Game Night Blog Carnival: Martian Dice

Welcome to the new Game Night Blog Carnival! This is a feature we’re doing once a month with a few other RPG blogs. If you have an RPG blog, and would like to participate, check out the FAQ at the main Game Night page.
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As an old school role player, I love dice. I also have a soft spot for cold war era science fiction. Thus, Martian Dice by Tasty Minstrel Games appeals to me on several levels. You are a Martian and are trying to abduct Earth creatures. It is a quick and easy to learn press your luck game that generally plays in 10-20 minutes. The more players the longer the game. One nice thing about Martian Dice is that it can accommodate any number of players. The object of the game is to be the first to score 25 points.

That packaging looks familiar. (Image copyright Dayton Ward)

Martian Dice comes packaged in a dice cup that contains the 13 dice needed to play and an instruction booklet. The dice are black and feature five different symbols, one of which repeats. Each symbol has its own color. This makes it easy to quickly see what has been rolled. The symbols and their colors are red tank, blue human face, yellow chicken, white cow, and a green flying saucer which is on each die twice. The instructions are a full color two-sided fold out sheet that features clear rules and directions and a sample of play. The game is so easily picked up the instructions really will only be needed for first time play.

Once someone is picked to go first, that player rolls a 13 dice and sets any tanks rolled to the side. Tanks represent the Earth resistance forces and can prevent a player from scoring if they are not countered by death rays represented by the green flying saucers. After the tanks are set aside the player can choose one type of symbol to set aside. The human, cow, and chicken can only be chosen once on a players turn. Death rays can always be chosen. All the dice featuring the selected symbol are set aside and then the player can choose to reroll the remaining dice. This continues until the player decides to quit rolling, can’t keep anything, or runs out of dice. Once a player has seven tanks their turn is effectively over as well, since it is impossible to equal or exceed the number of tanks with death rays. Presuming that the player manages more death rays than tanks they score one point for each human, cow, and chicken. If a player manages to get at least one of each of the scoring symbols they get a three point bonus. This means that a perfect series of rolls that produces only scoring symbols would score 16 points. I’ve yet to see that happen but it is possible, so theoretically some one could manage to win in two turns. When one player reaches 25 points the current round is played to the end, possibly allowing another player to catch up and overtake the leader. In the case of a tie each player rolls 6 dice and the one with the most death rays wins.

Martian dice is an ideal game when you are waiting for folks to show up for a game session. It moves pretty fast but there is enough decision making and strategey to hold folks interest. It is certainly easy enough for kids to play and promotes some critical thinking. This one is super quick and fun as well as boasting a $15 price tag. We have played dozens of games and have had a blast. We’ve even named a roll featuring nothing but tanks and death rays a “Michael Bay” since it is all explosions and no points.

This one is worth it for anyone who plays games on a regular basis.

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The next stop on the Game Night Blog Carnival is Glimm’s Workshop. The previous stop is The ID DM. Be sure to check out the main page of the Game Night Blog Carnival!