While walking through Target one day I spotted a game that had a dice cup shaped liked Darth Vader. Well, Darth Vader if he had some sort of brain implant.
Being the the dice game lover I am, and sucker for things that have the words “Star” and “Wars” on the packaging, I decided to buy it and see what it was all about.
Amazingly the back of Darth Vader’s face is none other than Luke Skywalker! Could this game have some kind of Professor Quirrel/Voldermort dynamic going on?
No? Ok…
It’s just a simple dice game for 2 to 4 players.
The game comes with 5 custom dice. Each die has 4 heroes and 2 villains on it: Luke, R2, Han, Chewie, Vader, and Stormtrooper.
The dice quality is alright. The images are magically affixed to the dice, so they’re not going to rub off or anything. Initially I was worried they’d just be stickers.
Luke’s face on the dice is… odd. He looks disgusted. Or aroused. Or something…
On to the rules!
The rulebook itself is incredibly clear. They wanted to make sure you knew how to get through the game, and the rulebook for that matter, without any problem. They even made sure to remind you that you need to open it up for more rules. Really.
They even explain how to use a dice cup! “Shake the dice, then roll them out onto the table.” Thanks rulebook! (Also noted is that you shouldn’t drink out of the cup. Drat.)
The game itself however actually combines two different genres: Push Your Luck, and Bluffing.
The are different character combinations that earn you points (the goal being to get to a lofty 250.)
After you roll them out of FrankenLukeVader’s deformed head, you decided whether you want to “Go Hero” or “Go Villain.”
Going hero means you’ll be trying to reroll dice yahtzee style (though only ever up to 3 at a time) until you’re satisfied with the combo of hero characters you’ve rolled.
If the dice you roll ever all come up as villains you don’t get any points for the turn. This is interesting because If you only need to reroll one die to get what you want, it’s much more likely that it’ll come up villain than if you rolled 3. So in addition to “Going Hero” having a push your luck element, there’s also a lot more risk reward than other similar games.
“Going Villain” is similar, though you only get one reroll, and you keep it secret. You then claim to have a certain combo of villain characters and the other players take turns deciding to call you out or not.
If called out when you were telling the truth, you get double points, if called out when lying, your accuser gets the points. If no one calls you out, you simply get the points.
Also something I should probably point out is that I haven’t actually had a chance to play it yet.
But it sounds like it could be a fun game to bust out at the cantina or when your family is really bored and forgot where they put all their other games.
Other potential uses for these dice:
Game Masters could use the dice to generate story scenarios for RPGs. For example, you roll the dice and get these results: Han, Han, Vader, R2, Luke.
Your PCs have encountered Two Han Solos, Luke and R2, and Darth Vader! Which Han is real? Why are Luke and Vader Haning out? Where did R2 get that rocket launcher?
These dice could prove invaluable for coming up with RPG story hooks.
Another use for these dice is picking your Halloween costume? Can’t decided between Luke, Vader, Han, Chewie, R2, or a Stormtrooper? Roll a die! No more indecision!
Similar to using them for RPG story hooks, you could also use these dice for inspiration for your next fan-fic!
Han and Vader go out for Tea #Legends.
