Review: Thrown (WizKids)

If you analyzed the universe of basic game mechanics, you’d find that trick-taking and dice rolling are a pretty common things. By themselves, they power classic games like Euchre, Hearts, Yacht, and 10,000, as well as supporting more intricate European designs.

But Thrown from WizKids takes a novel approach to both mechanics by putting dice at the center of a trick-taking game while using cards to add flavor, strategy, and some very angry claws. (More about that in a moment.)

Let’s look at the five top things you need to know before grabbing the dice and rolling for tricks in Thrown.

Starting a Round

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Each round begins with a brief setup step involving both the dice and the game’s deck of cards.

Players begin by blindly drawing 8, 10, or 12 dice to form their hands (depending on the number of players). The game includes 10 dice in each of four colors, representing the suits of the game.

The cards are separated into five decks by color. Four of the colors match the dice, while the fifth (purple) only gets played in the advanced game (see below). Players deal one card matching each die color into the center of the table. The cards establish special powers, bonuses, and (sometimes) penalties for that round of play.

You Lead, I’ll Rollo

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The randomly-determined first player begins a hand by rolling one to three matching dice, which sets the “suit” for this trick. If the other players have dice of that color, they “follow suit” and roll them, although they individually choose how many to roll.

The player with the highest total on their suit dice wins the hand and earns one point for each die that their opponents rolled. Their own dice don’t count for points.

All of the dice rolled during the hand go into the Void, which is the thematic name for the game box with its nifty astral artwork in the bottom. The winner of the hand leads the next trick.

Trumping a Hand

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Every trick-taking game needs a trump, and Thrown follows suit. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

When a player doesn’t have any dice in the right color, they pick another color and roll one to three matching dice. If any of their dice show a six, they successfully trump the hand. Otherwise, their dice simply count as points for the hand’s winner.

In case more than one player trumps a hand, the player who rolled closest to the end of the hand wins the tie.

Card Powers Add Randomness and Claws

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The cards you flipped face-up at the start of the round can make things crazy — and sometimes nasty — by assigning special powers to various die colors.

Each card shows a special power and an icon for how to trigger it. There’s a handy chart of the five icons on the back of the rule book. Keep that chart handy when you play the advanced version of the game. (Details on that in a moment.)

Some powers activate by discarding a die from your pool or rolling a specific combination of numbers, while others are automatically “on” for the whole round.

A few powers add nasty teeth and sharp claws to the game by letting you fiddle with your opponents’ rolls by flipping a die over, subtracting one from what they show, or sending a die back to their pool.

Basic Versus Advanced

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You start getting the hang of the game by using the “basic” rules. In this version, you sort the cards by color and put one of each color into play. The colors always correspond with specific icons (for example, white and red cards trigger by discarding a die of that color).

Switching to the advanced game means shuffling all of the cards together, dealing four each round, and randomly assigning a color to each card by placing a cube on it.

You need the icon chart handy in the advanced game so you don’t lose track of how to make each card do its thing.

The Verdict

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At its heart, Thrown puts a new spin on classic trick-taking games by replacing a hand of cards with a pool of rolled dice.

The randomness of the rolls feels either exhilarating or frustrating. Because a single off-suit six trumps a whole hand, it’s possible to do everything strategically right but then lose to a lucky roll.

Some of the cards — especially the purple ones — add an aggressive “screw your neighbor” element to the game. If your group loves that kind of thing, then you’ll love Thrown. Likewise, gamers who enjoy unraveling the occasional fiddly rules question will like Thrown’s advanced version, since it creates some odd situations.