Thunderworks Games - Emerald Skulls | Dice Game with Real-time Betting | Push Your Luck Strategy Board Game | Fast Action Casino-style Group Play | Family Game for 1-6 Players, Ages 14+, 30-45 Minutes

This is a fun push-your-luck game with a very cool theme in the Roll Player world, and as usual from Thunderworks, awesome components. You are essentially rolling dice to try to fulfill various conditions with bigger payouts for harder goals, but the other players can also bet based on what they think you'll do or whether you'll bust. Getting a good payout is fun, but if you're not careful your opponents might get paid more than you. This is a clever system with some fun interaction - players take turns either being the active roller, which comes with some good decisions, or the opponents who are placing bets on how they think the roller will do. You can place bets at any time, but only two total during the round. The longer you wait, the more info you'll have, but earlier bets have better payouts. I played both the multi-player and solo modes a few times each. Overall I like the feel of it and the player interaction is great. The solo more is simple and offers some nice decisions (also a nice way to just get familiar with the rules and the types of bets). The components are fantastic with nice cards, thick cardboard coins, plastic cubes, and really nice dice. I also appreciate that it all packs into a fairly small box. I did not get into the advanced betting cards yet, but glanced through a few and there's plenty of room to grow if your group really gets into this. My only real complaint is that the thematic names of the different bets take a while to get used to. The cards to have descriptions of what they means, and the reminder icons are okay but still a little confusing. I just feel like it takes a few rounds to really start to see at a quick glance what the likely outcomes are and what the various payouts will be. When deciding how to bet, especially since making earlier bets matters, being able to decipher this info quickly is somewhat important. Not a major issue unless you frequently play with new players - if you have a regular group I'm guessing you'll get used to the names fairly quickly. Even with this, there's still plenty to like here and for push-your-luck fans who also want to bet against (or along with) their friends, this is a fun recommendation.

Ordered this for game nights and it’s easy to teach and plays quickly. The real-time betting adds tension and makes it more engaging than typical dice games.

A brief description for this game would be Yahtzee combined with low stakes betting. Basically, one person is rolling to get the best combination they can while everybody else bids on what they think the outcome is. I like the idea behind this since it adds a level of interaction and mind games that isn't present in the other dice rolling game. The instructions are solid and well explained. The only hurdle I really had was getting used to the symbology. I don't know why, but the symbols just didn't stick with me right away. They all make sense though once you get used to them. I also liked that the play board has all the pertinent rules summarized (i.e. what combinations pay out what, etc...). I did knock a star off for the solo mode. I was kind of excited for this since I like doing some solo gaming for when I can't get a group together and/or to help learn the rules. In this case though, the solo mode felt really tacked on. It basically puts the player in the shoes of a full time roller and the 'AI' characters place bets based on some cards that are pulled. In theory, this is a good idea since it turns the game into somewhat of a strategy game where you have to play around the bets laid down. However, I felt like it was fairly superficial. Either I have really bad luck or its really hard to make any progress without having the ability to place bets against the other players.

Good: Nails the aesthetic of gambling dice games and getting in the head of your competition The mechanics and verbs of the game are pretty goblin coded Small set of bets consistent throughout the game keeps decision-making and betting smooth and quick Variety of bet cards provide lots of variety and advanced better options for replayability and depth Great symbology actually explains the whole game on the board and cards once you learn it Components are sturdy, compact, and pack well into the small box with good bags for organizing components Mixed/JFYI: The initial pool of money is clearly meant as a game clock, but buying dice pays back into it, so depending on luck and player behavior, the game length can become pretty unpredictable Highly recommend grabbing a cup to load and shake dice in while taking bets; it really enhances the vibe (and helps you move through turn phases just by how you use the cup

Ok I'm gonna be a downer here, but 1. Hard to learn. The instructions are nearly bonkers level of trying to get your head around it. My partner and I fancy ourselves relatively intelligent people with high reading comprehension skills, but it took us over an hour to really figure out the game, and I don't even think we still were playing it right because 2. It wasn't very entertaining with 2 people. I dunno how to explain why exactly, without trying to explain how to play, and goodness no, thank you, I shall not be taking that on. It's a high quality game physically, it's got lots of very nice art and great play pieces. Love the dice especially. But whew... what a time investment on learning for such a disappointment. I suspect maybe it's more fun with more people but we don't have any friends who will sit still long enough to get the gist of how to play. So, eh. If you're really into tabletop and don't mind really having to dig in, you might like. I'm planning on giving this to a friend who is way more into gaming than I am who will probably enjoy it. For my taste though, I like an easier to get into game especially as party games go. Good value if you're into this kind of thing though I think, again, game pieces are great.