Cubitos

After a few fairly lightweight games we decided to go a bit more “hardcore” for Game 4 of the “Bailey School Holiday Boardgame Marathon (Christmas Edition)” played by Jack(6), Toby(3) and myself which was “push your luck”, dice rolling, race game Cubitos.

My usual disclaimer: My boys have both been brought up playing games and as such can play games usually beyond their years. Cubitos is stated as 14+ (although clearly, younger kids can play this) but it is definitely not a kids game.

After the initial discussion and disappointment that Cubitos is not a Spongebob Squarepants themed game I set the game out and explained the rules of racing your runner around the track to become the Cubitos Champion.

Generally speaking, you start the game with 9 dice (7 light grey, 2 dark grey) which have mostly blank sides (maybe 1 or 2 sides with symbols on) and you have to roll the dice which can either give you money (to later spend on better dice) or movement points (to race around the track). Where the push your luck element comes in is that you can keep rolling as many times as you like (keeping dice that rolled on a face) but if you roll all “misses” you essentially bust and don’t get to keep anything. There are a few mitigation factors such as you get an extra chance if you bust before you get 3 active dice and there are a few catch up mechanics where you can get extra dice if someone falls far behind.

As you purchase other coloured dice they have extra abilities on them such as giving you extra money, speed boosters, bust mitigation and shortcuts.

To keep things fresh there are 4 different boards to choose from and each colour dice has about 6 different possibilities of its powers.

If you have played “Quacks of Quedlinburg” it is very similar mechanically.

Cubitos is definitely not a gateway game but it is a game that is very doable even with fairly young kids with a bit of patience. Jack(6) 100% understood the rules (it all came down to the last dice roll who won out of the 2 of us) and Toby(3) did absolutely fine with a bit of guidance on what each colour dice did.

Rolling the dice is fantastic fun and while it was frustrating for the boys when you bust the mixture of catch up mechanics ensures no one is ever too far behind and games stay pretty “neck and neck”

Cubitos is a fantastic game and we are def going to try and play this with my extended family at Xmas.

While I still think Quacks of Quedlinburg is a better game Cubitos is definitely more approachable for much younger kids as there is nothing hidden and you can easily help them through their turns.

A few words of warning. There are a LOT of dice and fiddly bits so setup and teardown time is surprisingly long for this type of middleweight game and we had to dig under the sofa a few times. It also filled up our entire coffee table.

Component quality is high and everything is nice and colourful. The game comes with these cardboard storage boxes that double up as trays which is nice. The cardboard could be a little higher quality but it all works well.

Cubitos normally sits around the “just over £40” mark. (EDIT FROM EARLIER THE £32 ONE WAS A GERMAN EDITION APOLOGIES FOR THE COFUSION)

Fantastic game and a definite permanent part of the Bailey collection.