I received my latest order from TheGameCrafter.com, which included the first full set of my up-coming game, Dicey Curves.
The cards turned out very nicely, and everything fits easily into the large draw-string bag. In fact, it might be a bit too roomy. They do have a smaller draw-string bag, which I will check out when I am at the TGC booth during GenCon.
Another adjustment that I may make to improve the “feel” of the game — and to reduce costs a bit — are to switch to smaller dice. On this first set, I had ordered the 16mm D6s. At times they seem a bit bulky … especially when choosing to spend a control chip to re-roll 5 or 6 of them at a time. So, another thing I will look into during GenCon will be how the 12mm D6s TGC offers will work in place of the bigger dice.
In any case, I just couldn’t help running a full end-to-end playtest of the game with the new set, and I took a good deal of pictures along the way. Here is what happened …
I decided on a 6-car race, as if 6 different players were playing, in the preferred “Mystery Rally” Style. (Mystery Rally uses a randomized deck that is constantly updated a few cars ahead of the leader. This way takes up less table room than laying out a traditional set course.)
Things stayed tight for a few turns as the track started out with some curves. But then several more turns in, some consecutive straight track sections saw the field spreadh out a bit This was where the Purple car first struck out on a lead. The cars bunch up again heading into some Dicey Curves
However, things bunched up again at the next set of curves, with the Dicey Curves topping it off. The field was hoping to catch up to the Purple car, and the Green car was simply trying to catch up to everyone else.
But the hopes were short-lived as the Purple car easily navigated the Dice Curves and kicked out to a tremendous lead.
As things continued on very easily for the Purple car, it blew through another set of Dicey Curves and found an easy path to victory.
The other cars grouped up and continued to battle to see who could come in second.
In the end, the Green car continued to have a rough day and brought up the rear as everyone else had already made it into the winners line-up. The 4 cars in the middle swapped positions throughout the race and provided some interesting challenges and nifty passes.
At one point, the Blue car was stuck at a Dicey Curves, and seeing the Purple car speed into the distance, the Yellow car choose to control the Blue car and push it past the gateway with a 5-of-a-kind combo, just to loosen the traffic jam.
The game is not overly complex, but is a ton of fun to play … and I can’t wait to show it off at GenCon.
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