Rice Dice (2018)

About this game

In Rice Dice, a streamlined version of Spirits of the Rice Paddy, you roll the custom dice and choose one action based on the results: add rice paddy cards to your field, run water through your paddies, assign laborers to plant and harvest, or add weeds to opponents' fields. Harvesting gains players rice, which is essential to win, but paddies with weeds produce less rice, so it's essential to assign laborers to keep paddies clean. A harvested paddy can once again be flooded using a water action, then the cycle of planting, draining, weeding, and harvesting begins again. The first player to collect 100 rice (via harvesting, or other special abilities) wins! Like Spirits of the Rice Paddy, Rice Dice rewards a player's ability to optimize the process of flooding, planting, weeding, and harvesting — but it plays in just a fraction of the time!

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 1 to 5. It has a designed solo mode.
• Rules load. At 2.0/5 this is a mid-weight game — expect a proper rules explanation before you start.
• Age. The publisher suggests 10 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.