There are so many excellent dice board games to try out yourself. Today, we bring you a bunch of them we believe to be an absolute blast. Balancing a dice board game can be challenging, but when you get it right, it can feel so rewarding. Just ask anyone who has tried Dice Throne and thought luck was all there was to the gameplay.
These types of games are light and fast to play, and they do have a strategic angle to them. So, if you are here looking for the best dice board games, we believe that we have you sorted. Let’s take a look at our list.
Top 12 Dice Board Games List
- Dice Throne
- Roll for the Galaxy
- The Castles of Burgundy
- Dice Forge
- King of Tokyo
- Dice Town
- Bang
- Pandemic: The Cure
- Roll Player
- Dice City
- Sagrada
- Too Many Bones
1. Dice Throne
- Players: 2-6
- Play Time: 20-40 Min
- Age: 8+
- Complexity: 2.09/5
Dice Throne, the game is an absolute blast. Nobody could have known that Yahtzee could be that fun, and so balanced at the same time. Dice Throne is easily one of the best dice board games on our list, bringing you dozens of unique characters, great quality components, and many ways to go deluxe.
Basically, Dice Throne is a game where you get your own hero and roll five dice, trying to get various combinations of symbols and numbers to activate an offensive ability, or even buff your character so that you are stronger in the coming rounds.
The concept itself is quite neat, and Dice Throne has truly astounded players with the way it develops authentic characters. There is the Gunslinger who has all sorts of tricks up her sleeves, the Samurai who will take Shame debuff if he fails to attack, and the Artificer who builds complicated sidekicks known as Bots to help him.
This is truly a delightful game where skill and luck kind of matter, but not really. It’s a fun, lightsome, and still competitive title, and yes – it has the word dice bang in the middle of its name, so why not give it a shot?
2. Roll for the Galaxy
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Roll for the Galaxy is one of the best dice board games you will find on this list – and any. The game is a massive strategy, a civilization-building experience where the dice represent your populace that you will direct to develop different technologies, settle worlds, ship goods, and generally spread your galactic preeminence. You will face 2-5 players in 45 minutes of intent decision-making that you want to result in the best possible outcome for you and your own empire.
Players can manage their dice in any way they see fit and explore a variety of strategies. The game has a luck element to it, but also a deeply strategic angle that appeals to players who love to compete against others and still move the action at a good pace. Dice rolling will play a big impact on what decisions and actions you may take, but it will be ultimately down to the players to adapt to what resources they have to come up with the best decisions in each round.
Buy Roll for the Galaxy on Amazon US.
3. The Castles of Burgundy
- Players: 1-4
- Play Time: 70-120 Min
- Age: 12+
- Complexity: 2.95/5
The Castles of Burgundy is one of the most highly-regarded dice board games of all time. Originally debuting in 2011 and having been reprinted in revamped editions ever since the game focuses on a dice drafting mechanic which determines what actions players may take during individual rounds.
Players assume the role of aristocrats who seek to expand their estates by acquiring more tiles and laying them around their land. The dice determine what players may or may not due during any given round, including acquiring more tiles, trading resources, selling goods, or placing tiles on the board.
Players need to be vigilant of what strategic choices are available to them and try to use their dice in the best and most efficient way possible. There is definitely a deep level of strategic decision-making, but not too much to cause you an analysis paralysis especially since the dice are pretty much straightforward in their use with a few small caveats and dilemmas.
All in all, this is one of the best-acclaimed dice board games or “bag builders” if you will owing to its deck-building-like reminiscence.
Buy The Castles of Burgundy on Amazon US.
4. Dice Forge
- Players: 2-4
- Play Time: 45 Min
- Age: 10+
- Complexity: 1.97/5
Dice Forge is a game for 2-4 players that lasts 45 minutes. The title is easily one of the best dice board games owing to its innovative approach to the use of six-sided dice which come with removable faces in the game. Players will immerse in the mythical atmosphere of the game where mortal heroes seek to gain favor from the Gods by impressing them with their dice. To craft the most beautiful dice, however, players need to collect resources and purchase new dice faces that they can use in their own collection.
All players start with rudimentary dice that they need to use smartly to unlock further rewards or collect various bounties through the completion of quests. You still want to earn victory points as you go along, but your biggest asset is undoubtedly crafting the best dice. Dice Forge definitely stands out by virtue of its innovative approach to dice board games in general, and it offers tons of replayability and a great degree of customization that appeals to players of all backgrounds.
5. King of Tokyo
- Players: 2-6
- Play Time: 30 Min
- Age: 8+
- Complexity: 1.49/5
The monsters of Tokyo are out and about ravaging the Japanese city which suffers a familiar tale immortalized in the popular myth of Godzilla. Only this time, the monsters are really not just the one – but so many of them. There is Dark Space Penguin and Dark Cyber Kitty, Golem and Fenrir, Ka-Boomer, and Helmut.
In any event, all of them are supersized monsters that wreak havoc all over Tokyo, trying to kill each other and become the only source of terror in the Japanese capital. The game may sound a little gnarly, but it really is not! It boils down to rolling dice, trying to inflict damage on your resourceful opponents, collecting cash for equipment upgrades, and ultimately surviving the ultimate monster showdown!
Each round follows the familiar Yahtzee rotation in which you will roll the dice three times, and keep the results that you like best, enacting their results. This is a highly-thematic game and also one of the most popular dice board games you can ever try and play!
Buy King of Tokyo on Amazon US.
6. Dice Town
- Players: 2-5
- Play Time: 45 Min
- Age: 10+
- Complexity: 1.69/5
Dice Town is a game of chance, odds, and probability. You will put together a poker hand that will be determined by the roll of the dice for you to secure plots of town and advance your presence and clout in the local businessman hierarchy. Five dice will be rolled with each turn, with players keeping a die aside to help them construct their hands.
The game is not just about forming a strong hand, though. You may talk to other players and strike mutually-beneficial deals, trade resources, and even use your character-specific abilities to influence the gameplay in new ways that add a whole layer of strategy to the experience.
Whoever didn’t win will visit Doc Badluck and get to choose from various items that will help you move forward with the action. Players may protect their stakes in town by using the barbed wire, draw the first card from the general store pile, compel other players to give them two dollars or claim an entire nugget from all other plays using a nugget.
The game ends when there are no more golden nuggets in the source – the mine – or when all property claims have been issued. The stakes have never been higher and you will get to try and beat the odds to become the most affluent dice/card player in the whole of Dice Town.
Dice Town also has a huge replayability as players can try different setups and pick characters with different abilities.
7. Bang
- Players: 3-8
- Play Time: 15 Min
- Age: 8+
- Complexity: 1.28/5
The sheriff, his deputies, a renegade (or two) and a handful of bandits walk into a bar, and they are ready to shoot each other. Only there is one minor snag – you don’t know who is who, apart from the sheriff who is standing there, Bang in the middle of it, holding a shiny badge.
This asymmetric game of deduction will have people trying to guess who the bad guys are, inveigle themselves in the sheriff’s good graces, and achieve their own goal – which could be gunning down the bandits, before gunning down the sheriff, or perhaps getting rid of anyone who isn’t a deputy, and so on.
Oh, did we mention there is a bunch of angry Native Americans who will shoot arrows at you? This is one of the best dice board games hands down, offering you fun and light gameplay while also trying to guess who the bad guys are. It’s fun even for the bad guys, as they try to figure out who is on their team and at what point it’s safe to start shooting at the sheriff. Once the bullets (or arrows) start flying, the game becomes a cacophony of laughter and good-humored pranks.
8. Pandemic: The Cure
- Players: 2-5
- Play Time: 30 Min
- Age: 8+
- Complexity: 2.06/5
The timeless classic lives on in this dice board game iteration. Pandemic: The Cure will have you rolling dice, hoping to travel around the world, which is a globe in the middle of the play area, where you will transport your cures and try to keep the disease from spreading and overrunning particular cities. You will use different somewhat abstract modes of transportation and hope to get the right rolls.
This version of the game plays just as tightly as the original core game, and while the dice do introduce a bit of uncertainty (as if you could have any semblance of certainty in a game about deadly strains of disease washing over the world), it’s still fun, balanced, and entertaining title to play.
Buy Pandemic: The Cure on Amazon US.
9. Roll Player
- Players: 1-4
- Play Time: 60-90 Min
- Age: 10+
- Complexity: 2.43/5
Love adventure? Have a soft spot for RPGs, then you have come to the right place! Roll Player is the ultimate dice fantasy game that will allow you to use strategy to craft the best RPG hero that has walked any fantasy realm. Dice plays a huge role in the process, as you will pick a class and then use 6s to determine your hero’s skills, traits, and abilities. There are also various attributes that you want to flesh out, including strength, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, constitution, and charisma, making for a rather hefty variety of features and stats you need to balance between.
Dice is also used to help you deck out your character with armor and weapons, set out on quests, defeat monsters, and gain a reputation to progress further. You may think of it as a lighter version of Too Many Bones, in the sense that you do not have to bother with the rules as much as you would with Chip Theory Games’ title. However, Roll Player by Thunderworks Games offers an intricate and highly-rewarding character-creation process paired with immersive gameplay, replayability and new challenges to experience as you try to min/max your hero. The game also comes with multiple expansions to spice up the experience for players new and old.
10. Dice City
- Players: 1-4
- Play Time: 45-60 Min
- Age: 14+
- Complexity: 2.03/5
Rolldovia has been sacked. The capital lies in ruins and the Queen is very upset indeed. So, here comes the role of 1-4 players who now have to assume control over the royal houses and prove to the matriarch that their city is probably the best place to pitch the kingdom’s new capital. This would not come without its challenges though.
Emboldened by the prospect of new loot, barbarians, and bandits head over to the new cities. To convince her majesty to set up the capital in your city, you need to act with a firm hand but also build and develop your city so it may prosper. Players will use dice to place them on top of various buildings and activate effects that help them in impressing the Queen and suppressing sedition or raiders.
You will need to use tactics and strategy in order to press your claim and make sure that Rolldovia has a new home, and it’s your home, too!
11. Sagrada
- Players: 1-4 Players
- Play Time: 30-45
- Age: 14+
- Complexity: 1.92/5
Sagrada is not a conflict game, but rather a dice board game where you will put your imagination, creativity, and ability to draft and build the prettiest dice-driven patterns. In the game, you try to complete a stained-glass window by choosing the most pleasant colors but mostly – the numbers that will fit in the specific slots and put those dice in a pattern that will win you points and possibly the envy of fellow players.
The drafting of each die is one of the best aspects of the game. Players will choose from a pool of common dice to procure the dice that best fit into their pattern, also adding the strategic layer and variety of the game itself. The fact that the game features so many different patterns means that you will be able to continuously improve and adjust your game style, making Sagrada one of the best dice board games of all time indeed. As usual, the highest-scoring window artisan wins the game!
12. Too Many Bones
- Players: 1-4
- Play Time: 60-120 Min
- Age: 12+
- Complexity: 3.85
Too Many Bones or perhaps, even, Too Many Dice… is a game where the die is the bread-and-butter of pretty much anything you do. It will help you draft your abilities and skills and take on epic battles against final bosses and their minions. Too Many Bones is one of the best dice board games about adventure, roleplaying, and customizing your character in so many different ways.
There are hundreds of dice to choose from, and you can play solo or coop, offering you endless opportunities to experience the game in fresh settings. There are 7 classes in the base game alone, and you will be able to build their skill trees as you see fit, adapting to the challenges that lie ahead, but also putting your thinking hat on to create new builds that give you an edge.
Each scenario comes with 8-12 battles before you brave the final boss and take him in an epic battle to the death!