Thrown: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Trick-Taking
Player Age: 14+ Player Count: 3 - 5 Players Time to Play: 40 Minutes
Game Designer: Adam Porter
Game Artist: Brian Lee (II), OctographicsPublisher: WizkidsYear Published: 2019BGG Weight: 2.00
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 14+
Game Designer: Adam Porter
Game Artist: Brian Lee (II), Octographics
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Objective:
'Thrown' is a trick-taking game that has players winning gold after every trick and trying to achieve the most gold by the end of round (rounds are equal to player count). Unlike other trick-taking games, there is a unique twist to this play. Instead of playing tricks with cards, dice will be rolled instead. Fear not though as these dice can be mitigated by discarding a white or red die in your unrolled pool to help yourself (white) or harm your opponents (red).
Card Anatomy:
Each card in the game can link to a different coloured dice in the advanced game, but for this review, we will stick with the basic rules. These basics say that each coloured card works with the dice matching that colour, and a colour- specific ability.
White Cards:
By discarding a white die you can activate one of these white cards. These abilities are normally used to help your roll by re rolling dice, adding a +1 value, or rotate one of your dice to the direct opposite side.
Red Cards:
The red cards are similar to the white cards and require the player to discard a red die to activate. These are used to mess with your opponent's dice such as by re-rolling or rotating their dice.
Green Cards:
The green cards are activated if certain values are rolled on the green dice. For example, rolling two of the same value.
Blue Cards:
Blue cards will give you bonuses if you win the trick with blue dice. These bonuses can be more/less gold or it can help you gain more dice by taking from the used dice pile or by stealing unused dice from opponents.
Dice:
There are 40 six-sided dice, 10 in each colour: blue, red, green and white.
Gold:
These are the tokens that will help you win the game. Whoever has the most gold at the end of the game will win. When you win a trick you will gain gold equal to the amount of dice rolled by your opponents.
Set up:
- Place the gold in a central area and give each player five each.
- Hand each player a player aid card.
The next part of the set up will be for each round. There will be several rounds that will depend on player count.
- Empty all dice into the box (this is referred to as the void) then have players draw random dice equal to the player count. This will create each player’s pool of unrolled dice for the round.
- Three players: 12 dice each
- Four players: 10 dice each
- Five players: 8 dice each
- Separate the cards based on the colour, then place face up in the centre of the table one random card of each colour.
How to Play:
Each round will consist of multiple tricks and will end when only one player has unrolled dice leftover.
Starting a trick:
Starting with the first player roll one to three dice of the same colour creating the trick colour, the value of these dice totalled will be the trick score. Any available abilities can now be activated to adjust the value of these dice. All subsequent rounds will begin with the winner of the last trick.
Next players turn:
Moving on to the next player, the trick will continue clockwise. This is performed by that player rolling up to three dice which must match the trick colour if possible. If that isn't possible then they can roll dice of a different colour to try to take the trump. This is done by at least one of the dice rolled showing a six. If this occurs that player will likely win the trick as long as their dice remains on this face. Remember that these dice can be manipulated through card abilities. Each player perform their turn in the same thing until every player has had a turn in the trick.
Resolving a trick:
Every player will total their rolled dice and the winner is determined in this order:
- The highest value in pips on the dice of the trump.
- The only player that has rolled trump.
- The highest value in the trick colour (if players share this then it will be the last player to have roll their dice).
The winning player will now gain gold equal to the amount of dice rolled by their opponents.
Reset for the next trick:
All rolled dice will be discarded to the void and the winner will lead the next trick. If any player has no unrolled dice left they will no longer be active in the round.
End of the round:
The round ends once every player but one has used all of their unrolled dice. That last player in the round will now lose gold equal to the amount of unrolled dice they have, those dice will now be discarded into the void and a new round will begin following the setup explained above.
End of game:
The game will end once there have been rounds equal to the player count. The player with the most gold has successfully won the game.
Final Thoughts:
Pros:
- Advanced play changes the gameplay drastically and creates an abundance of replayability with such a simple change.
- Adds a unique twist to trick-taking games.
- Each round will have a different combination of dice and cards in play.
- Players run a risk of having too many dice when the game ends.
Cons:
- Lots of luck involved.
'Thrown' is an interesting twist on trick-taking games that comes with a lot of randomnesses based on the dice. This randomness can be mitigated through the use of the white and red cards involved in the round. In regards to these cards, each round has a unique feeling that may have players going for green or blue dice to try to get bonuses by winning tricks or rolling certain dice. I didn't go into detail on the advanced play but once you understand the game I highly recommend playing the advanced rules as it changes the dice that each card may be linked too. The advanced game could result in less dice mitigation in each game but it highly raises the variability and uniqueness to each round.
Whether you are a fan of trick-taking games or not, if thrown sounds interesting to you it is 100% worth trying. There may be a lot of luck involved but it has a very unique way that players have to play by choosing whether to hold onto the dice they have left or whether it is worth discarding dice to win the trick. If you’re a fan of trick-taking games this is a very unique one that deserves your attention.
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