Entry 98- Long Shot: The Dice Game

        Over the past few weeks leading up to the New Year I have had a few thoughts about the blog. The first thought was 2022’s entries seemed more like “cookie-cutter” writing rather than writing more from the heart. The second being that even though I was writing about different games that we enjoyed we were saying the same things over and over (i.e., we love the art, we love that it plays fast, etc.). I love writing the blog but it became more like a chore than something exciting later on in the year. 

        Now for my last thought about the blog, I know on Facebook I had said I will writing about games that begin with certain letters of the alphabet and writing each month a new letter that was selected, well, instead of doing a letter per month, we will now pick any game that starts with the selected letters at any time in the year and keep a tally of how many entries are written with the selected letter. 

        To refresh you (for those who follow our FB page), the letters are: A, E, G, H, J, K, L, R, U, Z (with alternates of V, X, & Y). At the end of each blog entry you will see what the tally of each letter is. The entries will not just be games that are new to us but games that we enjoy playing and have not written a review about. For example, we mentioned Unicorn Fever in the entry about upgraded components but did not review the game so it is included for this year’s blog. Whereas Lost Ruins of Arnak had review so it will not be included this year as a featured game. 

        For the game review’s, I will continue to provide the BGG description and weight and then I will write what comes to me about the game via inspiration. This will make it more real for me and less like a chore. Also, as always, we do welcome your thoughts and ideas as well. This blog is for all of you as much as it is an expressive medium for me. So now, onward to the first game review of the year… 

LONG SHOT: THE DICE GAME (2022) 

BGG Description 

This is your ticket to the track! In Long Shot: The Dice Game, you and up to seven other players will strategize and push your luck as the action unfolds in a tense race of eight horses. During the game you buy horses, place bets, influence race movement, and utilize special abilities. The roll of the dice determines which horses move and the options available each turn, so be ready to adapt your plans. Once three horses cross the finish line, earnings are totaled. While there are many ways to earn money during a horse race, only the player that makes the most money will be declared the winner. Will you play it safe, or risk it big on a long shot? 

—description from the publisher 

Weight 1.93/5 

Our Take on the Game 

        The first thing that I want to point out is that the game is 1-8 players so you are able to grab more friends and play one game together rather than the typical 4 player game in which you need multiple copies going at once for a larger group. This is a big positive for us for when we have more people that want to game at once. 

        The description states that you push your luck in the game and I want to make it clear that this is NOT a push-your-luck mechanic such as The Quacks of Quedlinburg where to take you chances by drawing chips from a bag. The push your luck in the game is referring to how much you are willing to gamble on a horse finishing in the top three and/or crossing the no-bet line. 

        The two main mechanics of this game is dice rolling and roll-and-write. You roll an eight sided die (d8) to see which horse will take the primary movement and a non-standard six sided (d6) die to see how far it advances in the race. Additionally, each horse card has a secondary movement bar at the bottom which provides the horse numbers with a X on it to move one space as well. 

        Once the rolling is done and the horses move, the writing portion comes to play via five different primary actions you can take (concession, helmet, jersey, bet, and buy). Each one requires you to make a mark on your dry-erase player board. However, the key thing is that the actions correspond to the horse number rolled on the d8. You also have three wild actions available in which you can change the horse die to any number you want (but just for yourself and not the other players). Details of all the actions can be found in the rulebook which you can find in the game files on BGG. There is one last action that you can take if you do not want to or cannot do any of the other actions and that is to erase one of the marks on your wild numbers section to earn one back. This comes in handy later in the game if you already have used your wilds and most of the other actions spaces have been used. 

        The game ends when the third horse crosses the finish line and everyone takes their last actions. Final scoring is done with four easy steps. Most points at the ends wins. Our first game was won by a single point. 

        What makes the game replayable is that the base game comes with different sets of the horse cards with each horse providing a different ability. Since we picked up our copy at Barnes & Noble, the exclusive edition also included a mini-expansion that included an additional set of horse cards. 

        It is easy to learn and play. If you love roll-and-write games, then this one would be a good fit for your collection. If you love betting/wagering games, such as Camel Up, then this one would be a good fit plus it takes up little table space. 

FAMILY GAMER VERDICT 

        Did we have fun with the game? Heck yeah. Will we play this again, of course especially with a larger party. 

        We rate this game a very solid 9 out 10. 

 LETTER TALLY 

A: 0 - 

E: 0 - 

G: 0 - 

H: 0 - 

J: 0 - 

K: 0 - 

L: 1 - Long Shot: The Dice Game, 

R: 0 - 

U: 0 - 

Z: 0 -

One last thing....