Spots
Review

Game
Review

Play Overview

Spots (2022) is a game about matching dice with spotty dogs to complete tricks and Dog cards. You play by selecting a Trick to determine how many dice you can roll, then placing them to match dice on the Dog cards. It stands out because there are lots of ways to try and complete your Dog cards, but any unmatched dice go to your backyard and inch you closer to busting and losing all your points.

Spots is a game all about balancing risk and reward. You race other players to complete six Dog cards first by selecting the Tricks with the best likelihood of filling your Dog cards and not sending too many unmatched dice to the Backyard. When you have a value of seven in your Backyard you lose all your dice and end your go.

As you progress you complete your Dog cards and turn them over. To do this faster than other players you select Tricks that push-your-luck to get as many dice as possible, but without busting. Maybe you pick Walk, to avoid sending too many to the backyard. Or maybe you pick Run because you have lots of Dog cards with spots to fill.

The result is a game that works with players of all abilities. Younger players can enjoy slowly filling their dogs with dice. More advanced competitors can work at selecting Tricks with just the right probabilities of getting the dice they want (and how many you'll send to the backyard). But everyone still has a chance of winning. Spots is simple to learn, but has enough crunch to make every turn full of interesting decisions.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Spots 11 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 11 months ago.

Play Style

This is a Collecting and Push-Your-Luck game with Roll-And-Write and Strategy elements. You can play with 1 to 4 players in the same room. Best with 2 or 3 players.

You can play this game in the following styles:

Duration

Learn to Play: This takes 5 minutes to learn. It's simple to learn. Before playing it's important to go through the different Tricks to understand how they work and how that can provide (sometimes too many) dice.

Play Time: This game will take between 25 minutes and half an hour to complete.

Benefits

This game is good if you want to:

Age Ratings

Skill Level

5+ year-olds usually have the required skill to enjoy this game. Younger players can enjoy completing their dogs, but as they get older and understand the tactics better there's a detailed strategy required. Some consideration of possible dice and implications of busting also aids enjoyment.

Content Rating

We rate this suitable for 3+ years-olds.

Costs

There are no additional in-game purchases, loot boxes, adverts or subscription costs.

Game Details

Release Date: 01/01/2022

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Players: 1-4

Genres: Collecting, Push-Your-Luck (Roll-And-Write and Strategy)

Accessibility: 0 features documented (Tweet Developer )

Components: Cards, Dice and Tokens

Developer: Perry Jon (@PerryJon)

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Here are our hand-picked short list of similar games; the perfect thing to play next if you enjoyed Spots. We also have a long list of games similar to Spots.

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