Dice Games: Level-Up Board Game Club Week 4 Wrap-Up

If you ask a second or third grader what dice are used for, you will get one of two answers.

Math, or gambling.

Or at least those were the answers I got when I asked my board game club what they commonly use dice for. And in both answers, these sharp young minds hit the nail right on the head. Death and taxes may be the only two certainties in an otherwise uncertain life, but some element of mathematics and the uncertainty of the outcome are the only two guarantees when rolling dice in an age where games deploy dice in myriad, always-evolving ways and mechanisms. This is to say that it was difficult for me this week, like last week, to come up with a throughline for the games I would bring to board game club that most aptly exemplar dice. Does any game that includes at least one die count as a dice game? Should dice feature as the primary, or even the only, mechanism? What are the ethics around a second-grade teacher instructing his students about wagering, betting, and shooting craps? Ultimately, I opted for a rather limited selection of fun-forward, easy-to-learn games where the dice begged the students to consider their probabilities, potential outcomes, and strategize accordingly; to hedge their bets against unexpected outcomes of the roll; and to track resources that can be gained and lost at others' expense by way of the outcome of the dice.

In other words: math, or gambling.

Students navigate their golf balls towards the pin after select which club (die) they will use.

Leaning towards the former, Shut the Box occupied a handful of students for a better part of the club. Occasionally between rounds of other games, some of the kids would head back over to ... the box, board ... and toss dice for a few rounds trying to knock down their pegs. I think it's just enough of a practice in mathematics to justify teaching it as a lesson in formal class, while tricking students into building automaticity in their math facts with the exhilaration of chucking dice. What I love most about Shut the Box is that it's not all just probability. You want to prioritize turning down pegs that may be factors of less commonly-occurring numbers. And some of them were beginning to get that higher order of decision making by the end of the session. Shut the Box is for sure staying in the classroom as a choice time option because I love the early numeracy practice angle.

And on the flip side, a large group of us also played a consequential game of LCR. One of the third grade teachers joined us for this one and his students were determined to beat him. LCR has no math. The roll of the dice tell you whether you put a coin in the pot, make one of your friends on either side richer from your bag, or if you're safe. There's nothing here to equate, nor interpret. Certainly, no deeper meaning nor strategy. Do what the dice tell you. Left, Center, or Right ... or none. However, despite the dearth of agency in the outcome of the game, it made the kids feel like they were getting away with murder every time they "stole" a coin from their friend. Such an act was subversive, sometimes erupting in a chorus of "Oooohhhhs!!," especially if someone had to hand over their last coin. One would mistake the attention to the outcome of every roll and the unflappable tension for a Vegas high rollers poker table, rather than on the morning circle rug of an elementary school classroom. So while there was no wagering or betting, the dice in LCR were able to make students get into the same risk-it- or win-it-all attitude that defines a casino.

And last week's group that enjoyed Machi Koro 2 pulled that one off the shelf again. Not only is it a fine example of a card game with clear set collection and engine-building elements, but so to do the dice rolls hold significant consequence in the game. The more you expand your city, the greater coin economy you have access to, but the chances that particular numbers in your city show up on the dice rolls each turn is up to the dice. It's not enough to stack a large number of buildings that feature the most commonly-occurring numbers or opt for a wide range of numbers to hit more frequently (and of course, these kids needed to sus those strategies out), but the success of one or another strategy falls to the choice of whether to roll one die or both of the dice and the probability that that choice bears fruit.

Finally, a few of us tried Randy O'Connor's Roll In One again after it made a brief appearance during week one. This game features a set of D&D dice—a 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-, and 20-sided die—each representing a different strength golf club the player uses to smack their ball across the hex-grid fairway. Riddled with bunkers and water hazards, with clever, albeit quirky, twists on straightforward movement, another theme on this game would situate it firmly as some kind of dungeon crawler. The dice feature prominently in this game, both as a unique component and as the core decision a player must make on their turn.

Next week we turn away from a focus on components and look at some social deduction games.