Dice Throne Season 2: A 1v1 Dice Game that You Should Own. Right Now.

Hang on to your figurative and perhaps literal hats, as today this nerd is going to bring you a look at Dice Throne Season 2, the fantastical 1v1 dice game.

A just-delivered Kickstarter, Dice Throne Season 2 is the followup to, uh…Dice Throne Season 1. Each player has a character and five dice that they use to battle another player’s character.

Designed for two players, Dice Throne Season 2 excels as a “pick up and play” game. Here is the one-minute set up:

• 

• 

1. Each player chooses a character that comes in a handy plastic tray that organizes everything.
2. Each character has a beautiful board that displays the various abilities that are triggered by dice rolls.
3. Set your Combat Point dial to 2. Set your Health dial to 50.
4. Each character has a deck of cards that upgrade powers, allow you to draw more cards, or force an opponent to re-roll a die. Many cards are played by spending Combat Points.

Then you and your opponent battle back and forth. Combat Points are spent, cards are played, dice are chucked and the whole experience has the energy of a drunk llama let loose in a Baby Gap. It’s fantastic.

• 

Despite the game having 8 characters (and six more if you add in Dice Throne season 1), every single character plays great. There isn’t a bad egg in the bunch. Besides, I’m not here to talk about one bad egg. That egg was smelly and I threw it out. Seriously, why are we talking about eggs? Particularly because there are no bad eggs; every single character is great.

The components of Dice Throne Season 2 are top notch. Remember, each character comes with a set of custom dice, so if Roxley games would have chinced on those, they’d have been in trouble. But they didn’t; everything from the dice to the cardboard dials and the weight of the cards is fantastic.

But we need to talk about those game trays. Holy smokes, they are fantastic. And they add so much to the game in the way they organize the components so well that set up is literally taking the cover off and playing.

Dice Throne is a very strategic game. In fact, characters have a difficulty rating that is keyed off the number of die faces they have and the depth of their power tokens.

But that is not to say that luck is not involved. Dice are rolled, after all. But that’s also the fun of Dice Throne. Rolling the dice three times Yahtzee-style is great fun and each character has plenty of game play options. It’s just plain fun.

It’s also incredibly balanced. A player could use every single character and play in a hundred straight matches that are within a few health points of one another. The game is that well done.

The artwork is beautiful. Everything is colorful and energetic. The graphic design is easy to read and well thought out. The rulebook is clear and organized.

The theme is well-done as well. I’ve played Dice Throne Season 1 and the theming for it, although not bad, is pretty generic fantasy. Dice Throne Season 2 has similarly accessible theming but it adds more creative depth to the characters. What’s more, all the special power tokens are themed excellently with each character.

I’ve played this game with my buddies and with my ten-year-old. Everyone loved it and couldn’t wait to play it again.

It’s strategic and deep enough that it works for a more serious gamer, but it’s tailor-made for a casual player who might have a dozen games in their collection but is mainly looking for a fun time.

It’s best as a 1v1 but I’ve also played it a 3-player variant and we had a great time with that format also.

I need to say it again: Dice Throne Season 2 is darned fun. It draws out a lot of hoots and hollers, and it’s also the kind of game you think about after it’s over.

• 

• 

You’ll notice the above words spell C.L.A.I.M. Well, what is my claim about about Dice Throne Season 2? In short, it’s rocketed up my all-time best board games list.

It’s energetic and fun, yet sets up in under a minute and plays in less than :30. It’s a great game for buddies or good for dads playing a game with their kids. Office stiffs will love it as a perfect lunch hour diversion.

I absolutely give Dice Throne Season 2 the Nerds on Earth Seal of Awesomeness.

---

Kickstarter backers had the option of a deluxe eight character battle chest, but those are in short supply and I can’t confirm their availability at your FLGS.

But Amazon has the great 1v1 small battle boxes. Each comes with two characters. They will be the best $20 you’ll spend on a game. Here is the Gunslinger VS Samurai and here is the Huntress Vs Tactician.