€39,99
Spots
The Frogames review
Push-your-luck with dogs: roll again or stop?
You've already got 6 in the yard. You need a 4 to finish the sausage dog. Roll again?
A yard full of dogs, a bag of biscuits and a row of tricks to teach: fetch, dig, roll over, play dead. Every dog has a spotty coat, and every spot is waiting for its die.
Each turn you choose a trick, which tells you how to roll the dice, and place the right ones on your dogs' spots. Anything you don't need gets buried in the yard: if the total there goes over 7, you lose the whole turn. The first to complete six dogs wins.
Spots came out in 2022, designed by Alex Hague, Jon Perry and Justin Vickers for CMYK, the publisher behind Wavelength and Magical Athlete. The dogs were drawn by John Bond.
Game mechanics tap one to see other games that use it
Only here: the yard that sends you bust over 7
Category:Gioco per famiglie · Party game · Gioco in solitario · Animali
At a glance
Why we like it. Every turn is a small choice that matters: which trick to take and when to stop rolling. It takes minutes to explain, and even whoever goes bust ends up laughing.
Good to know. The dice are in charge: go bust twice in a row and the game, being short, leaves you little time to catch up.
What kind of gameFrogScore · Social + Luckdice every turn Strategypick a trick and when to stop Interactionyou compete for the tricks Paceone trick a turn, then straight on Replayability6 of 22 tricks per game Rated by Frogames · from the rules · what the levels mean
We set the levels by reading the rules, always with the same yardstick: a 3 means the same on every game.
Luckoften chance
- you decide
- mostly you
- half and half
- often chance
- chance decides
Strategyplan a few turns
- one choice per turn
- plan a few turns
- plan half the game
- build for later
- the whole game is a plan
Interactionyou compete for things
- each to their own
- you compete for things
- you get in the way
- you hit each other
- you attack each other
Paceshort turns
- lots of waiting
- long turns
- medium turns
- short turns
- you play together
Replayabilitya lot changes
- always the same
- card order changes
- part of it changes
- a lot changes
- every game is different
When to bring it outWith family, with friends, to kick off an evening
Best player countfilled = best ·
Solohow solo play works +official mode, against Aila
- Who you're up against
- Aila, a dummy opponent: she has no yard or dogs of her own and starts with one biscuit.
- How she plays
- On each of her turns you roll a die: the number points to one of the six trick tiles. If it's face up, Aila flips it and takes any biscuits on it; if it's already flipped, she scores a dog. When she has 2 biscuits, she returns them and scores a dog.
- How to win
- You win if you complete six dogs before Aila scores six.
- Difficulty
- Set it by how many biscuits Aila starts with: more biscuits, tougher game.
- What changes
- Your rules stay the same. You just miss the fun of watching others go bust.
- What you need
- Nothing extra: it's all in the box.
Language dependenceMedio
How to play
Watch a gameHow to play SPOTS · CMYK
- 1Pick a trickTake a face-up trick tile: it tells you how many dice to roll and how.
- 2Place or buryEach die goes on a matching spot on one of your dogs, or in the yard.
- 3Don't go over 7If the dice in the yard add up to more than 7, you go bust and lose that turn's dice.
- 4Cash in your dogsInstead of a trick, you score your completed dogs. First to six wins.
Questions about Spots
Is Spots good with 2 players?+
Yes. In the BoardGameGeek poll, 2 and 3 players are the favourite counts; it works with 4, but there's a bit more waiting between your turns.
Do you need to know English to play Spots?+
A little. The trick instructions are printed in English on the tiles: there are six per game and you'll remember them after a couple of rounds. BoardGameGeek also has an Italian rulebook written by a player.
Is Spots hard to learn?+
No. Its BoardGameGeek complexity rating is 1.3 out of 5: each turn you either choose a trick or score the dogs you've completed.
What happens if you go bust in Spots?+
If the dice in the yard add up to more than 7, you lose all the dice on dogs not yet scored plus those in the yard, and your turn ends.
Does Spots hold up over lots of plays?+
Yes. Each game uses 6 of the 22 tricks: two fixed ones and one from each of the four colours. Change the tricks and the way you roll the dice changes too.
Can you play Spots solo?+
Yes, there's an official mode: you play against Aila, a dummy opponent who rolls a die each turn to take a trick or score a dog. You win if you reach six dogs before she does.
How do you win at Spots?+
The first player with six completed and scored dogs wins straight away.
How long does a game of Spots take?+
Between 25 and 30 minutes, according to the publisher.
What are the biscuits for in Spots?+
Spend a biscuit to reroll all the dice from a roll (not just some). Some tricks are there specifically to earn biscuits.
Is there player interaction in Spots?+
Not much, and it's indirect. The trick you use is flipped over and the others can't take it until the tricks reset; one trick lets you change other players' buried dice.
What age is Spots suitable for?+
The publisher says 10 and up. There aren't many rules; the trick is knowing when to stop.
“Spots is the game to bring out when you want to laugh at the dice, not study a strategy.”
Who is behind Spots
Who designed it, who drew it, who publishes it, and what else they made.
Publisher
CMYKAlso: Wavelength, Magical AthleteAll 6 games in our catalogue →
Designer
Alex HagueAlso: Wavelength
Designer
Jon PerryAlso: Air, Land & SeaAll 5 of his games →
Designer
Justin VickersAlso: Wavelength
Artist
John BondAlso: Drew all the dogs
All the BoardGameGeek data released 2022 · #889 overall · #242 tra i Family · Powered by BoardGameGeek +
- Rating
- 7,12/10 · 8459 ratings
- Rank
- #889 overall · #242 in Family
- Complexity
- 1,29/5
- Year
- 2022
- Designers
- Alex Hague, Jon Perry, Justin Vickers
- Artists
- John Bond
- Categories
- Animali, Dadi
- Mechanics
- Action Drafting, Contracts, Dice Rolling, Increase Value of Unchosen Resources, Push Your Luck, Race, Re-rolling and Locking, Variable Set-up
- Language dependence
- Medio
Powered by BoardGameGeek
Spots in short. Spots is a dice game for 1–4 players by Alex Hague, Jon Perry and Justin Vickers, published by CMYK in 2022. A game lasts 25–30 minutes, recommended age 10+. Each turn you choose a trick that tells you how to roll the dice, place them on your dogs' spots and bury the ones you don't need in the yard: if the yard goes over 7, you lose the turn. English edition, available at Frogames.it.
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