If you’re a fan of high-risk – high-reward dice roller board games, look no further than Moonrollers, a game that is most certainly not for the faint of heart. Despite the relatively simple summary, Moonrollers is more than meets the eye, having an interesting set of mechanics and strategic possibilities.
Coming straight from the chaos-loving brains of IV Studio, Moonrollers will have players build the best crew possible. This may sound easy on first read, but remember – you will be competing for those valuable crew members against the other players, and when discussing crew contracts – the highest bidder will be the winner.
All in all, Moonrollers offers a stand-alone experience suitable for 2-5 players of all ages. As previously mentioned, the game highly incentivises players to perform high-risk – high-reward actions, which essentially makes the age of players more or less redundant. You just have to believe in the luck of your dice and let your instincts loose.
Be the Best Crew Recruiter With Volatile High Rolls! The Winner Takes It All!
So how does one recruit these valuable crew members? Each turn starts by, you guessed it, rolling five colored dice which generate resources for recruitment. The five colors represent the five available factions in the game.
Players must meet the contract requirements for hire on the same turn, otherwise, they lose it all. Each fulfilled contract will give the recruiting player victory points, which are key for winning the game. Whichever player has three crew members from the same faction, or one member from each of the five factions gets to end the game, at which point victory points are calculated and the winner is declared.
Now, you might read this summary and wonder where the risk factor is, besides the obvious dice rolling. Well, the extra risk comes in the form of hazards, which are represented on the crew cards by a red warning sign.
Each of them has different values assigned to them, and essentially, they award bonus victory points during the final scoring for anyone who has them, except for the ones with the most values assigned to them. Furthermore, players can choose to assign several points to a crew card and then reroll their other dice for bigger rewards. However, if they end up on the losing end and their dice show no matching symbols, they will end up losing their hard-earned progress.
Moonrollers’ BackerKit campaign is currently online for anyone willing to invest in the game. It will be up and running until December 11. The game features a gorgeous retro-style space aesthetic, a vividly colored design and awesome artwork. Production is expected to start in February next year, and backer fulfillment is expected to start in June. IV Studio have further announced there will be retail copies available when the online campaign finalizes.