Take a step back to Ancient Egypt in this abstract strategy dice game where you will be trying get groups of your symbol together. Read more to find out our thought about this game and see if it is a game to your collection or be one that should be lost to the sands of time.
When I bought the game I was at Airecon and speaking with the designer Andrew Harmon over a demo of this game. I have enjoyed many of Yay Games games over the years though this was one that seemed to have passed me by in previous years so thought I would give this game a try.
First Impressions
Upon looking at the front of the game box not much stood out to me from the cover of the game box as the artwork is nice though the writing gets a little lost on the box as your eye gets drawn to the dice in the foreground due to the lighting. On the rear of the box there is a great description of the game and a brief description of how the game plays which I really liked as it helps you know right away what type of game this is. The components for the game are good quality for the cost of the game the board is made of sturdy cardboard and the wooden dice have been well produced with the artwork on each face being easily legible.
Game Play Overview
Ominoes is a game of dice and abstract strategy where each player will choose a colour or symbol to play as and score points by grouping them together. In a 2 player game players play as 2 colours while in a 3 player game each player has there own colour and everyone can score the remaining colour. To start the game each player takes it in turns to add an Ominoe (a die) to the board with their colour face up till two dice are placed as such and then they take a die and roll it and place it out on to the board. Once this is complete the game is ready to start.
The game is played over a series of turns with each player resolving the following three steps Roll an Ominoe, Move an Ominoe and Add an Ominoe. When you Roll an Ominoe you will take a die from the supply and roll it the face it shows will tell you what dice to move in the next phase. During the Move an Ominoe phase you will choose to move any die of a matching colour exactly 3 space.
If Yay-Ra was rolled in the previous step you may move any die 3 spaces while if you roll Ominotep you will be able to re-roll a die already in play and place it back where it has come from. Lastly you move on to the Add an Ominoe step where you add the die you rolled at the beginning of your turn onto the board. If at the end of your turn their 4 or more dice of your own colour in a group you can score them by removing them from the board and scoring a number of victory points equal to the number of dice removed
Play continues as above with each player taking turns until one player gets 13 victory points in a 3 or 4 player game or 21 in 2 player game. Once this has been met the game is over and the first player to reach the winning value of victory points is the winner.
Pros and Cons
I really liked how easy this game is to set up and play making such a good game to start an evening. I would say though that the game can get repetitive if you play multiple games of it in a row due to its one victory condition. On flip side though due to it only having a single victory condition it makes it a great game to teach new players and is perfect for getting the family involved in a game. Due to this game mostly using symbols and numbers it is great for a mixed ability group and the rules come in 6 different languages which I thought was fantastic for a small independently published game.
Final Verdict
Overall, I enjoyed playing this game and can see myself taking it off the shelf when I have people over who enjoy lighter games or when family comes to visit. The movement and placement of the dice offers a fun strategic puzzle while a little bit of randomness allowing the game to stay fresh while playing. I would not recommend this game for a group of avid gamers due to the light nature of the game not offering enough strategy to keep everyone engaged though it is a great game to play with a mixed ability group.
In conclusion, we would rate this game a 8/10
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