Dice Realms and the World of Swapping Out Dice Faces

Upgrade dice to gather better harvests and resources in a battle against a solo invader in the quick game of Dice Realms.
Sometimes, my husband or I end up with an impulse buy that sits around for over a year… Well, enter a fine example with Dice Realms! I remember opening and sorting the hundreds of individual dice faces last year, and only just discovered an official solo variant. To the table! Although I had my concerns, I was interested in these mechanics.
Game Overview
Game Name: Dice Realms
Publication Year: 2022
Designer: Thomas Lehmann
Artists: Martin Hoffmann and Claus Stephan
Publisher: Rio Grande Games
Solo Mode: Official Solo Variant
A set of tiles provide unique options, yet the goal is to manage the upgrades of various dice in a bid to have the most victory points at the end. The mechanic of popping off dice faces makes up a lot of gameplay, and it’s vital to understand what’s involved before diving in the first time.
First Play
August 6, 2023
Complexity
2
Latest Play
August 6, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
29
Game Area
22" x 18"
Low Score
-6
Beautiful Box Artwork
This box features an absolutely gorgeous and thought-provoking piece. Look at this! It creates the sense of crafting all sorts of different cities and regions with dice.
But I was surprised by what I found inside… Not to mention the unfortunately oversized box dimensions.
This is not a game in the low price range. I know there is a lot that goes into pricing, so I won’t speculate. From my standpoint, though, there isn’t enough gameplay here.
I’m getting ahead of myself, only because I had an interest in checking out the solo variant posted after the release.
Circular Dice Faces
Only the tiles feature some lovely artwork, yet they’re only there for reference… It’s all about the dice shown here.
I played Dice Forge ages ago and remember how I enjoyed the neat way the dice came apart and could be upgraded. They had square sides and easy notches to use.
The game includes a ton of little tools to pop off these dice faces, but they’re circular. If you’re like me and like to have the icons aligned, it’s going to take extra work.
I also stopped placing the dice directly on my game mat after they started dragging and catching. Uh… What?!
Painful Work
Gameplay was entirely forgettable as I rolled dice, added up symbols, and barely had enough time to start making actionable upgrades before the end game was triggered.
I had to reset the dice between plays, which was a chore. This is a neat way to use dice, but it’s not at all for me.
Maybe I’m an outlier, but these tools hurt my fingertips after a little bit. Even with light pressure that barely popped the faces off, there was definite discomfort.
It was a shame, since I could see some interesting ways to look into upgrading and specializing the dice during play.
So Many Components
This was what it looked like to have everything within easy reach. Active gameplay came from rolling the dice and moving around some resources. That was it.
Bad luck made me run out of food with no way to mitigate it… I even upgraded into all sorts of shield faces to defend against the invader’s attacks that kept coming.
When I had to lose 8 food per roll, though, it was no wonder I lost with a negative score! Really disappointing.
I wanted to check out some other tile sets and try different dice upgrades, but this one just wasn’t working for me.
The Challenge of Using Dice in New Ways
Dice are one of the most recognizable elements in the world of board games, and I’ve seen them used in many ways beyond the standard rolling. In this case, I’ve seen customizable dice faces before and was intrigued to see them in action here. This is a case of an idea that sounded great for me, but just doesn’t work in a practical sense. Ouch!
Setting aside what appears to be an outlier issue with these tools not being comfortable to use, there doesn’t seem to be enough time to really dig into fun strategies. I’m being generous with a 5 minute setup time, but this is the case where setup and active play time might come uncomfortably close together. And at this price point, I need a lot more.
I’ve seen many discussions that point out how the game isn’t just about luck, and I can see that for personal dice. But what if the invader consistently rolls the same result with the worst outcome? It turns into 8 lost food and 4 victory points for the opponent. Even with a focus on shields, I had to choose that path from the very start with no variability.
Pushing the envelope on using familiar components in different ways is a feature I appreciate in a lot of solo games. It may not work out all the time, but at least this gets us looking at the possibilities outside of the usual zone. Maybe this was also a good reminder of how I like dice in various situations, and can enjoy them more in their standard format!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Official Solo Variant
Play Details: Easy Difficulty Level
Outcome: -6-12, 29-28 (1 Win & 1 Loss)
My second attempt resulted in a narrow victory thanks to me stocking up on food and actually being able to weather the storm of bad luck with the invader’s dice. For the amount of time it took to reset the dice, I would have already been through another play. Sadly, this is not the right game for me, although its strategic potential is certainly there for the right kind of audience!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
1
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
6
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
3
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- There are a good number of tiles to create different sets in order to explore all kinds of combinations and abilities.
- Upgrades are easy to track during dice rolls with the simple board to keep track of the total to use each turn.
- Tokens may be purchased or earned in order to re-roll or set dice at various points so that luck isn’t the sole focus.
- All of the dice faces are stored in the included inserts, which may be taken out during play for easier usability.
- The large player aid provides most reminders and excellent examples of the costs for upgrading to different faces.
- Not much is needed to manage the solo variant, which makes the solo opponent easy and quick to run.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Changing out dice faces is a tedious process that takes up a lot of time and requires resetting the dice faces.
- Gameplay might offer some interesting strategies, but the solo mode moves so quickly that it ends in 10 minutes.
- The icons are pretty easy to see and understand, yet they feel entirely devoid of a theme the box seems to imply.
- Strategically upgrading and specializing dice is ideal, but bad rolls on the invader dice can’t be mitigated.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game at the easy difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
What are your thoughts about Dice Realms? I was a little sad to see how it just didn’t work for me, but I’m sure it will be fun for someone who wants to explore it. Are there any other solo games you enjoy that use components in a different sort of way? As always, it was nice to finally get this to my table, but I’m very happy with solid dice faces from now on!
I’d like to try this at some point, but the cost is definitely prohibitive. Not sure how hard resetting the game is but that could be a negative as well. However, the designer is pretty solid so I trust that there’s something more to it. Maybe I’ll get a chance to try this at an upcoming game day.
Hope you do get a chance to play! My experience appears to be more of an outlier, and I’ve read how some have a great time with the game. Multiplayer may be where it shines some more. Good luck, and enjoy!
I’ve not played this one, but I have tried Dice Forge – on BGA. Which meant that the tactile pleasure of actually fiddling with the dice went away, and what was left was mechanically a fairly standard deckbuilder, with the usual mid-game pivot from improving your deck to improving your score.
Of course part of the problem is that all games are less fun on BGA than in real life.
Digital games can still have some fun elements, though! I have a gaming group that plays something online about once a week. It’s great for games that usually have a lot of components or lots of steps to scoring. But I agree: Playing with real copies is a lot more fun for me, too!