Istanbul: The Dice Game

GaGarfieldstar2.0

A nice implementation of a dice game. But not very entertaining. Way too much luck involved. [c] Theme: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]No theme --> Gameplay: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]You have different choices what you want to do --> Interaction: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not at all --> Artwork: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Nothing special --> Luck: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Dice rolling --> Strategy: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Little --> Components: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Custom dice, nice gems --> Play duration: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Easy to teach: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Quite easy --> Rules quality: <!-- size 7]Not read --> Setup time: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Fast --> No downtime: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Plays very fast --> Replay value: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Different strategies, but still a dice game --> [/c]

MoMohaszstar7.0

An enjoyable, light dice game with a good amount of options. Feels well balanced after 4 plays (with 2 and 3 players). It's a great family game. 7.5 -> 7.0 It's still pleasant game, but I feel like it's over before it could get really interesting. I'm also not a fan of the theme (obviously, same old).

EvEvanstar4.6

To my surprise I liked this game a lot. I don't generally like dice games and I didn't like Istanbul proper, but this really turned out to be a pleasant surprise. In this game, you roll the dice, then you can spend the dice to do different things based on the combinations you got. One combination lets you bank a token, which shows one of the die faces. This lets you stack die results for bigger turns later. Another combination gets you a technology tile, which gives you powerful new abilities. These also combo with each other satisfyingly, although there is a strong degree of flipluck involved and not all tiles appear to be equally useful. In particular, there's an ability tile that lets you roll additional dice, which so far has been vastly superior to any other tile, and the player who winds tends to have one or two of these tiles. Of all the luck in the game, this one aspect bothers me. You can use the dice in different patterns to pick up rubies from the board, which just like in Istanbul proper, get more expensive as they get picked up. I had something interesting to do each turn, there is a cute card effect mechanism that sometimes has beneficial effects for your opponents that kept me engaged in opponent's turns. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ★ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ☆ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★☆☆☆ Raw enjoyment