YORKTON -
In every board game collection there will be games which are best described as ‘just silly fun’.
Fandooble and the Dragon’s Eye is certainly one of those although maybe not too much fun in this case.
Fandooble is a dice tossing exercise, with a ‘push your luck’ motif, so you are going to think Yahtzee right out of the box.
In this case designer Mike Richie has spiced up the dice at least, with certain sides being dragons, others being a thief, wizard, knight etc.. Oh yes this is a fantasy game, where players are trying to collect treasure from a dragon’s horde, or maybe stealing from other players.
In regard to its fantasy nature this should be a game our group loved, but it felt a bit too pedestrian.
Sure you get to push your luck – unless you roll three dragons of course – but such games usually come down to one player getting on a hot streak and then there is little to do but watch.
Even in Yahtzee you at least get the same amount of throws, with a matched set of goals, that is less so here.
Randomness reigns supreme here.
From Catalyst Games, the edition is nice. The dice are nice and easy to define. The gems are plastic but serviceable, as are the cardboard coins – so as a package its fine, if lacking the ‘Wow’ factor.
Fandooble is a filler game of course – so short play is good – and it might be a good bar game – but among quick fillers it just wouldn’t make the top shelf.
