Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice
(2014, 2nd Ed.)
Designed by: Mark Rivera
Published by: Backspindle Games
Players: 2-6
Age: 8+
Play Time: 15 minutes
Overview:
In Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice you take on the "roll" of a luchador, battling it out in the wrestling arena. Throw dice, elbows, and chairs to knock out your opponent, or try to end it early with a pin.
Main Mechanics:
Dice Rolling
Variable player abilities
Components Review: Like most people, I love a game with great components, and Luchador! is on the top ropes with these. The game is played with dice and cards, but Backspindle also includes a play area, some standees, and luchador meeples. Starting with the dice. Simply put, they're great. Really colorful and easy to read. The luchador die is also bigger, adding thematically to the feeling of a signature move. The cards have a glossy, linen finish and are large, making them easier to see, but they also include a lot of information about your character. The standees are fine, standard cardboard, and mostly add to the theme. The same is true for the meeple, though in my opinion, the luchador meeples are fantastic! Lastly, and the most exciting, Luchador! includes an awesome 3D wrestling ring, to roll your dice in and act as the play area. This is easily one of the coolest play areas of any game I own, and really does add to the theme of the game, battling it out with dice.
How to play:
Luchador! played over a serious of rounds. Each round players simultaneously roll their four wrestling dice, resolving each. Possible outcomes are: Miss, Hit, Block, Counter, Pin.
Miss - Set aside, you missed. Sorry.
Hits - players roll a green hit die to see what kind of hit they do, from a simple stomp or elbow, to a table smash.
Block - paired with an opponents hit die, cancelling the attack
Counter - paired with an opponents hit die, countering the attack. The countering player rolls the hit die instead.
Pins - If a player is pinable (below a certain health), players roll a yellow pin die to see their success, either initiating a pin, failing, or pumping up the crowd and regaining health. If a pin is rolled on the pin die, the opponent then has three tries to escape.
Luchador! - If a player rolls two hits they can choose to roll the Luchador! die instead of 2 green dice. This die allows the player to roll for a signature move and the potential to do even more damage.
Once all dice are rolled, with hits, pins, and Luchador! dice resolved, the round ends and the process is repeated. The game continues this way until a player is knocked out or pinned.
Gameplay Review:
As soon as you enter the ring, you can tell that Luchador! knows what it is, a simple, quick, friendly, fun, luck-based game. I will start with what I like most. I really like when a simple game has lots of game modes. In Luchador! you can play 1 v. 1, Tag Team, or Free-for-All, with either normal or advanced rules. This provides six possible ways to play, yet the games are short enough that after a few games you can try them all to see what you prefer or like from each. I really enjoyed 1 v. 1 and Free-for-All using the advanced game mode, because while it didn't become strategy game of the year, it simply provided more choices of what to do; Is it better to get in some hits now, or try to set up a killer combo? This gives the game the right amount of depth for me, for a dice game. With the hit die, at first I wasn't sure why I had to roll a hit, then roll to see what kind of hit, but once you start, it makes perfect sense. Rolling to see if you get to hit someone with a chair is just so fun!
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I enjoyed Luchador! It falls into a few categories for me. It's a great naptime game; a game quick enough that my wife and I can play while kids sleep. This also makes it a great filler game, as it's easy to learn and plays are short. It would be a great brewery game; it has a small footprint, really all you need are the dice and cards to make it more portable. Because of each of these factors, Luchador! definitely has a place on our shelf. I will add, that you need to embrace the theme. If you just sit there silently, you probably won't enjoy the game as much. So embrace the theme, count that pin, swing a chair, have fun!
These are my honest thoughts, but a big, big thank you to Backspindle Games for sending me a copy of the game to review.
Purchase Luchador: Mexican Wrestling Dice: https://amzn.to/2QVvw6z