Their newest game, DiceAFARI, is scheduled to come out in summer of 2012. Stratus Games is looking to Kickstarter to get the funding to bring the game to print. Their Kickstarter project is running until December 19, so there's still a couple weeks to get in on it (as of the writing of this article). In a rather unusual twist, they are offering a FREE print-and-play edition of the game for people to try out before deciding to support the game through Kickstarter.
The first thing that stood out about DiceAFARI was it's theme. Each player is on safari, trying to get pictures of various exotic animals. This theme greatly interests me for three reasons. 1. I like to take pictures. 2. Kilimanjaro Safaris in the Animal Kingom park at Disney World is a favorite attraction. 3. Pokemon Snap (a video game where you go on safari, taking pictures of Pokemon) is one of only a few games on the Nintendo 64 I really enjoy.
DiceAFARI is super-easy to set up and play. You start by building the map using terrain tiles. There are several animal shaped map cards included with the game, though players can make virtually any shape they want.
I'm playing upside-down, this is the "Gorilla" map
In between each tile, you place a photo token. These tokens show the four animals you need to try to collect photos of. DiceAFARI is a set collection game. You get the most points for collecting all four different animals, but you also score points for sets of similar animals as well. Not all photos make it on the board so some animals may be in much shorter supply than others.
I'm hoping they use thicker tiles than I did. The board has a tendency to move around, and pictures were sliding all over the place. To their credit, the pictures are very clear, even on small tokens.
So, how do you collect these tokens? With DICE (now the whole DiceAFARI name makes sense, right?) You have 5 dice, four of them show the terrain icons, one is a "Bonus" die. After rolling the dice up to three times (the bonus die may only be rolled once), you claim, using colored vehicle tokens, adjacent terrain tiles based on the icons you rolled. If you collect a number equal to your bonus die roll, you can gain control of an unowned terrain tile anywhere on the board. This is a really nice benefit on some of the more complicated boards. After you place your colored vehicle tokens on the board, you get to take one picture that your tokens surround
At the end of the game, you take your photo sets, add that total to the number of tiles on the board you still control, and you have your score.
I was really good at getting giraffe pictures! Our game turned into a real "take that" fest. I doubt many games will last 6 turns to get this many pictures.
DiceAFARI is a very quick playing game. In a recent update to the rules, they even state that each player must take at least three turns. Most games will be done in under 20 minutes. This lends itself to being a game you play several times in a row, using different maps each time, and then add up scores after a given number of rounds.
DiceAFARI is a very good game for families, and for those wanting a fast way to teach core gaming concepts in a short amount of time. DiceAFARI does a great job of introducing both area control and set collection, all in a 15-20 minute time frame.
If I have to critique anything about DiceAFARI, it's that I'm not sure if the game holds a whole lot for the more experienced gamer. While it's a quick playing game, I'm not sure if the choices available are enough to keep experienced players engaged for more than a couple of plays. For the crowd it is aimed at, however, I think DiceAFARI will be a very popular game.
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