USD ($)
EUR (€)
Let’s get the important bit out of the way right here, right now: in this game you can, as a legal move, pick your nose. Well, a skull’s nose. And now you’re interested. Of course you are.
Meet Emerald Skulls from Thunderworks Games.
It’s the kind of game you’d expect to stumble upon if you got sucked into a Dungeons and Dragons scenario, and during your adventure you came upon a weather-worn inn, a solitary and stony building looming over a turn in the long, dark road, and your group is too weary to travel much further on this wild and windy night, and you reluctantly enter in the hope of rest and sustenance, peace and recuperation, but there’s some rowdy action in the corner, a bunch of green skinned little brutes chucking dice around and shouting abuse at each other, and it can’t be long before it all gets out of hand…
Basically, what we’ve got here is goblin’s gambling game, and it runs exactly as you’d hope: lots of opportunities to screw over your opponents, lots of opportunities to screw over yourself, plenty of gold coins flying around on the bets, and lots of murderous threats should a goblin’s pride be hurt.
Tell you what, let’s go through all the info about Emerald Skulls and I’ll tell you what makes each point interesting.
Emerald Skulls is a fast action, push-your-luck dice gambling game for 1-6 players. Test your wits and luck to fill the skull with dice and place speedy wagers on other players’ rolls. With virtually no down-time, it's always your turn to play! – This, then, means there’s going to be no long pauses between turns, which can sometimes cause players to disengage. Here, you’ve got to pay attention or you’re going to miss out!
When the pot of gears runs out, the player with the most is the winner! Start with 3 dice, or spend your precious gears to add more to your pool. But be careful - once you place dice on the skull, you can no longer put dice on lower tiers for the rest of your attempt. - Think carefully about your decisions – it sounds like there’s plenty of room for regret here, and for capitalising on other goblins’ mistakes.
Each round, one player is the tumbler, rolling dice and placing them on the 5 tiers of the Emerald Skull. The more dice you place without busting, the better your rewards! Keep an eye on your opponents - you can foil their plans by avoiding their predictions. – Plenty of player interaction in this one, then, a strong game for family gatherings or board game groups, where you want to liven everyone up.
Will you chicken out, bust, or reap the rewards of the Emerald Skull? While the tumbler takes their turn with the dice, it's your turn to gamble on their final results. Wager on a wide range of unique outcomes, and even counter-bet against your opponents. Be quick - The first to place their marker on a winning result gets the highest payout! – You’d better be paying attention! Any slips of concentration could hand your opponents a winning bet and leave you lagging behind. How brave – or stupid – will you be?
There are lots of ways to roll for success in Emerald Skulls, from buying extra dice to... picking your nose?! You may remove a die from the nose of the skull. Re-roll it, along with all your remaining dice. However, if you leave nose dice alone, you'll earn useful re-roll cubes. So don't over-pick! – Nose picking in a board game. Yes. This is properly niche. Frankly, I’m amazed it’s taken so long for such an activity to take centre stage.
I reckon, then, that your best approach to playing this game is to tap into your inner goblin, channel that selfish little rascal and take more risks than is sensible. Go on, gamble like a goblin, chunter like a goblin, live like a goblin! Live!
No, I’m not getting carried away. Definitely not.
Emerald Skulls is reaching the end of its Kickstarter campaign, and you’ve got just about enough time to drop a pledge here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thunderworks/emerald-skulls