opportunity to play this game at a recent game night. This game was called Dice Splice and it taught me the joy of dexterity games.

Before the main body of the review, I have to commend of the games box efficiency, it’s a small game crammed to the brim with a bag full of dice, the rules and little wooden plank like pieces of varying shapes. In a world where boxes are way bigger than they need to be for what is in them, this is much appreciated.

Gameplay

The game is relatively simple. At its base rules, you start by each taking a plank piece per player and placing in on the table in any orientation you like as long as it touches another players starting piece. You take 7 dice out of the bag, roll them and look at the faces. You then have 3 actions to place dice on the starting tiles which usually mean you stack 3 dice somewhere on the tower. You are also free on your turn to place a plank piece on the tower however you like, as long as it settles and does not fall. You keep taking turns drawing up to 7 dice until one player either:

Knocks over the tower in anyway. In this case that player loses.

One player places all 7 of their dice in one turn.

You may be wondering how that happens in a game as simple as this. Well, the spicy part of the game is that if you roll a dice of the same colour and symbol of another dice, that dice has to go on that dice as a potentially 4th , 5th , 6th or even 7th action before your turn. Now this can get chaotic. Its also an opportunity to prove your skill if it comes to it and placing as many dice as possible. The other twist to this is if you roll 2 dice in the 7 that are the same, you must place them at the same time if you choose to. Once again this is wild and will often lead to people knocking over the tower due to the extra weight.

There are also bonus dice you can add to the game if you so wish, with strange rules such as placing that dice at the highest point of the tower.

This gameplay package creates a tense, often hilarious game where you are hoping your opponent’s roll badly or make a bad placement that knocks over the tower. It is an absolute joy.

Art & Components

I don’t have a lot a to say here as the game is very what you see is what you get. The art is simple, with a weird cartoonish style that fits the tone of the game and reflects the budget the game had during development. Dice are weighty and have a really good quality. I dare say they are curved in places to make placement requirements more obvious but harder on a dexterity level. It is simple but for a game like this I don’t expect anything less and it does not need anything more than what it is.

Conclusion

This is a short review, but that’s because this is a small game that comes in and declares its intention clearly. It’s a chaotic dexterity game with some seriously cheeky rules that make it an amazing dexterity game. I’m not even a fan of dexterity games, but Dice Splice, I would happily play anytime someone suggests it. It is an easy recommendation if you need a small filler game or a centrepiece for a party.