Top 5 Dice Placement Games

[@Tnklaar]

Jeff is a natural in front of the camera! Shoutout to the matching shirts, too.

[@jameystegmaier]

I agree, Jeff did a great job!

[@FostertheMeeple]

JEFFO!!!!!!!

[@chriskorfmann4656]

Great to see Jeff after so many years removed from Carcassonne Central. He added a lot of quality to that site as well. Dice placement is one of my favorite mechanics. Love Alien Frontiers, and Castles of Burgundy. Love the Roll Player game and universe. Enjoyed the video!

[@jameystegmaier]

That's neat to hear--I didn't know that about Carcassonne Central. :)

[@jputt927]

Thank Chris! Carcassonne and will always hold a special place in my heart as being the game that catapulted me into the hobby and allowed me to showcase my creativity through all of the fan-made expansions I had a part in!

[@chriskorfmann4656]

Carc Central was great fun for me. They are still going strong, but I haven't been involved for some time. There are a bunch of really good quality fanspansions (as we called them) and Jeff was directly responsible, or had a hand in many. Lots of stuff there better than official expansions and some surprisingly similar, strictly by coincidence, I'm sure...@@jameystegmaier

[@GRsTragicM]

My favourite in this category would have to be Under Falling Skies. Choosing when to carry out research over attacking the incoming aliens is a really satisfying puzzle and deciding when to reroll feels crunchy but not paralysing. An absolutely fantastic solo game that can bring a lot of comfort on a rainy afternoon.

[@jimpaek]

Happy to see Circadians First Light in the ambassador's mentions. Such an underrated gem of a game.

[@greglevy4770]

I've not played all of the games mentioned, but have played and love the selection of several of the titles. A few additional titles for an "also mentioned" list - - Roll for the Galaxy - instead of pips, the faces contain icons that represent different potential actions while building developments and settling worlds, some of which give abilities to manipulate dice placement on future turns/rounds - Black Angel - where the dice are placed to take different actions aboard the Black Angel spaceship - The Towers of Arkhanos - we were just exposed to this for the first time at our last weekly game meet-up. The dice placement scores points and potentially allow players to "reserve" spells to use on future turns to manipulate the dice. We found it quite fun (on the lighter side), but it's not readily available.

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks for sharing, Greg! I wasn't familiar with The Towers of Arkhanos.

[@ralfn9629]

Very nice list! I would have had Creature Comforts in my top 5. Some dice are used collectively, some are yours only. Great and cute game this one!

[@jameystegmaier]

I agree, it's a very charming game!

[@CoryLovec14]

This is a fun genre. There’s not too many co-ops I am aware of with this as the primary mechanism, so I think there’s room for more! Endangered is a hit for us.

[@kostiantynshapran163]

Great lists! Dice placement is my favorite mechanism too. Here is my list: 1. Fantastic Factories (Your suggestion, Jamey, buy the way. Thank You)) 2. The Artemis Project 3. Dice Tribes: Ambitions (Solo only, digital only, absolutely amazing) 4. Roll Player 5. Shelfie Stacker

[@jameystegmaier]

I'm glad you enjoyed Fantastic Factories! I look forward to trying Dice Tribes: Ambitions.

[@bradleyritger6765]

The game I never see mentioned in the list of dice as worker is Artemis Project. I picked it up blind at GenCon 2019 and really love it

[@jameystegmaier]

I definitely need to play it!

[@jonsparks3152]

The Magnificent! And Tiletum need to be mentioned here. I love The Magnificent. Maybe the best $15 I have ever spent in gaming.

[@jameystegmaier]

I haven't played Tiletum yet, but one of my groups has played it a ton--I need to try it (and The Magnificent, it sounds like!).

[@scottrenfer2735]

Great lists! I love Castles of Burgandy- just received the KS edition, which is the first I ever played, and we LOVE it SO much! Also love Wayfarers a lot, Sagrada- playing Sagrada Artisans for the first time today!, also Grand Austria Hotel- even though it is dice drafting not placement, and for a way lighter family game I like Creature Comforts. Also, just received Emerge from Pandasaurus, and really looking forward to trying it! Thanks so much guys! Your kindness and enthusiasm shine through in your reviews. Thank you!

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks! These are some great picks, and we had a blast recently playing through Sagrada Artisans.

[@FitnessBoyzOfficial]

Request for you. Pleeeeeeease put ot an expansion to libertalia! I think it would be really cool to see new loot tokens and more characters. The game is awesome and i think it would be awesome to see an expansion in the near future.

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks! We have something in the works. :)

[@FitnessBoyzOfficial]

Thats awesome!!!@@jameystegmaier

[@CamObscura88]

Fun list! Not a ton of crossover with mine so fun to see. My favorites (no particular order) are Under Falling Skies, Doom Machine, Pocket Landship, Spots, and Roll Player.

[@jameystegmaier]

I've been loving Spots!

[@MerrillWhiteKalEl]

One I would add is Black Angel.

[@cardboardconjurer]

I love this mechanism, but don't have enough titles in my library...yet. Thanks for the recommendations! My personal favorites are "Roll Player" for the reasons Jamey lists (RPA is awaiting), and "Under Falling Skies" for its classic "Space Invaders" and base building vibes (the optional campaign is also a wonderfully thematic touch). I'm doubtful the "Super Skill Pinball" series fits the category here, but it's another light roller that is just such a great marriage of theme and mechanic🎲

[@jameystegmaier]

I've only played Under Falling Skies once, but I had a good time with it. :)

[@RubyRevolution2015]

I agree about adding the physical joys of dice rolling. I would like to see more dice rolling games including a decorative paper lining to the game box top so that the dice can be rolled in there. Especially when the game is a table hog and limits room for dice rolling. I enjoy dice towers too but not everyone does.

[@jameystegmaier]

That's a great point--the box top can make for a dice tray, especially if it looks nice.

[@Viragomp]

If Castles of Burgundy qualifies then so must Grand Austria Hotel, and I still love playing that game (as a couple).

[@jameystegmaier]

Great pick!

[@thomasd.4820]

I love dice placement board games und my absolute favorite game is taverne of thiefenthal because it is a so much intuitiv way for dice placement: All graphics show what you have to do: place a dice with a specific value or range. That' it. The combination of dice placement, deck buildung and some little enginge building (upgrades for your taverne) is superous and gives me a more than my also lovely marco polo 2. In raja of the ganges i find the graphics are a little bit misleading: it is classic worker placement, but the graphics intend me to place a dice instead und that is wrong (maybe my fault). Nevertheless it is also a board game i like. Teotihuacan is a master piece and everytime when i play feels a little bit like a bao game. I hope i see more good dice placement games from stonemaier games in future. Another topic: Wingspan is the best card placement board game i know but it is not a conventional knwoing expression of mechanic in the board game community (in germany).

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks for sharing! I agree that Rajas is a little unintuitive at first since the dice are resources, not for placing, but I still love that game. :)

[@francopdx]

I don't have much experience with dice placement games, but I do love rolling dice. Tidal Blades has a system for leveling up dice that I very much enjoy. As for dice placement games, I don't have any in my collection, but the closest would be Glow where the results on the dice are used to activate card abilities and to move the character on the board, but the dice are never actually placed on the cards or board. Also, I have played Sagrada a couple times and found that to be a fun and very challenging puzzle. I don't like it enough to get my own copy, but I'd be up for playing it more. I felt similarly after one play of Roll Player too. And I played Castles of Burgundy once or twice on Board Game Arena; I can see the appeal, but for bigger/longer games, I tend to focus on games where the theme aligns more with my personal interests, such as fantasy or sci-fi. I guess I want to feel more engaged with games that require more time.

[@jameystegmaier]

I really like the Tidal Blades system too! Glow sounds intriguing.

[@mkitten13]

I'm a fellow fan of Simone Luciani's games. Both the Marco Polo games are in my top 5 games of all time, not just dice placement games.

[@redy3tigames]

Do you consider space base in this genre? You must choose where to place your dice. In the 2 and 5 or in the 7 to receive the benefits. It's listed as a dice rolling open draft. I feel it's a small margin from a dice placement market style game.

[@jameystegmaier]

I think it's certainly close...I wouldn't quite put it in this genre, but very close!

[@richardnathandaniels2534]

I have young kids and creature comforts is a big hit at our house.

[@DiFFERENTversionOFmE]

Bora Bora is my favorite. I don't get to play heavy euros often, and that's the reason I got rid of Lorenzo il Magnifico and Pulsar 2849.Those games are good, but I'd rather just play Bora Bora.

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

Not sure if _Castles of Burgundy_ qualifies: You are spending the dice to do actions, but not really "placing" them anywhere. Other than taking tiles other people might want, and the shipping/player order "race" there is little interaction (at least in the base game). A unique dice placement game is _Santa Maria_ where each player has an "upgradable" grid with action/resource spots, and you either use a "private" blue die horizontally or a drafted white die vertically to activate them, stopping at and blocking the last action spot in the row or column, so you ignore that square if you use another die later that goes through that square.

[@jameystegmaier]

It's been a while since I've played Santa Maria, but that's a great pick!

[@Ian-R-Wilz]

I really enjoy Roll Player as well. Another one that I think people. Might not think about as its a worker placement/dice placement combination is Creature Comforts. It begins as a worker placement but in order to actually use your workers you have to place dice. I also really love the aspect that you have to place your workers based on your two family dice and only after the workers are placed do you roll the village dice to see what workers you can actually use. You then place all of your dice on your turn in order to actually use/activate the workers you place. Sagrada is another good one we have. I’m trying to think about what other dice placement games I have and one other one other one would be Roll, Camera! The only other dice placement game that I have that I can think of is Under Falling Skies, but it fell flat for me. I played one game, won it, and it just didn’t interest me very much. I’m not sure why.

[@jameystegmaier]

Absolutely! Creature Comforts is adorable. I haven't tried Roll, Camera yet.

[@JerzyMuller]

Both Castles of Burgundy (CoB) and Rajas of the Ganges (RotG) use dice as resource, not for placement. My favourite in this category would be Sagrada, which does not use dice as worker, but the placement is definitely the main mechanism of the game 🙂 Edit: added full game names.

[@jameystegmaier]

For those who want to know those acronyms (we use inclusive language here), CoB is Castles of Burgundy and RotG is Rajas of the Ganges.

[@2532robh1]

Troyes

[@nib71286]

Lords of Vegas, have you played it? If not we could bring it to the next Geekway and track you down 🤔 let us know 😁

[@jameystegmaier]

I have indeed played it, though it's been a while. :)

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Mine: 1. The Voyages of Marco Polo, 2. Marco Polo II, 3. Wayfarers of the South Tigris, 4. The Artemis Project, 5. Euphoria. Alien Frontiers is a strong honorable mention (never played it in person, only the app). There were a few games mentioned in the video that I like (like Teotihuacan and Castles of Burgundy) that I don't really consider "dice placement". There are quite a few good games with dice - Grand Austria Hotel, Dice Hospital, Roll for the Galaxy - that I rank highly but not sure they fit this particular category.

[@jonsparks3152]

Ohhh yeah, forgot Grand Austria which is good. I like La Granja but it is not used as workers only as resources and same with Red Cathedral.

[@2532robh1]

Yes, Artemis Project is a good one for this category for sure!

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

@@2532robh1 Yes, _The Artemis Project_ basically replaced _Alien Frontiers_ for me since it is less "take that"-y.

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks for sharing your list, Steven!

[@foyoGames]

Rise to Nobility was cool, not top 5, but cool.

[@musemettlegames]

Great list! I had a blast interviewing you a while back about dice placement and how you used it in Euphoria. If anyone wants to listen to Jamey dig into some design philosophy around this mechanism, you can check out the interview here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKOWdWubjcSXqtU

[@jameystegmaier]

Thank you so much for sharing this!