02-001 Simple Dice Games

02-001
Simple Dice Games

Among different forms of tabletop games, dice games are probably the oldest in history. Bone dice found in Scotland can be dated back to 3100BC. The oldest board game Senet, which is played with 2 (sort of) dice, was first played at around that time. Cards, however, are much younger. They were developed from dice and only appeared since the 9^th century. The reason behind, perhaps, is because of the difficulties to create cards with indistinguishable back sides.

Dice game, Card game and Board game, what are the differences?

There is always an argument on the definition of dice, card and board games. Someone said that all card and dice games are in fact board games, because the table is the board. Can’t argue with that. But I think with a bit of sense, we can still make some distinguishments in between.

People playing dice in the middle ages

Picture source: Wikipedia

Let us take an example. Many games contain dice, cards and board, such as Monopoly. Should Monopoly be considered a card game or a dice game? No, it is a board game because the main purpose of the game is to move the playing pieces around the board. Same applies to Chutes and Ladders. You got a die inside. But it is a board game.

Some are more difficult to distinguish, such as Carcassonne. Apart from the scoring board, the game complies many little tiles. Is it a card game or a board game? I would say, it is a board game, as the tiles are placed on the table to form a bigger board.

Card games are more distinguishing. Like UNO or Skip Bo, they are pure card games. No argue! Lotería is a problem. It got cards, boards and chips inside. Is it a board game or a card game? I would say card game because the boards are for score keeping only. Same as poker. The focus is on the cards. The poker mat is just for recording the bets.

What is a simple dice game?

Base on the concept above, a simple dice game should contain merely nothing apart from dice. Paper & pencils, and chips or tokens for score keeping are allowed. A betting mat is also allowed. But nothing else should.

There are many great games that contains lots of components, such as Sagrada and King of Tokyo. Many refer them as dice games. I would say they are board games. I did not say that they are bad. They are very good game indeed. But they are not my focus here. Maybe I will include them if one day I decide to write something about board games.

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