CUBITOS (2021)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
2-4	45 mins	John D. Clair	AEG

In CUBITOS, players are rolling dice to make coin, move spaces, and do whole lot more. While the starting grey dice are pretty basic, you’ll soon be adding the more colourful ones to your team. First one to the finish line (and in a tie, the furthest past it) is the winner.

I’m not the biggest fan of push your luck games. It’s not the games, just that I struggle with the mechanic. When it comes to games like THE QUACKS OF QUEDLINBURG or MEGALAND (which I do play), I don’t tend to keep up with other players because I always bail out.

It’s like playing a Deck Builder without adding cards to your hand.

Yet I really enjoy CUBITOS. Maybe it’ the cute artwork and crazy critters that occupy the game. Maybe it’s all about them dice.

One of the big things I do like about the game is the variable set up. With eight different versions of the eight different character dice, each game is likely to be different. And there are four different race tracks to barrel around on so you won’t get bored of just going in a circle.

Of course, in an odd twist, it’s the choice of dice powers that maybe forms the main negative for me.

While the variability of dice abilities is good, it also means that I don’t play a game of CUBITOS without having my head in the rule book for clarification at least two or three times.

And the other issue I have, but it’s maybe not something that everyone finds, is that it’s very difficult to catch up, despite the handicap mechanic.

Some of our races are nail biting sprints to the line. Others are quite the opposite.

I think it’s caused by going bust around the half way point or later, as sometimes some early back-to-back busts don’t make much difference.

Overall, CUBITOS is a cute, colourful and fun racing game where players start off slow but gain better and better abilities as they sprint for that chequered flag.