Game Play Review - Dice Miner

Dice Miner is a game published by Atlas Games. The premise of the game is for players to take on the role of miners who were once plagued by dragons and forced to live underground. After the dragons were defeated it was safe for the miners to move above ground. They went about their lives and began making their own beer. Now, the dragons have returned and players "dig" through the mountain by procuring dice which are used to gain points. At the end of the third round, the player with the most points is declared the winner.

This post is broken into the following 3 sections, feel free to jump directly to one:

1. General summary - consisting of information about overall enjoyment, theme, replayability, and upgrades
2. Complexity - consisting of information about the rulebook, setup, player turns, and overall learning curve
3. Player turns - consisting of game type, game flow, rule you are likely to miss, and favorite aspect

Number of players we had: 3
Our play time (not including setup): 35 minutes

Overall enjoyment

Overall our group enjoyed playing this game. Dice Miner is a fun and quick game that is perfect as a starter game, as a break between heavier games or to squeeze one last game into game night. While there is some luck involved, this game also requires some strategy, and players must adapt over the rounds while pressing their luck. Dice Miner has a bunch of unique dice and a great reset mechanism at the end of each round that makes the game more challenging, while also giving players an equal chance to succeed.

If we had to pick something that was frustrating about the game, it would be that it can be challenging for anyone with dexterity issues to grasp the dice and get them off of the mountain. We found sliding the dice up off the edge was easiest.

Theme

The theme of this game is cute, players play as dice miners and there are 6 miners to choose from. The box has a neat design and the pieces match this. There are also four sets of uniquely colored and sided dice that we really like in addition to traditional D6 dice. The dice colors are nice and the contrast of the icons on them is pretty easy to see. Lastly, we like that there is a score card pad that makes it really easy to track player's scores each round.

Dice Miner does not have a traditional game board - instead it has a mountain stand where dice are deposited at the beginning of each round.

Replayability

Dice Miner has several things that add to its replayability. First, it plays very quickly since there are only three rounds. Additionally, all of the dice are added to a bag that is used to randomly fill up the mountain at the beginning of each round. Also, each player's miner has a slightly unique advantage based on the die faces on it that is used at the end of each round. Because players can reroll any dice in their player area, or trove, at the end of a round using magic dice, it is impossible to know how well a player is doing until scoring is done. Lastly, unless players have chests that allow them to cache dice, players never really know how the next round will begin.

Upgrades

There is a deluxe version of the game with a 3D molded plastic mountain and an embossed dice cup.

Rule book

The rule book is easy to follow, well organized, and has plenty of images to explain how the game is played, how the different dice work and how each round is scored.

Setup

Setting up a game of Dice Miner takes about five minutes. There is not very much to the setup but this is also part of what makes it a great starter game. Each player takes a hero card with a unique set of die faces to help them during scoring at the end of each round. Next, all of the dice are mixed into the dice bag and randomly poured onto the mountain and you are ready to begin.

Turns

On their turn players pick dice from the "top" of the mountain, which in its simplest terms means a die that will cause another to slide when it is removed. If a player needs access to a die that is not on top, they can roll a beer die from within their trove, give it to a competitor, then retrieve two die that are on on the "side" (dice that have one side exposed but not both).

Once all dice have been excavated, players can optionally use any available magic to reroll dice in hopes of maximizing their score that round. Once each player's dice are scored for the round, a new round begins unless it is the third round and all dice have already been excavated from the mountain.

Overall learning curve

The learning curve of this game is very low. Though Dice Miner is a quick and simple game to learn and play, it can be more challenging to win. This game can be taught in about 5-10 minutes which makes it a great starter game or introductory game to new gamers!

Play type

Dice Miner is a symmetrical drafting and dice rolling game. Players draft the dice they think will provide the most points or potential to their trove of existing dice. Much of the time, the dice you excavate are not exactly what you need, but have the potential to be with rerolls - which is when the magic dice come in handy. This means players must balance picking dice that will instantly increase their score with those dice that have the potential to increase their score based on available rerolls, to create the highest scores.

Game flow

Dice Miner plays very quickly as players excavate dice on top or on the side using the benefit of a beer die face. Except for the magic dice, all dice types have the potential to add to your score. However, the pips on the traditional D6 dice, or tunnel dice, are only counted when they form straights, they must begin with a one, and any gaps mean the remaining numbers are not counted. Also, hazard dice are worth negative points unless players have tools that turn those negatives into positives.

The magic and scoring phases are done in unison and replenishing the mountain takes less than a minute.

Rule you are likely to forget/miss

The one rule you are likely to forget is to take advantage of the die faces on your hero card while excavating and/or during the magic phase to get the most out of the die in your trove. The die face may be a number to match the tunnel die, protection or magic to help with rerolls. Whatever it is, these are there to help you score higher.

Favorite aspect

Our favorite aspect of this game is that though it is easy to learn, quick to setup and play, there is a decent amount of luck, timing and unpredictability to it. Players can score really well one round then have a horrible run the next. This is partially due to the fact that all dice in a heroes trove must be rerolled before each excavation round unless that player has magic dice with the chest symbol which allows them to cache the corresponding number of die faces. Rerolling between rounds makes the game more unpredictable, and in our opinion, more challenging and fun.

Dice Miner is a great starter game that can be played with any group in about 30 minutes. It is easy to learn, plays quickly without any lag time, and takes up a small footprint. Overall this is a really cute game that would be fun for most any group as a game night starter or a quick last game of the night.