Got to hang out with some old college buddies today for a day of gaming and not doing anything important.
One of the things we did was try a new game called Firefly Shiny Dice.
The basic idea is that you make six-sided dice rolls that have special icons on them, compare them against different conditions, then gain points if the conditions are met. Then there is a ‘push your luck’ mechanic, where if you want, you can continue your turn. You do all the same things as the first round of your turn but with fewer dice, making it more difficult to complete the round. You could keep going, but each round you have fewer dice making it more difficult.
The goal is to defeat three of the classic villains from the TV series – namely, Badger, Saffron and Niska. You have dice representing the crew (Mal, Zoe, Jayne and Wash) and the passengers (Simon, River, Inara, and Book) and supplies. Each crew and passenger has an effect that lets them remove points from the bad guys. For instance, Zoe can do 2 points against any of the villains, either 2 points against one villain or 1 point against two separate villains. Once you use Zoe’s dice, they are moved into the KO (Knock Out) Zone and can’t be used again. When points are scored against the villains, their dice are also removed from play. If you remove all the villain’s dice, you get 100 Victory Points for each villain removed. You also get points for any remaining supplies.
There are Mission Cards that add little possible bonuses or penalties to your turn. For instance, you may complete the mission on the card and get extra Victory Points. Or you could complete the mission and be forced to go another round, which if you’ve already been through a round or two could make it almost impossible for you to win the round.
Once all players have taken three turns, the game ends. Whoever has the most Victory Points, wins! I managed to get one lucky break in the game where I got to reroll two of the dice and got the exact roll I needed to win the turn. In the end I won by having 2300 Victory Points, while the runner up had 2200 Victory Points, and the guy in last place had 1300 Victory Points.
I had fun playing the game. The whole thing took a few hours and I’d enjoy playing it again. In one turn I got a Mission Card that forced me to go again, when I’d already been through two rounds. That is when I got the fortunate dice roll mentioned above.
There was a previous board game (Firefly: The Game) which we have played and enjoyed, but it is sort of like Monopoly – it takes a long time to set up and even longer to play. It too is fun, in a different kind of way. We’ve only ever completed one game, all the others were cut short due to time constraints. Firefly Shiny Dice was set up and played in the time it takes to set up and play a round or two of Firefly: The Game.
If you’re looking for a fun last minute Christmas gift, and you’re a fan of the Firefly TV Series, or just ‘push your luck’ dice games, you might want to give Firefly Shiny Dice a try.
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