Yahtzee Adventures review

Now that we’ve all got cellphones and large pockets to hold them, we don’t need boards, but oh so often we’re still bored. Instead of whipping out a board, EA Mobile has brought new life to a game that previously caused so much frustration and was so time consuming, and made it worth playing over and over again.

For those unfamiliar with Yahtzee, it’s a game of dice in which players try to get the highest score possible using five dice. As always, the higher the score the better, and achieving high scores revolves around getting sets, essentially like poker (three of a kind, four of a kind, straights, etc.). Bonus points are awarded for two things: earning 63 points or over on first-tiered dice (# of a kind), or by earning multiple Yahtzees per game (five of a kind).

So, you’re asking yourself, why is this so special? Imagine not having to wait for your mathematically challenged friends, or for the person who insists on shaking the dice-cup until the stars have aligned and the luck is “just right.” Digitizing the dice-rolling eliminates all of that and allows for faster and more fluid gameplay. It’s all the good of Yahtzee with none of the bad.

This makes a 15-20 minute game turn into a two-five minute game with a friend, if you’re going slow. Of course, EA Mobile wasn’t content with just including the standard Yahtzee, and added on an entire single-player campaign that acts as a tutorial for those unfamiliar with the game. When I first received Yahtzee for the iPhone, I didn’t know how to play the game, and the campaign did an excellent job of teaching it through playing, instead of having a slow and dull tutorial go through each and every step of the game.

The true addiction comes from custom play, which includes four gametypes: Classic, Rainbow (my personal favorite), Duplicate and Battle. Rainbow is like classic Yahtzee, except the dice come in one of three colors and additional points can be earned by collecting five dice of a single color (a flush). Duplicate literally gives all players identical dice, which is great fun with multiple players, or for learners against the AI. Finally, Battle uses a completely different game in which players must lower the scores of everyone else instead of earning more points for themselves.

Each mode can be played with up to four players, including AI or friends, and each is a delightfully corrupting experience. When you win, it’s oh-so-satisfying, and when you lose, it’s almost like a challenge that forces you to play again. Since each game is so short, barely five minutes in length, it’s easy to get lost in seemingly endless streaks of games.

When I say that Yahtzee Adventures is addictive, I do not mean like Doodle Jump, in which you fight for higher scores every time and feel pangs of frustration when you mess up. With Yahtzee Adventures, you’ll cringe when the AI gets the roll you needed. You’ll cheer when you get a Yahtzee, but slump down when your opponent gets one too. This isn’t a high-score achievement type of game, but after earning 623 points myself and being commended by EA Mobile for it, I can safely say that this game is a monster. It will eat away at every free moment you have if you let it, and you’ll never even know the time was gone.