You may be a master tactician while playing board games and tabletop RPGs. You could know every strength, weakness and loophole to completely break or manipulate the game you’re playing. However, there are some things that you just cannot control, no matter how skilled you are. Call it chance, luck, or fate, but all board game players are at the mercy of the almighty dice roll.
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Board games use dice in various ways; some to determine simple things like how many places you will move, while others use them for complicated calculations where the dice roll is only part of the final outcome. Regardless, there’s no skill involved in rolling dice, making it a great equalizer for board games. Here are the best board games with dice that you can buy right now.
Nemesis
Roll for an alien chase sequence
Nemesis takes away a lot from the Alien movie series, right down to the premise and design of the alien. However, the best thing about this game is the tense atmosphere it creates. This is primarily due to the Noise Roll you have to make for any action. Make too much noise, and the alien creature will find you.
Being trapped in a spaceship with a bloodthirsty alien creature is one thing, but imagine having to perform a noise roll during every turn. Things could go sideways very quickly in Nemesis, either due to the noise roll or even your fellow players. Not everyone can be trusted to work together, so keep your friends close, and your sawn-off shotgun closer.
Descent: Legends of the Dark
Roll for digital integration
Descent: Legends of the Dark doesn’t feature physical dice. All of the possible actions and encounters are decided via its companion app that uses RNG to figure out how things will go for you. While there is no dice set, it still works on the same principal, meaning things will not always go your way.
You don’t need to have physical dice to be at their mercy. Descent: Legends of the Dark’s companion app uses RNG to decide the outcome of encounters, and unless you’ve hacked the system, you’re at the mercy of the RNG gods, which, according to mythology, are descendants of the dice gods. If anything, the app ensures there’s no way you can even try to cheat.
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Roll to scare the living daylights out of your fellow players
While in most games the dice decide the outcome of an encounter, in Betrayal at House on the Hill they also decide who will be the one to betray you. After certain conditions are met, a player has to make a Haunt Roll to find out if they’re the one who is going to unleash all sorts of horrors upon their fellow players.
Very few games let the dice decide who the traitor in your midst will be. With Betrayal at House on the Hill, nobody will know who the role will go to until certain conditions are met and one of the players has to roll six dice. Known as the Haunt Roll, this pivotal moment in the game decides what kind of haunt will take place and how the rest of the players can survive.
Wingspan
Roll for birb
Unlike the other games on this list, the dice in Wingspan aren’t numbered, but depict symbols of resources on them. With the aim of building the best bird sanctuary, players will need resources to grow their bird population and upgrade their sanctuaries as well. While the stakes may seem lower, there’s still no assurance that you will get the resources you want.
Building a sanctuary for all sorts of birds isn’t easy. While Wingspan is a rather chilled out game, without any aggressive competition, you still need certain resources to advance and make the best sanctuary of the lot.
Risk
Roll to take over the world
Risk is a game about strategy, crushing your opponents, and, well, taking risks. When one player decides to attack another, after building up their army, they are locked in an intense shootout of dice rolling. With every roll, either one of the sides will lose units until one of the armies is completely decimated, or the attacker chooses to withdraw.
You may think going into a 1v1 dice-rolling shootout isn’t all that intriguing, but the tides can turn at any moment, making each encounter intense. Of course, you can have a larger army than your opponent, but if the rolls are not in your favour, you could meet your Waterloo at any given point. After all, not all is fair in war.
Monopoly
Roll for Chance
It’s hard to deny that Monopoly is the most popular board game in the world. It has so many collaborative editions and has been localized to almost every country in the world. As for the roll of the dice, they control the basic movement of each player, dictating where they will land.
You may have heard of this one. Monopoly is arguably themost famous board game in the world, and for good reason. The rules are pretty simple and the dice decide everything. Sure, you need to initiate trade yourself, but the dice will dictate where you land and how your fortune will flourish.
FAQ
What is the world’s most famous board game?
Monopoly is arguably the most popular board game in the world as it has been localised to so many regions and has also had a number of collaborative editions.
Which is the toughest board game in the world?
Many consider Chess to be the toughest board game due to the many complicated strategies it involves.
What is the oldest board game?
The Royal Game of Ur which originated in ancient Mesopotamia 4,600 years ago is considered to be the oldest known board game in the world.
