A Pirates
life for me...
If ye be looking for fun and frolics, with plenty o’booty-ful dice, then Splice Dice from our old mateys Sea Griffin Games be hidden treasure for sure!
With 81 dice to draw from you’ll need skill, dexterity and above all cunning, to stack this treasure high!
While we’re marooned in lockdown We’ve been kindly supplied a preview copy to entertain us. So see how it plays, hear our thoughts and consider backing it on Kickstarter in November ye scurvy dawgs!
Dice Splice PLEDGE HERE
Grab yer Booty
Each Player will randomly draw 7 dice from the bag and the Player who’s most recently been on a boat goes first!
Set Anchor
The First Player puts one plank in the middle of the table to begin the treasure hoard base.
Make yer Move
Players use their first turn to either Expand the Base (by adding a plank to touch another plank) or Stack Dice
Let’s get Kraken!
Now the base is set in further turns, planks may only be balanced on the teetering dice towers as the treasure hoard grows higher!
You can lay your planks any old how, but your dice must line up with the planks squares – or the dice they are stacking on.
(For a more challenging game use smaller bases.)
On your turn roll all 7 dice and choose 3 of them to stack on the hoard.
You can add dice to the hoard by placing them on a clear plank space or by balancing them on top of dice of the same Colour or Symbol
Once you’ve finished placing dice, draw back up to 7 and play moves clockwise
If you’re lucky it’s possible to stack all your dice in a single turn and win the game!
You can stack more than 3 dice if you roll:
Paradice: If you roll dice of the same Colour AND Symbol to dice already on the hoard you must stack these on their matches before placing your usual 3 dice.
Splice: If your hand contains 2 (or more) dice that match each other in Colour AND Symbol this is a Splice. You must place these together but it acts as a single placement.
Golden Dice: If you draw 1 of the 3 then roll it at the start of your turn and act on it before rolling the rest of your hand and return it to the bag once rolled…
See opposite at how the Golden Dice works!
At any time during your turn you can balance a plank on the hoard. This can make the hoard more stable or very rickety and can be used to block opponents pending Paradice combos.
Use them creatively or not at all – placing them is voluntary and doesn’t count toward your 3 placements, but must be placed on top of the treasure hoard towers!
Each plank has 2 sides (Swabbed & Scurvy.) Scurvy planks add difficulty to the game because any rats on a square will stop you from placing a dice on it…
Glory & Victory
Sometime a lucky player will manage to stack all their dice in one turn and that will win a most significant Glorious Victory.
But usually the game ends when some poor fool stacks upon a perilous place and knocks down the treasure hoard. As soon as they fall the game is over and the previous player claims the Victorious Glory!
If there are no dice left in the bag, the winner is the first to stack all their remaining dice and if only Golden Dice remain then turn them parrot side up and stack them on the highest tower until a winner is declared!
The Golden Dice faces represent…
Whirlpool – Direction of play reverses and ye misses your turn. Pop it back in the bag and play with 6 dice when your turn comes around.
Parrot – Perch her on top of the highest treasure tower in the hoard and don’t return her to the bag!
Morgawr – The mischievous monster likes to pilfer and will take one of your hand with her as she goes back into the bag!
Kraken – Every other player gives you one of their dice and they only play with 6 this round.
Skull & Bones – Give one of your dice to another player.
Anchor – place another plank on the base of the table
I’ll be upfront with ye mateys, Dice Splice was provided for review by our Shipmates Sea Griffin Games and this ain’t their first voyage into Kickstarter waters!
Their original game Pirates of Penryn was a hugely successful title with plenty of theme and energy, making them trusted hands in the dangerous corners of campaign delivery – so fear ye not!
In terms of Dice Splice it’s a fast game running in at no more than 15 minutes; in fact with the right roll of a die it can be all over in an instant! The rules are simple but that’s not to say it’s an easy game to play as a steady hand and a cunning mind can drive you to victory if the roll of the dice isn’t in your favour.
In terms of player count there’s the essential solo mode for the current marooned state we find ourselves in at the moment, but in higher numbers (4+) this game sings aloud and adds so much fun to the evening.
Like Jenga you need a steady hand and sturdy table, while a deaf ear is essential to ignore the jibs and banter from your crew mates that can easily distract your focus.
The key to the success of Dice Splice is in its variety of play styles – you can work in co-operation with fellow players or apply a Take That style of play by impeding and stealing opportunities…
That said however you play, it can’t be denied that there’s a lot of raucous fun to be had when an opponent causes the Treasure Hoard to come tumbling down!
With that in mind this is a game that benefits from a cushioned table and a keen eye as your dice come clattering down and scatter across the horizon. Hopefully the creators will offer a lovely playmat to the campaign to soften that blow but overall this is such a fun and dynamic game with a lot of heart and a lot of laughter to experience.
While this is a prototype its an impressive looking setup and for dice fanatics there’s 81 glorious dice in such a small box!
Coming to Kickstarter in November 2020 we’d say give this a lot of consideration, it’s small but it packs a punch! Sign up today mateys!
Dice Splice PLEDGE HERE