What is Asteroid Dice? A game, as fast as a comet, in which players grab, throw and roll giant dice made of foam. By playing cards and throwing dice (the asteroids), they can collect points. Watch your back: sometimes players also have to throw the dice at each other to compete for points.
Different editions of Asteroid Dice: The Giant Roll and Collide Dice Game are available: the Arcade Edition, which you will be able to find in stores in the future, and the Kickstarter edition. These editions of Asteroid Dice are played the same way, but the versions look slightly different. The colour of the dice and the illustrations on the cards differ. With the Arcade edition, you get colourful dice and cartoony cards. The Kickstarter edition includes lava rock dice and very fancy illustrations. There is also an expansion available that adds fireballs in addition to the ‘basic’ asteroids. That increases the impact!
Are you interested in Asteroid Dice? Per 23 May 2023, this game is available to back on Kickstarter. More information and a link to the Kickstarter campaign can be found at https://www.asteroiddice.com. We were allowed to test a prototype to write a preview for you. Rules and components may differ in the final product.
Game setup
To set up the game, players place all the giant dice in the centre of the table within easy reach of all players. Each player takes a pile of cards. Each pile contains an identical set of cards that players will play during the game. Players are my ready to play, but there is still important step that players need to take. Players are going to grab the dice on the table during the game and also roll those same dice. These dice may be made of a soft foam material, but players would still do well to make the play area as safe as possible. You don’t want your gaming group to be threatened with extinction!
What does this mean? No valuable and breakable items nearby that can be knocked over (after all, you don’t want deceased guinea pig’s urn to fall to pieces) or items that players can trip over should be placed in the vicinity. Put your pets in the other room. Hide your dinosaurs! Hang up your art somewhere else and make sure all sharp objects are banned from the room. Speaking of sharp objects, perhaps players should also trim their nails to avoid scratches on their hands. In relation to this, I also glare angrily at Jungle Speed, a fast-paced game where players try to be the first to snatch a wooden totem, where you can scratch your tender little hands quite a bit… All kidding aside, Asteroid Dice is easy to set up and can be played rather rapidly.
Playing with the expansion? The expansion contains a whole stack of immense D6 dice (the fireballs) and cards. Add the cards and set up the fireballs.
Gameplay
Each turn/round, each player secretly chooses which dice card that player wants to play this round. Once players have chosen their cards, the players all turn over their cards at the same time. The chosen card corresponds to the die a player hopes to roll this round to earn points or the special action the player wants to perform this round. The highest double roll wins, so you naturally prefer to bet on the dice with the highest chance of winning. But you are probably not the only player who wants to bet high, so there is a good chance that another player has come up with the same dice. In that case, it comes down to a ‘brawl’….
If there is a ‘match’, players with corresponding dice cards enter into a brawl. Players now try to take the matching die and throw it at each other as quickly as possible. Miss? The other player now also has a chance to roll and this storm in the asteroid field continues until one player is hit. The winner receives the dice to roll for points during the round and the loser only has a choice of the remaining dice. That feels a bit like being picked last during gym class…. Grab the wrong dice during a brawl? Then immediately the other player wins. Don’t have a matching card with another player? Then you may grab your chosen die without any resistance.
Once each player has a die, players can roll for victory. Each player in turn rolls his die – starting with the D20 and ending with the D6. The player who throws the highest number wins. Players are allowed to try to bump another player’s dice while rolling to change the number. The winner of a round receives the cards played. At the end of the game, the player with the highest score wins. Draw? A Brawl will solve that.
By the way, during the game, watch out for the special cards. Losteroid cards are black holes that suck away all cards played in the round and can reduce a player’s score at the end of the game if that player has a Losteroid card in his pile of points. A player can choose to play the “I Can’t Diecide” card as a joker.
Verdict
Asteroid Dice is a hilarious party game that resembles games such as Jungle Speed and Throw, Throw Burrito. As with these games, speed is important, but there is also a certain bluffing element to Asteroid Dice based on the cards you can play. Asteroid Dice is simple and plays fast and guarantees silly fun. The dice are fantastic and even without a accompanying game, these would not look out of place in RPG players’ and fans’ collections. Possibly I will use these dice in my next Dungeons & Dragons session….
