Play Matt: Dice Forge Review

They slide out, as neat and contended as eggs in...

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Hrm. I never would have looked at this game if you hadn't reviewed it. I tend to dismiss most dice games as simplistic, despite the extremely technical knowledge needed to be successful at classic dice games like craps. However, you've made it sound quite interesting and, as I look over at BGG, it has ridiculously high ratings for what, again, sounds like a thin game. You've even set the table for those thoughts by speaking about how you feel it lacks staying power.

Interestingly, it seems like the designers agreed with you, given that the expansion released this year carries this in its description: "... thirty exploit cards as well as new die faces, new boards, and an expansion to the sanctuary box are added to offer players new challenges, greater interaction, and more replayability." Most expansions are pitched as "here's even greater stuff to do with our already great game" or are obviously presented as "here's stuff that was part of the original design that we backed out for a number of reasons." (see: Riverfolk expansion for Root, for example.) I wonder if the concepts in Rebellion were added after they knew they had a hit, but that it wouldn't last, or if they knew it wouldn't last to begin with? But that's the type of game that I'd never expect to see with as high a ranking as Dice Forge has at BGG (although it's become harder to read any distinct messages out of the ranking over there as the years have passed.)