The Dice Tower Awards 2024

Welcome to River Valley! The beautiful pieces of glass that can be found along the river here have attracted the most entrepreneurial of woodland creatures to set up shop.

In River Valley Glassworks, you play as one of these pioneers, drafting glass from the market of river tiles. To do so, you have to play a piece from your inventory into the river. Each river tile can take only a specific shape, and you must play into a space adjacent to where you want to draft from. After you pick up your glass, the river shifts forward, revealing new pieces and new opportunities.

Store the glass you pick up strategically in your shop. Depending on how the glass pieces are placed, your score will change drastically. Fill in rows and columns to gain bonus points, but don't draft too many of one type to avoid negative points!

-description from publisher

In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a eurogame for 1–4 players, you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. The game draws inspiration from current or emerging technologies and efforts in space exploration.

Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions. Decide whether to land on their surface to collect valuable samples, or stay in orbit for a broader survey. Additionally, by directing your telescopes to gaze into distant star systems, you may detect traces of alien signals or undiscovered exoplanets, and collect promising data to examine and study back home.

Back on Earth, you can invest in upgrading your equipment so you can analyze incoming data more efficiently, boost your telescope signal capacity, or increase your supply of resources—all to expand the scope of your search that could lead to a discovery of extraterrestrial life forms.

You will also make use of over 200 cards to aid your efforts or focus your research in a particular direction for additional bonuses and rewards. Each card has unique effects and illustrations and depicts real-life technologies, projects, and discoveries (like the ISS, Large Hadron Collider, Perseverance rover, Voyager probe, and many more).

Finding traces of extraterrestrial life is only a matter of time—utilize the resources you have at your disposal strategically and you may well end up being the one to make the biggest scientific contribution towards advancing our understanding of alien life within our galaxy.

SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence pays homage to space and planetary exploration, astronomy, the ongoing search for signs of life in the vastness of space, and efforts to understand the nature of life in the universe.

—description from the publisher

A dark rumour rises from Mordor. The Eye turns to Middle-earth. The hour has come. The Fellowship is reunited. The Heroes prepare for battle. In Duel for Middle-earth, you’ll have to choose sides. Play as the Fellowship of the Ring, prevent the Enemy from gaining ground and destroy the One Ring. Or play as Sauron and send your Nazgûl after Sam and Frodo, spreading your hordes over enemy cities. The fate of Middle-earth is in your hands!

—description from the publisher

The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth is a spin off from 7 Wonders - Duel, one player playing the evil forces of Sauron and another the free people of middle earth

Do you have what it takes to hit the big time? Can you take your band from performing in your parent's basement to the largest stages around the world?
Draft your lead singer, musicians, production and backstage staff. Arrange them in the most harmonious ways to unlock more fans, money and opportunities. Plan your schedule, prioritize your assets and select your travel routes as you grow.
Chain your rewards into such an amazing show you will leave your competitors behind. But as every superstar knows...watch out for those scandals.

Draft Write Records is a draft and write game for 1-6 players, aged 10+ taking 45 minutes.

—description from the publisher

There is a bomb full of wires and the countdown has started... Who are you gonna call? YOU, the Bomb Busters!

To clear the bomb, you need to collaborate with your team of bomb disposal experts! Using the wires on the tile holder in front of you, try and figure out your teammates’ wires. Find and cut identical wires, but watch out, if you cut a red wire: BOOM! Use your equipment wisely to meet the varied challenges which get harder and harder.

Tick tock tick tock... Will you figure it out before it’s too late?

With 66 missions, there will be:

=> 66 different ways to play depending on your moods (in order, by level of difficulty, favourite configuration…)
=> 66 challenges to play over and over (even if you already blew your top!)
=> Plenty of tricky bombs which become more and more dangerous (but don’t get cut up about it!)

Gameplay
There is a set of 48 normal wires numbered 1-12 (4 of each value). Then, you add some yellow and red wires and deal them all to the players.
Each mission is different, but your goal is always the same: go through all 12 numbers without blowing up!
The players place the tiles on their stands and then take turns pointing at each others’ wires and guessing their values. If the guess is correct, the wires are cut. If not — the detonator advances!
If you manage to cut all wires without blowing up — good job, the mission is completed, but if the bomb goes off... Try again!

There is a bomb full of wires and the countdown has started... Who are you gonna call? YOU, the Bomb Busters!

To clear the bomb, you need to collaborate with your team of bomb disposal experts! Using the wires on the tile holder in front of you, try and figure out your teammates’ wires. Find and cut identical wires, but watch out, if you cut a red wire: BOOM! Use your equipment wisely to meet the varied challenges which get harder and harder.

Tick tock tick tock... Will you figure it out before it’s too late?

With 66 missions, there will be:

=> 66 different ways to play depending on your moods (in order, by level of difficulty, favourite configuration…)
=> 66 challenges to play over and over (even if you already blew your top!)
=> Plenty of tricky bombs which become more and more dangerous (but don’t get cut up about it!)

Gameplay
There is a set of 48 normal wires numbered 1-12 (4 of each value). Then, you add some yellow and red wires and deal them all to the players.
Each mission is different, but your goal is always the same: go through all 12 numbers without blowing up!
The players place the tiles on their stands and then take turns pointing at each others’ wires and guessing their values. If the guess is correct, the wires are cut. If not — the detonator advances!
If you manage to cut all wires without blowing up — good job, the mission is completed, but if the bomb goes off... Try again!

Flip over cards one by one without flipping the same number twice.

Sound easy? Think again! This isn't just any deck of cards… In Flip 7 there's only one 1 card, two 2's, three 3’s, etc plus a bunch of special cards that can score you extra points, give you a second chance, or freeze you or your opponents in your tracks.

Are you the type of player to play it safe and bank points before you bust, or are you going to risk it all and go for the bonus points by flipping over seven in a row? Press your luck meets strategy in this addictive card game that's sure to be the greatest card game you’ve ever played!

—description from the publisher

It's 1977. You're an up-and-coming musician, dreaming of making it big with your band. Over the next few months you'll rehearse, play gigs, write songs, and promote your band. With careful planning and a little luck, you'll earn the most fame and become the best new artist of the year.

Designed by Jackie Fox (member of the 1970’s rock band "The Runaways", four-time Jeopardy! champion, and designer of the narrative adventure trilogy The Adventures of the Chubby Slugz) and illustrated by Jennifer Giner, Rock Hard: 1977 allows games for groups of between 2 and 5 players, from 14 years old, in games lasting about 45-90 minutes.

Rock Hard: 1977 is played over a maximum of nine rounds, each representing a typical day of one month in 1977, from April to December. You win the game by accruing the most fame. How? Increasing reputation, chops and songs; achieving production, performance, and publicity bonuses; getting record deals and earning royalties; playing concerts; and hanging out at the hottest after-hours spot. Ready to live like a rock star?

—description from the publisher

In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a eurogame for 1–4 players, you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. The game draws inspiration from current or emerging technologies and efforts in space exploration.

Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions. Decide whether to land on their surface to collect valuable samples, or stay in orbit for a broader survey. Additionally, by directing your telescopes to gaze into distant star systems, you may detect traces of alien signals or undiscovered exoplanets, and collect promising data to examine and study back home.

Back on Earth, you can invest in upgrading your equipment so you can analyze incoming data more efficiently, boost your telescope signal capacity, or increase your supply of resources—all to expand the scope of your search that could lead to a discovery of extraterrestrial life forms.

You will also make use of over 200 cards to aid your efforts or focus your research in a particular direction for additional bonuses and rewards. Each card has unique effects and illustrations and depicts real-life technologies, projects, and discoveries (like the ISS, Large Hadron Collider, Perseverance rover, Voyager probe, and many more).

Finding traces of extraterrestrial life is only a matter of time—utilize the resources you have at your disposal strategically and you may well end up being the one to make the biggest scientific contribution towards advancing our understanding of alien life within our galaxy.

SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence pays homage to space and planetary exploration, astronomy, the ongoing search for signs of life in the vastness of space, and efforts to understand the nature of life in the universe.

—description from the publisher

Vienna in the early 1900s: The Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud established a revolutionary set of theories and therapeutic techniques called psychoanalysis, which are related to the study of the unconscious mind.

From the autumn of 1902, a number of followers who expressed interest in Freud's work were invited to meet at his apartment every Wednesday afternoon to discuss psychology and neuropathology. This group was called the Wednesday Psychological Society, and it marked the beginnings of the worldwide psychoanalytic movement. In 1908, reflecting its growing institutional status, the Wednesday group was reconstituted as the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society with Freud as president.

As a member of this society in Unconscious Mind—a game that blends worker placement, engine building, multi-use cards, and action programming—your goal is to master therapeutic techniques, establish a practice, and grow your clientele. By delving into your clients' dreams—their unconscious minds—you can help them recover from various traumas and complexes. As a result, the people you treat will live happier and more productive lives. You can also publish volumes of your groundbreaking work—which will hopefully get cited by other researchers who come after you, furthering your legacy.

In more detail, each turn you may send a figure to one of the various action spaces on the main board. Then, depending on the row of the action space, you will advance the inkpot on your player board's rondel a number of steps—triggering the effects of all the tiles you have in the given line. From there, you may use dream cards and Insights (a form of resources)to treat the patients in your office.

There is also a map of central Vienna that features historic locations that you may visit with your professor meeple. These spaces allow you to perform additional actions, gain reputation, and unlock bonuses when you eventually withdraw your figures from the main board. The game has many interconnected systems that flow into each other, making every turn one that results in cascading effects.

—description from the publisher

Each player attempts to score the most points by snaking caravan routes through the desert, trying to reach oases and blocking off sections of the desert. Many people feel that it is reminiscent of Go.

Publisher's Description
From the award-winning game designer Reiner Knizia comes a game of strategy, patience, and cool plastic camels! The desert is still treacherous, mysterious, and without mercy. But for those willing to risk the dangers of the shifting, sun-baked sands, the desert holds riches beyond compare.
In Through the Desert, two to five players each control a tribe of nomads vying for control of the desert. By establishing caravans and taking over oases, the players gain points as their tribes increase in power.
Strategy is essential in deciding how and where to build your tribe's caravans. There are multiple ways to gain points and several ways to win. Should you try to build the longest caravan? Or should you dominate the desert's oases? Don't forget to keep an eye on your opponents' caravans, or you may find your own tribe cut off from valuable water holes.

Through the Desert is part of the so called Knizia tile-laying trilogy.

Fractured Sky is a game of deduction, sneaky strategy, and resource management set on a fantastical island. Players lead their kingdom in the hunt for shards of fractured falling stars, which are rumored to grant wishes to those that can amass enough of them.

Using airships, players send their armies to regions with the star shards, but finding those is not always easy and hiring seers to predict their falls can be worth the investment. Over time, players will increase their presence on the island, placing permanent buildings to give them advantages like extra resources or increasing the size of their troop numbers.

Only one wish will be granted, so who will amass the most shards before the final star falls?

—description from the designer

In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a eurogame for 1–4 players, you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. The game draws inspiration from current or emerging technologies and efforts in space exploration.

Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions. Decide whether to land on their surface to collect valuable samples, or stay in orbit for a broader survey. Additionally, by directing your telescopes to gaze into distant star systems, you may detect traces of alien signals or undiscovered exoplanets, and collect promising data to examine and study back home.

Back on Earth, you can invest in upgrading your equipment so you can analyze incoming data more efficiently, boost your telescope signal capacity, or increase your supply of resources—all to expand the scope of your search that could lead to a discovery of extraterrestrial life forms.

You will also make use of over 200 cards to aid your efforts or focus your research in a particular direction for additional bonuses and rewards. Each card has unique effects and illustrations and depicts real-life technologies, projects, and discoveries (like the ISS, Large Hadron Collider, Perseverance rover, Voyager probe, and many more).

Finding traces of extraterrestrial life is only a matter of time—utilize the resources you have at your disposal strategically and you may well end up being the one to make the biggest scientific contribution towards advancing our understanding of alien life within our galaxy.

SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence pays homage to space and planetary exploration, astronomy, the ongoing search for signs of life in the vastness of space, and efforts to understand the nature of life in the universe.

—description from the publisher