Another game with this mechanic is Trains and Stations (Lang, 2013). You roll a set of (IIRC) six dice that will either let you build a building or lay rail if you get the right combinations. You get two rerolls, but the added trick is that one face on each die is a "locked" train. That can still be used to lay rail, but it can't be rerolled. In addition, if you get three locked trains you discard all your dice and your turn ends. So, there is a risk in rerolling a lot. There are additional complications (some dice might stay on the board for multiple turns, reducing the number you have left to roll in future turns, for example) but that is the main mechanic.
What I haven't seen a lot of is "voluntary locking" where you choose to lock a die. Either it's mandatory (lock one per round of rolling) or conditional (lock if you get this symbol) but not fully optional (if you choose to set aside this die, it's locked).
I'd add 1-4-24 bar dice game that has a locking mechanism too! It definitely keeps the game shorter so that there can be multiple (betting) rounds and losses are more drawn out.
Well, the reroll mechanic is a great one, but you've gotta be careful with it, because if the player can always just reroll, it can let them dodge the consequences entirely, or wind up with something even worse or way better. There's also a game called Citizen Sleeper that uses exactly that kind of system, you roll your dice and then decide which one to assign to each task, which is a neat twist.
Sorry for the spam, but in my game https://nibor23-droud.itch.io/insurrection-the-monarch-must-fall which I released during the recent One Page Game Jam, I did something pretty similar. Players can earn points under certain conditions and then spend those points to activate special abilities; one of them lets them reroll the dice for a better outcome.
If you do end up giving it a shot, I'd be truly grateful for your honest feedback, even if it's brutal.
Oh, and I'm actually taking the liberty of translating Eleven Beast into Spanish on my own, once I've got the full translation done, I'll send it your way. I'm not doing this for profit or anything; I just really enjoy the game and would love for Spanish-speaking players to be able to get into it too. Thanks so much for taking the time to read all this.
Swede here, who always assumed that Yatzy and Yahtzee had the same rules! fascinating ^^ i've never actually played Yahtzee then, but a ton of Yatzy growing up :) reading up on how Yahtzee is scored now, feels so strange to me, haha xD which, i am sure, the scoring rules of Yatzy would feel like to someone who grew up playing Yahtzee :)
one question though, what is the meaning of "round" in this case? especially in the context of "You must log a score each round and the game ends after 5 rounds." the first part of the sentence sounds like it's referring to what was called "turns" before, which is definitely true – you have to put your dice somewhere, and if you can't or don't want to, you have to actively cross out one of the options (put a – there). but you certainly don't end after 5 turns, the game ends when all possible options on the sheet have been filled (with numbers of dashes)... so is "round" here meant as, you always play the game 5 times over? we never really did that either, though, we would often stop after one "run" (round?), though we would also do multiple runs but just count each win individually. we might have been doing that not according to the rules, of course ^^ (i don't see anything about the 5 round thing on the Wikipedia page either, though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatzy)
in any case, really fascinating to learn and read about :D thank you for sharing <3
the closest i can think of in terms of rolling and locking in ttrpgs i think would be that many of the dice pool systems allow for re-rolls where you can and/or have to keep all dice that have already "succeeded" and perhaps also the "worst" failures, like in Free League's Year Zero Engine, or with World of Darkness games. i guess YZE is interesting in that you can re-roll as many times as you like, but you need to keep the ones that come up, and if you re-roll (but not if you don't) all ones rolled lead to negative consequences ^^ (is at least how i've understood it from listening a lot to it being played, but not having read or played it myself)
Yeah, I think I was a little sloppy with "round" vs. "turn" in the article. I changed it a little based on your comment. Hopefully it's a little better now. :) As for the 5 rounds, I was basing that on the Wikipedia description and inferring it from the score sheet shown there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatzy#/media/File:Yatzy_Score_card_with_dies.jpg
It looks like there are only 5 columns available? But maybe I'm reading it wrong.
Also, I've mentioned it soooo many times before, but the YZE looks like something I'd be really into. I have a couple RPGs here that use it, but have yet to get any of them to the table. I like a lot about the system.
Thanks for the comment! You are now my Swedish Game Expert! :)
ah, i see what you mean! makes a lot of sense that it would mislead you ^^ the 5 column thing is, however, just an artifact of this particular sheet :) they can have more than that. also, that would actually not limit the rounds to play, but rather the amount of players per round/run-through! you see, each column is used by one player for a full play-through of the game, and usually you would put all participating players on one of those sheets, per run-through. like, in the top-most row, you would put the respective initials/names of the players, and each turn, each player would then fill in one of boxes in their column. and then it finishes once all boxes have been filled for all players! (and whoever has the highest total, wins [it's one of the boxes that you don't fill during play, but rather calculate by summing the amounts in all the other boxes])
another interesting tidbit: one variant that they don't mention in the article, is essentially a less strict variant of what they call "forced Yatzy" – for the first six turns of the game, you have to fill in one of the boxes in the upper section. we almost never played with that rule, rather leaving it as you can fill in whatever box you want ^^ makes it much easier to get the "bonus" for getting a high enough "sum" in the upper section, and also so that you can make use of if you randomly get a straight or full house during the first few rounds ^^ definitely gives a different feel to the game, anyhow!
YZE does seem like a lot of fun, from having watched others play it :)!
haha, happy to provide with my experience xD (and i guess, funny too that Free League is a Swedish games publisher ^^)
I was surprised to learn that the Yahtzee rule that I was taught as a kid is actually a house rule: if you accept the initial result without rerolling, you double its score.
This not only adds some push your luck consideration (will you really have better result after two rerolls?), but also sneaks in an interesting choice of sometimes filling a good "late"combination way too early, because the score is just too good.
Another game with this mechanic is Trains and Stations (Lang, 2013). You roll a set of (IIRC) six dice that will either let you build a building or lay rail if you get the right combinations. You get two rerolls, but the added trick is that one face on each die is a "locked" train. That can still be used to lay rail, but it can't be rerolled. In addition, if you get three locked trains you discard all your dice and your turn ends. So, there is a risk in rerolling a lot. There are additional complications (some dice might stay on the board for multiple turns, reducing the number you have left to roll in future turns, for example) but that is the main mechanic.
Interesting! That sounds a little like the conditional locking in Escape: The Curse of the Temple but with a bit more going on.
Thanks for your comment!
The conditional locking idea is especially interesting it adds tension without taking away the fun of chasing that perfect roll.
Yeah, I like that a lot.
What I haven't seen a lot of is "voluntary locking" where you choose to lock a die. Either it's mandatory (lock one per round of rolling) or conditional (lock if you get this symbol) but not fully optional (if you choose to set aside this die, it's locked).
Voluntary locking feels like a great middle ground it adds a real decision point without making the mechanic feel restrictive.
Indeed. I wonder why I can’t find an example of it in use!
I'd add 1-4-24 bar dice game that has a locking mechanism too! It definitely keeps the game shorter so that there can be multiple (betting) rounds and losses are more drawn out.
Yes! I wrote about that a while back with a different name: https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/dice-week-midnight
Two games with dice I really enjoy are Sausage Sizzle and Spots!
I own Spots. Such a silly (fun) little game!
Well, the reroll mechanic is a great one, but you've gotta be careful with it, because if the player can always just reroll, it can let them dodge the consequences entirely, or wind up with something even worse or way better. There's also a game called Citizen Sleeper that uses exactly that kind of system, you roll your dice and then decide which one to assign to each task, which is a neat twist.
Sorry for the spam, but in my game https://nibor23-droud.itch.io/insurrection-the-monarch-must-fall which I released during the recent One Page Game Jam, I did something pretty similar. Players can earn points under certain conditions and then spend those points to activate special abilities; one of them lets them reroll the dice for a better outcome.
If you do end up giving it a shot, I'd be truly grateful for your honest feedback, even if it's brutal.
Oh, and I'm actually taking the liberty of translating Eleven Beast into Spanish on my own, once I've got the full translation done, I'll send it your way. I'm not doing this for profit or anything; I just really enjoy the game and would love for Spanish-speaking players to be able to get into it too. Thanks so much for taking the time to read all this.
I keep hearing about Citizen Sleeper! I really should give that a try.
Swede here, who always assumed that Yatzy and Yahtzee had the same rules! fascinating ^^ i've never actually played Yahtzee then, but a ton of Yatzy growing up :) reading up on how Yahtzee is scored now, feels so strange to me, haha xD which, i am sure, the scoring rules of Yatzy would feel like to someone who grew up playing Yahtzee :)
one question though, what is the meaning of "round" in this case? especially in the context of "You must log a score each round and the game ends after 5 rounds." the first part of the sentence sounds like it's referring to what was called "turns" before, which is definitely true – you have to put your dice somewhere, and if you can't or don't want to, you have to actively cross out one of the options (put a – there). but you certainly don't end after 5 turns, the game ends when all possible options on the sheet have been filled (with numbers of dashes)... so is "round" here meant as, you always play the game 5 times over? we never really did that either, though, we would often stop after one "run" (round?), though we would also do multiple runs but just count each win individually. we might have been doing that not according to the rules, of course ^^ (i don't see anything about the 5 round thing on the Wikipedia page either, though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatzy)
in any case, really fascinating to learn and read about :D thank you for sharing <3
the closest i can think of in terms of rolling and locking in ttrpgs i think would be that many of the dice pool systems allow for re-rolls where you can and/or have to keep all dice that have already "succeeded" and perhaps also the "worst" failures, like in Free League's Year Zero Engine, or with World of Darkness games. i guess YZE is interesting in that you can re-roll as many times as you like, but you need to keep the ones that come up, and if you re-roll (but not if you don't) all ones rolled lead to negative consequences ^^ (is at least how i've understood it from listening a lot to it being played, but not having read or played it myself)
Yeah, I think I was a little sloppy with "round" vs. "turn" in the article. I changed it a little based on your comment. Hopefully it's a little better now. :) As for the 5 rounds, I was basing that on the Wikipedia description and inferring it from the score sheet shown there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatzy#/media/File:Yatzy_Score_card_with_dies.jpg
It looks like there are only 5 columns available? But maybe I'm reading it wrong.
Also, I've mentioned it soooo many times before, but the YZE looks like something I'd be really into. I have a couple RPGs here that use it, but have yet to get any of them to the table. I like a lot about the system.
Thanks for the comment! You are now my Swedish Game Expert! :)
ah, i see what you mean! makes a lot of sense that it would mislead you ^^ the 5 column thing is, however, just an artifact of this particular sheet :) they can have more than that. also, that would actually not limit the rounds to play, but rather the amount of players per round/run-through! you see, each column is used by one player for a full play-through of the game, and usually you would put all participating players on one of those sheets, per run-through. like, in the top-most row, you would put the respective initials/names of the players, and each turn, each player would then fill in one of boxes in their column. and then it finishes once all boxes have been filled for all players! (and whoever has the highest total, wins [it's one of the boxes that you don't fill during play, but rather calculate by summing the amounts in all the other boxes])
another interesting tidbit: one variant that they don't mention in the article, is essentially a less strict variant of what they call "forced Yatzy" – for the first six turns of the game, you have to fill in one of the boxes in the upper section. we almost never played with that rule, rather leaving it as you can fill in whatever box you want ^^ makes it much easier to get the "bonus" for getting a high enough "sum" in the upper section, and also so that you can make use of if you randomly get a straight or full house during the first few rounds ^^ definitely gives a different feel to the game, anyhow!
YZE does seem like a lot of fun, from having watched others play it :)!
haha, happy to provide with my experience xD (and i guess, funny too that Free League is a Swedish games publisher ^^)
I was surprised to learn that the Yahtzee rule that I was taught as a kid is actually a house rule: if you accept the initial result without rerolling, you double its score.
This not only adds some push your luck consideration (will you really have better result after two rerolls?), but also sneaks in an interesting choice of sometimes filling a good "late"combination way too early, because the score is just too good.