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[AHoppy]

I got $75 in Amazon gift cards for Christmas and I'm looking to get another game for my already too large collection...  Right now my collection is really lacking any dice games.  I shied away from them after playing way too much Catan, but at U-Con I played Discoveries and actually enjoyed it, so I want to try another one.  I'm really tempted by Roll for the Galaxy, but I'm a little scared by the learning curve it appears to have. Not for myself, but because it looks intimidating for people who aren't super into boardgames like me.  Which is most of who I play with.  Through the Ages is another one of my favorite games so Roll Through the Ages sounds interesting too, but again doesn't feel like an attractive game for non-gamers.  Pencils/paper just doesn't feel like it'd do it for them (or me if I'm honest)

On the other side, I really want to try Terra Mystica and think I'd love it, but it also might be a bit much for my non-hardcore gamer friends.  I'm planning on picking up Bang! the dice game and/or Codenames with any extra money leftover.

Anyways, I'm rambling.  I'm open to any suggestions.  My favorite games are probably (in order) Agricola, Dominion, TTA, Twilight Struggle, Le Havre.  If that helps at all.

[Voltaire]

Do your friends play Agricola, Le Havre, or TTA with you? If so, they'll pick up Roll for the Galaxy (I'm pretty sure you'll love Roll). But if you've encountered resistance stay away, not because Roll is more difficult, but because it's got that "this is for gamers" smell to it.

Dice version of Bang! is what Bang! always should have been, so that's a good idea.

[AHoppy]

My one friend likes Le Havre, and I do have one friend who would be into it (he liked both Agricola and TTA). But I feel like the one thing roll might have going for it is chucking tons of dice. That always sounds fun. (Though 100+ sounds intimidating)

They also liked Bang! And I heard the dice version was better, so definitely worth a try.

I'll also add that I've gotten complaints about playing different games all the time... Guilty as charged, but hey, that comes with the hobby right?

[jonts26]

For dice games, Roll for the galaxy is a great game. It's not as complicated as it seems at first. I do own roll through the ages and it's ok. I prefer roll for the galaxy. A little lighter is something like king of tokyo.

Also, if you want a really light dice rolling game, I recently got Las Vegas, and I've had a lot of fun with it. I played it with my family over the holiday and they really liked it, and they don't particularly play board games.

[markusin]

I've played Roll for the Galaxy once. It was confusing at first but by the end of the game I got the hang of it. It's one of those games where you need to have at least one person who is very familiar with the rules and has the patience to explain things multiple times and explain their own moves as well. All in all it's a nice game to have.

I also played Bang! The Dice Game. That's a really neat game to play when you have the awkward 5 or 6 players at the table.

[AdamH]

If you want to play Terra Mystica, you will not have any trouble finding people who want to play it on the 30th. Lots of people in my group love that game. It's a good game, too. I don't think there are any dice in it, though.

Most dice games I know of are pretty light, which is the opposite of the types of games you seem to like. The beefiest dice game I know of is Alien Frontiers, and I've had a lot of good experiences playing that game. On the other hand, I've had a lot of bad experiences playing that game too. I think with four players the game takes too long and there's way too much downtime. The game is just fine with two and three players, though if you play 3P you should remove one of the Holographic Decoys from the deck and if you play 2P you should play without either of them (I think there are other rules for the alien tech deck for 2P games too, you should follow those as well, but removing the decoy isn't one of them IIRC). Also, I don't know if you have this problem, but Alien Frontiers gives one player the ability to tank himself and another player in a way that feels kind of good; also it can result in a LOT of AP from certain types of players. If you can dodge these issues then I'd really recommend the game.

Roll for the Galaxy is pretty good. Easy to teach, has some similarities to Dominion, maybe, ish? I wish that game took 25-30 minutes less than it did but that might just have been the people I played it with.

[Accatitippi]

Kingsburg is also good, but has the problem of having limited replayability without its amazing expansion. The expansion also fixes the whacky combat mechanics of base, but that requires very little components to build yourself. (I think it's something like 5 chits/cards/tiles/whatever per player).

It's essentially a light-ish fantasy themed worker placement game dressed up as a dice game. You are building your city, pleasing the king, defending the kingdom from miscellanous monsters and so on. Player interaction is mainly due to competition to using the same resources (action places), rather than consisting in actively bashing each other.
It's fun, attractive, pretty simple, and, without the criminal combat mechanics of the base game, the best player will probably win, as it should be.

Here's a java implementation with AI if you want to try it:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/304815/java-kingsburg-i
NOTE: The real link is on the last page of the thread, as the OP's link is long dead :/

[Kuildeous]

If you are dealing with nongamers, then I think you would be wise to avoid Terra Mystica. It's a fun game, but it's definitely a gamer's game. I just explained it last weekend to a group of newbies. And even my experience was limited to a couple of forum games a while back, so I just had to read through the instructions until it all clicked for me. I could see the eyes glazing over among the gamers. After the first round though, they got the hang of the mechanics and didn't need me to hold their hand anymore. I'm not sure that nongamers would actually reach that state. And the fact that you get victory points through many different ways can be overwhelming too.

I've only played demos of Roll for the Galaxy, but I liked it. I want to expose my wife to it before I purchase it, though. I agree that the game would look daunting to nongamers, but the mechanics are pretty simple. I think nongamers might grok the rules a little better here, but I do not have any data to back up that speculation.

I like Roll through the Ages. It has more of a Yahtzee feel, which nongamers tend to like. I'm sure the iconography can be frustrating at first since each die has six icons. One nice thing about this game is that there really aren't bad rolls. There are less-than-ideal rolls, but each skull you get also gives you goods. Getting coins usually means you can at least buy a development; getting only 7 coins and no goods is about the only bad roll I can think of at the moment. The different wonders might be overwhelming, but you mostly just pick one at a time and focus on that.

I've not played Kingsburg's expansion yet. I like the original and would like to add the expansion. The resource management might be a little overwhelming for nongamers, but they likely should still have fun building their improvements.

Zombie Dice and King of Tokyo are very light games that anybody can pick up. Zombie Dice is very luck-driven, while you have a chance to actually plan something in King of Tokyo—especially with the expansion.

Codenames is a great game for nongamers. I call it a party game, though it can really lead to furrowed brows and exploded brain cells. Depends on what kind of players you have.

[DG]

Terra mystica is good but it is complex. Not recommended for non-gamers.
Roll for the galaxy should be ok but I know that my friends had a number of the rules wrong (but still playing happily). It could be that sort of game.
Castles of Burgundy has less dice but is quite a good point scoring game. A bit decision heavy for non-gamers.
Nations:the dice game is a lighter, faster dice game so it may make your friends happy but not satisfy yourself.
I like Kingsburg but I've a number of friends who don't so .... hmm.
Alien frontiers would be a good game if it wasn't horribly prone to kingmaking moves by losing players.
Codenames should fine.

[Infthitbox]

If you want to play Terra Mystica, you will not have any trouble finding people who want to play it on the 30th. Lots of people in my group love that game. It's a good game, too. I don't think there are any dice in it, though.

Most dice games I know of are pretty light, which is the opposite of the types of games you seem to like. The beefiest dice game I know of is Alien Frontiers, and I've had a lot of good experiences playing that game. On the other hand, I've had a lot of bad experiences playing that game too. I think with four players the game takes too long and there's way too much downtime. The game is just fine with two and three players, though if you play 3P you should remove one of the Holographic Decoys from the deck and if you play 2P you should play without either of them (I think there are other rules for the alien tech deck for 2P games too, you should follow those as well, but removing the decoy isn't one of them IIRC). Also, I don't know if you have this problem, but Alien Frontiers gives one player the ability to tank himself and another player in a way that feels kind of good; also it can result in a LOT of AP from certain types of players. If you can dodge these issues then I'd really recommend the game.

Roll for the Galaxy is pretty good. Easy to teach, has some similarities to Dominion, maybe, ish? I wish that game took 25-30 minutes less than it did but that might just have been the people I played it with.

I love Alien Frontiers, that game is really fun. It does suffer some from kingmaking, but there are many games that suffer to some degree from that in 3+ player mode, so I don't really hold it against the game that much. A game in a similar vein I also really enjoy is Euphoria, which is also a worker-placement style game where dice are relevant. I would say it is both beefier and "better" than Alien Frontiers.

There's also Quantum, which I just got introduced to recently and played a few times. I've really enjoyed playing it so far, even though I feel like I'm in for a lot of pain the next time I play it with that group. That's a game that feels like if your group has some vindictive players in it could get pretty bad for someone pretty fast. Usually my group limits that to one revenge game, which is fine enough by me.

[Kirian]

Favor of the Pharaoh is a re-implementation of Tom Lehmann's To Court the King, and should be a simple enough dice game even for non-gamers.

Can't Stop is very light but has some appeal for avid gamers.

If you want something quick and ridiculous that nonetheless is a bit deeper, try A Fistful of Penguins.

Alien Frontiers, Kingsburg  (with expansion), and Roll For the Galaxy are all good and beefy.

I personally don't like Roll Through the Ages, which is no deeper than King of Tokyo, but is missing the monster smashing fun and replaces it with trying and failing to evoke TTA.

[Kuildeous]

I personally don't like Roll Through the Ages, which is no deeper than King of Tokyo, but is missing the monster smashing fun and replaces it with trying and failing to evoke TTA.

Ah yes, I meant to address that part. While Roll Through the Ages is clearly riding the coattails of Through the Ages (the font is even the same on both boxes), it is not much like TTA. If anything,  it more closely resembles Sid Meier's Civilization. You can build developments, which can do things, and you can build wonders, which mostly do nothing. Also, the dice game has a mechanic based on the number of cities, which isn't a factor in TTA. I like Roll Through the Ages, but it really only shares its name and box design with the original game. The gameplay is vastly different.

Roll for the Galaxy, on the other hand, feels like you're playing Race for the Galaxy with dice instead of cards. If you like Race, then I think you will like Roll. You get no such guarantee with Through the Ages.

[Watno]

The Voyages of Marco Polo is an awesome game using dice as well, but also not great for non-gamers.

[Voltaire]

If theme (not thematic, mind you, just pictures) is enough to get your friends to the table for something a little more complicated, Alien Frontiers and Euphoria would be great dice games you'd also enjoy. I've successfully used theme to "trick" people into playing something heaver and then they have lots of fun - just make sure you sell it right in the pitch.

I'd rank AF > Euphoria in terms of quality, but it's close. Which I feel terrible saying because of their publishers but that's not at issue here. 

[DG]

Earlier I said that Alien Frontiers had too much king making, but I'll give more information. You play the game for an hour with lots of great decisions and planning only to find that it almost always gets to the point where two players might win on their next turn but the current player can take points from either one of them and has to choose. It only takes something like 10 points to win the game, and to increase your own score you usually have take someone else's points, so these king making decisions always come up. If your gaming group is unwilling to tolerate that then don't buy the game.

[GendoIkari]

Good games with dice:

Roll for the Galaxy
Pandemic: The Cure
Kingsburg
Castles of Burgundy
(To a lesser extent, but still good) Bora Bora

[Qvist]

Funny enough I noticed as well that our game collection lacks a good dice rolling game and I really like dice.
So I looked out in all the games of Essen 2015 for a family dice rolling game that I can play with my wife.
I watched a lot of previews and playthroughs and I have now 3 new games on my watchlist.
I'm not sure if the games are actually any good, so use this advice with caution, but they look at least great.

Favor of the Pharaoh - You start with few dice and roll to meet the criteria of goal cards that let you get more dice or get you special powers. At the end you do a final roll-off and who wins the roll-off wins the game.

Dice City - You have a board with a grid of spaces that represent a city. When you roll each die the result represents a cell or building in this grid. You collect ressources when you go there and can buy better buildings that cover up any old building. So you build up a city to generate the most victory points.

Artifacts Inc. - You're representing a archeologist company where the dice are workers that you place on cards to dig out or dive for artifacts that you can sell to museums.

[clb]

If you are thinking of playing with people who like light games and don't mind the swinginess inherent in dice games, you may want to consider Machi Koro. My daughter and I enjoy playing that together. You can always blame the dice when you lose, but if you win, you can argue that you bought the right cards to play the odds. Or maybe you just got that one lucky roll.

[AHoppy]

I'll make sure to check all of these out.  Thanks everyone! 

Re: Adam - Yeah, I figured most dice games are lighter, but that's why they're lacking in my collection, and also why I want to get one (or 2), to help flesh it out and maybe get more people into it.  Which length seems to make people think a game is heavier (usually is...).  Hmmm... I was hoping Roll for the galaxy was on the shorter side.

Re: accatitippi - Kingsburg sounds interesting. I like worker placement (if that wasn't obvious).  Maybe I'll check out that Java version first and see if the people I play with will like it.

Re: King of Tokyo/Zombie dice - I'm probably looking for something heavier.  I haven't played either of those, but I do want a game that I'll also want to play...

Re: Codenames - Party games are ok.  We play Coup every time we get together (thanks Adam!) so people aren't opposed to them.  I'm not either.  I feel like codenames has enough interesting aspects to it.

Re: alien frontiers - Kingmaking shouldn't be toooo much of a problem because we like Coup, which can often result in kingmaking.  But it's one thing to have kingmaking in a 5 minute game and another in a 90 minute game.  We've also been pretty nasty in Cosmic Encounter before, which turned one of my friends off of it. 

Oh! I haven't played Race for the galaxy either.  I'm probably opening a can of worms, but race or roll?

Man, there are just too many options out there...

[Watno]

I like Race for the Galaxy a lot better than Roll for the Galaxy.

[AHoppy]

Good to know

Oh! Anybody play Seasons? 

[AdamH]

Good to know

Oh! Anybody play Seasons?

I played half of a game of Seasons once like over three years ago. I walked away with the impression that it would be better as a computer game. Then again, I have that impression of Suburbia and I have a very strong itch to play more of that game right now.

As for Race vs. Roll, I've played one game of Race and don't have much of a desire to play it more. I've played two games of Roll and would like to play it again.

[Kirian]

Good to know

Oh! Anybody play Seasons?

I played half of a game of Seasons once like over three years ago. I walked away with the impression that it would be better as a computer game. Then again, I have that impression of Suburbia and I have a very strong itch to play more of that game right now.

As for Race vs. Roll, I've played one game of Race and don't have much of a desire to play it more. I've played two games of Roll and would like to play it again.

Suburbia is an awesome game that is hugely easier on a tablet screen, and is available for Android at least.

[Watno]

I like Seasons quite a bit, but I don't really see how computer assistance would be very helpful there.

[Davio]

There are a lot of "dice placement" games where you can roll your some dice and use them as workers

I like:
- Kingsburg (with nice art and a little lighthearted while still being somewhat strategic)
- Alien Frontiers (a bit of the same vibe as Kingsburg, but with space instead of medieval fantasy).

[AdamH]

I like Seasons quite a bit, but I don't really see how computer assistance would be very helpful there.

It's been so long since I played Seasons that I don't remember, but maybe if I explain what I mean by computer assistance being helpful it will become clear?

Dominant Species would be helped by computer assistance, because any one of like 10 different things can change dominance in a region, which is checked at any one of like 10 different times. Having that constantly updated by a computer would help, since it's pretty much impossible to get it right all of the time.

Suburbia would be helped by computer assistance because I can buy a tile and place it in this one place, so now I get two income from the file, but I get another income because it's a restaraunt and I have this other tile, and oh yeah that guy over there loses an income because he has the Fancy Restaurant, and I get $2 because it's next to a lake, but I have this other building that makes buildings next to lakes worth more so I get this other thing. And it's next to a park so I get a reputation, oh wait I doubled this one tile so I get these other benefits... Making sure you get all of these extra effects is tough and it would be nice to know everything is taken care of.

[Watno]

I know what you mean, but I don't see how anything similar happens in Seasons.

[Kuildeous]

I could definitely see a computer aid for Roll Through the Ages. Highlight which developments and which worker spaces can be filled up with each roll of the dice.

I've only played Seasons a couple of times. While you could use an app to track the pieces, I also don't see a strong need for prediction highlights. Highlight the elements you can sell while still being able to afford your cards? I recall that it helps to remember some cards in play because they can gain something (and possibly punish someone?). So that could be useful.

[GendoIkari]

I like Race for the Galaxy a lot better than Roll for the Galaxy.

I like Roll for the Galaxy better than Race for the Galaxy.

[AHoppy]

I like Race for the Galaxy a lot better than Roll for the Galaxy.

I like Roll for the Galaxy better than Race for the Galaxy.

Guys, that's so helpful

[Voltaire]

Race is going to feel closer to Dominion, because interacting rules on cards.

Roll is going to be a better game (imo) because it cuts out tons of complexity (relatively speaking) that isn't actually adding that much at all to Race.

This is not speaking to the core character of either game, just some attributes that I think are relevant.

[Kuildeous]

One thing I liked about Roll is that you can choose to use the development side of a tile or the planet side. It feels like it gives you more options.

Which is actually not true when you consider that you have way more options with a hand full of six cards in Race. You could develop or settle any of those, so why does it feel like I have more options in Roll? I guess it's because the currency is different in the games. In Race, you have to choose to discard cards that you want to keep. In Roll, you just pay with dice. You don't lose options when you narrow your choices.

So maybe it's not that you have more options in Roll. You just don't feel like you're getting dicked over.

Man, talking about Roll is really wanting me to consider buying it without telling the wife. I don't think I'll ever find an opportunity for her to play the game first.

[AHoppy]

So alien frontiers is out because the cheapest one in amazon is over $75 after shipping, kingsburg is also on the higher end, euphoria is a bit cheaper and sounds like a pretty cool theme, roll for the galaxy is cheap enough that I could get that, bang the dice game and codenames for ~$80. So that's where I'm leaning now. I'll probably wait for a bit though, see if I can play any of my options first. Like trrra mystica. Which isn't dice, I know, but would be more of the same types of games I like. Still a few more to check out though

[Kirian]

So alien frontiers is out because the cheapest one in amazon is over $75 after shipping, kingsburg is also on the higher end, euphoria is a bit cheaper and sounds like a pretty cool theme, roll for the galaxy is cheap enough that I could get that, bang the dice game and codenames for ~$80. So that's where I'm leaning now. I'll probably wait for a bit though, see if I can play any of my options first. Like trrra mystica. Which isn't dice, I know, but would be more of the same types of games I like. Still a few more to check out though

Terra Mystica can be played online if you just want to try it out.

[AHoppy]

I may do that too

[Kirian]

I may do that too

terra.snellman.net

[Infthitbox]

So alien frontiers is out because the cheapest one in amazon is over $75 after shipping

Yeah, I was surprised when Alien Frontiers turned out to be so unexpectedly expensive to acquire. I ordered it through my LGS, and after my 15% discount there still paid some ridiculous amount of money for it (don't exactly remember; it was probably a year ago now).

[Scion]

Escape: The Curse of the Temple is a fantastically fun game, if in a different vein than most in this thread.  It's a real-time, fully coop game. 

In my opinion, it "fixes" a lot of the common issues with coop games (AP, etc.) because everyone's too busy frantically rolling their dice as quickly as possible to tell other people what to do.  It also has a hard time limit of 10 minutes per game, so you can always fit multiple plays in. 

It's been a hit with the more casual gamers (wife, family, etc.). 

[Watno]

One thing I liked about Roll is that you can choose to use the development side of a tile or the planet side. It feels like it gives you more options.

Which is actually not true when you consider that you have way more options with a hand full of six cards in Race. You could develop or settle any of those, so why does it feel like I have more options in Roll? I guess it's because the currency is different in the games. In Race, you have to choose to discard cards that you want to keep. In Roll, you just pay with dice. You don't lose options when you narrow your choices.

So maybe it's not that you have more options in Roll. You just don't feel like you're getting dicked over.

Man, talking about Roll is really wanting me to consider buying it without telling the wife. I don't think I'll ever find an opportunity for her to play the game first.

You have way less options in Roll when it comes to what you build in Roll, especially in the beginning of the game.

[Kuildeous]

One thing I liked about Roll is that you can choose to use the development side of a tile or the planet side. It feels like it gives you more options.

Which is actually not true when you consider that you have way more options with a hand full of six cards in Race. You could develop or settle any of those, so why does it feel like I have more options in Roll? I guess it's because the currency is different in the games. In Race, you have to choose to discard cards that you want to keep. In Roll, you just pay with dice. You don't lose options when you narrow your choices.

So maybe it's not that you have more options in Roll. You just don't feel like you're getting dicked over.

Man, talking about Roll is really wanting me to consider buying it without telling the wife. I don't think I'll ever find an opportunity for her to play the game first.

You have way less options in Roll when it comes to what you build in Roll, especially in the beginning of the game.

Yeah, I was probably taken by the double-sided nature of the tiles. It felt really nice that one draw would have two options. I was too busy admiring that fact to consider that you're going to be seeing fewer tiles in Roll than cards in Race.

[Hyphen-ated]

Race and Roll are some of my favorite games. I have about 200 plays of Race and 30 plays of Roll. I feel like Race has deeper strategy but Roll is more viscerally fun because I love rolling a bunch of sweet dice. Roll is also much easier for new players to learn because all the tile special abilities are spelled out in english; you don't need a reference card for 20+ weird symbols. It's the best dice game I have played by far.

[AHoppy]

Thanks for all the help guys.  I ended up going with Roll and Bang! the Dice Game.

[ipofanes]

Quantum is a game which uses dice for all sorts of purposes: Marking a space ship class, setting a space ship's speed and strength, resolve combats, being moved around as a meeple, counters for diferent player statuses. Tactical game in which my 12yo beats me consistently.