If there’s a segment that’s underrepresented in boardgaming, it has to be deer hunters. But thanks to Steve Jackson Games, that’s no longer the case. Trophy Buck, a new dice game from the publishing company, allows you to get buck fever from the safety of your own living room.
The game bears more than a passing similarity to the very popular Zombie Dice, also from Steve Jackson. The game consists of a camouflaged bag and 12 camo’d-out dice with a variety of faces. Deer icons represent a startled deer, tracks stand for a deer that may have caught a scent but is still around, and certain faces include antlers with various points for varying sizes of racks. The dice are also color coded, including a multitude of brown dice, which have 2 point racks for the buck fawns just developing velvet, and a couple of other color and point combinations culminating in one orange die, which has a 8-point trophy rack on a single side of the die.
As in Zombie Dice, players attempt to reach a point score first: in this case, thirty-six. Draw three dice at random and roll them at the same time. Points are saved, tracks are re-rolled and startles are set aside. Get three startles, your point total for the round is wiped out and your turn is over. Stop hunting and save points anytime before that and your score is banked towards a winning total.
The game is fun and fast-moving, like Zombie Dice, but, for me, Trophy Buck lacks the light-hearted fun of Zombie Dice. I liked the variation of different dice providing different values; still, it’s difficult to copy the role playing fun we have with Zombie Dice. (How would you role play deer anyway?) However, if you’re headed out hunting or camping, or just enjoy dice games, check out Trophy Buck.
Trophy Buck retails for $9.95 and should be available at your friendly local game store or hunting outfitter.
Disclosure: GeekDad was sent a review copy of this game.
