The 2011 Dice Hate Me Holiday Gift Guide

The holidays are upon us and tis the season to be gaming! Friends and family will soon be gathered near, and what better way to celebrate than to grab your dice and pour some cocoa? Every year, I always make it a point to have a few games under the tree for others; not only do they make great and unique gifts, but after they’re unwrapped you get to play them. Bonus!  The blessing and curse of giving games as gifts is variety. There are a lot of games out there to choose from, and pairing the right box with the correct beloved can sometimes be trying. Worry not, dear readers – use the Dice Hate Me Holiday Game Guide to aid you... Read More

MACE 2011 Convention Wrap-up

Greetings, dear readers, ’tis the season for gaming! No, not because of the impending holidays (although that’s wonderful, as well), but because it’s the time of the year when we can load up the party wagon and head west – an hour west to our local con, MACE, in High Point. Last year, only three of us made the trek. This year, however, we had a veritable gang of geeky gamers – seven of us in total. The resulting maelstrom of gaming and imbibing manly liquids left me with some fuzzy accounts, but I shall endeavor to do my best to summarize all the geeky goodness. And although there was no bear rape nor freezer incidents... Read More

A Particularly Scottish View of Essen Spiel

Although Monkey238 and I were not able to attend the Big Show in Essen this year, we were lucky enough to have a few friends in which we could live – and game – vicariously. One of those friends was Ian L. Smith, of Glasgow, Scotland. Ian and I don’t always see eye-to-eye on games, but we are always equal in passion and respect. When Ian began recounting his tales from Essen on Twitter, I eagerly interjected and learned about a whole bevy of games I need to sink my teeth into. I prodded Ian to share his thoughts with all you, dear readers, and he eagerly agreed. By way of an introduction, let me explain that I and around 9 of... Read More

Clever Mojo Games Signs Bruno Faidutti

Clever Mojo Games has announced that recent talks with beloved game designer Bruno Faidutti has resulted in an agreement to publish Haathi, which Faidutti has developed with Sérgio Halaban, and André Zatz. Haathi (hah-thee — the Hindi word for elephant) is described as a family board game for 3 to 6 players that features a fantastical race through villages, jungles and mountains of storybook India, atop – you guessed it – elephants. Head of Clever Mojo Games, W. David MacKenzie, has stated that playtesting and refinement of the game with Faidutti and his team will begin soon, and they will also be interviewing quality artists... Read More

The Table Ahead – Dice Hate Me in Oct/Nov/Dec

Autumn is upon us and the Carnival Kickstarter campaign is behind us, but suddenly we’re busier than we’ve been in quite some time here at Dice Hate Me HQ! Monkey238 is eyeball deep in studies for her final semester of schooling and I’m wrapping up graphic design duties on Clever Mojo Games’ successful Kickstarter venture, Sunrise City. So, we’re taking a week off to catch our breaths before we unleash some of the best content of the year here on the site – and here’s a brief peek at what we have in store before we ring in the new year!  REVIEWS, REVIEWS AND MORE REVIEWS We’ve received a whole stack of cool titles, perfectly... Read More

These Dice Are Driving Me Crazy! – A Guest Blog

As stated in the Dice Hate Me charter, bad dice karma isn’t just a clever name, it’s a way of life around these parts. It seems that wherever Dice Hate Me appears at conventions or gaming events, there are gamers who immediately identify with the sentiment set forth by the brand, and then there are a select few who laugh, but brush aside the mention of such foolishness. Well, I hate to say it to those latter folk, but – I told you so. Case in point, the following brilliant post about dice-rolling statistics by FrontRangeGamer from Front Range Gamers. Lest you think that this guy is just blowing about some hot air, he dabbles... Read More

Army of Dorkness: A Castle Dash Review

When Phil Kilcrease, founder of start-up game publishers 5th Street Games, first approached me about reviewing the relatively unassuming Castle Dash, I was a little hesitant. It’s not that I wasn’t interested, but I already had a long list of titles waiting patiently on my game table, all shiny and huge. However, it soon became apparent that the game was going to jump to the front of that list when Monkey238 saw the adorable cartoon soldiers adorning the cards and told me, in no uncertain terms, that we needed that game, and needed it now. Like a loving husband, I complied. At first glance, my initial hesitation seemed founded. The game came... Read More

Expanding Space – An Alien Frontiers: Factions Preview

When I first interviewed David MacKenzie of Clever Mojo Games back in July of last year, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Alien Frontiers and Kickstarter phenomenons. I knew that I was fascinated with how a small company could create such a big buzz in such a short time, and so down the rabbit hole I plummeted. After playing and loving Alien Frontiers, naming it the Dice Hate Me Game of the Year for 2010, and getting to know David, his brother Fred, and the amazing things that Clever Mojo Games has been up to in the past year, I can safely say that it has been a great trip… and it’s far from over. Clever Mojo –... Read More

Social Experiments: Saboteur, The Resistance, and Lifeboat

To be perfectly transparent – and to save some of you a bit of time – I’m placing a disclaimer at the beginning of this article. If your idea of a perfect game is sitting in silence – with or without other gamers present – shuffling through cards, chits, wooden blocks and such, all in an effort to outwit not another opponent but the game itself, it’s probably best just to check out the Dice Hate Me reviews of Onirim or Red November. But if you’re the type of gamer who relishes heated debates, paranoia-stricken glances at the whites of the eyes of every player seated around the table, or hearing the phrase “I’m... Read More

Give the Gift of Socks on Kickstarter

Although it’s mostly board and card games around these parts on a regular basis, I have been known to periodically delve into the role-playing arena. Just like many of you out there, I cut my teeth on Dungeons & Dragons, then delved deep into the fantasy cyberpunk realm of Shadowrun and weaved stories of vampires & werewolves in the heyday of White Wolf during the ’90s. When it comes to games, whether they be of the paper or cardboard variety, I’ll try just about anything once, especially if it’s unique. Now dear readers, I’m here to tell you that there is unique, and then there is unique. Ben Gerber’s... Read More