Army vs Aliens, Pirates vs Ninjas, Robots vs Dinosaurs Dice Games

 A head-to-head dice game. Work on those palmar arches!

 

Army vs Aliens, Pirates vs Ninjas and Robots vs Dinosaurs are one-on-one dice elimination games (each set sold separately). I like dice games because they offer a natural opportunity for repeatedly cupping the hand to hold and shake dice, and this one has a lot of dice. Cupping the hand(s) is one way to help develop stable palmar arches. Stable palmar arches contribute to all kinds of things - skilled movement of your fingers, legible handwriting, in-hand manipulation skills - so you could say the two go hand-in-hand. The game comes with a dice cup for each side, but we just set those aside.

The object of the game is to force your opponent to eliminate all of his (10) dice before he can force you to eliminate all of yours. The dice are plastic, about the size of a standard die and have stickers on each side. The place where the sticker goes is indented, so maybe the stickers will last longer since they are not touching the surface when they land. I have not had any problem with a sticker coming off yet. Each player has a different color dice so they are easy to tell apart when thrown in the same playing space.  

The rules may seem complicated at first, but get easier for most as you repeatedly use them over and over. The game will take thought and the ability to apply basic logic and strategy, but is also largely based on the luck of the throw of the dice. Each game has four basic rules in addition to multiple special rules that relate to that particular game. Each person will get 2 panel cards for reference, one for your rules and one for your opponents rules. It sounds complicated, but all have picked up the rules quickly as they play. Below are images of the rules. Click on them for a larger view if you want to read them.

Click for larger view.

Object:
Force your opponent to eliminate all of his dice before he forces you to eliminate all of yours.

Set Up:
Give each player two panel cards for reference. Figure out who will be who and each person takes the appropriate can of dice and removes the lid.

Play:
The first player throws all of his dice. On each turn you have a choice of attacking your opponent to eliminate dice, or rallying, which is throwing the dice in your cup and any from the combat zone that you want to throw. What you do next will depend on how the dice landed. Refer to the rule cards above for specifics. Play until someone loses all their dice.

Try this:

• Chuck the cup. Use your hands to mix and throw the dice.  You will start with 10 dice, so you will probably need to cup one hand over the other to shake.
• Count to 10 or tell a joke about a pirate, dinosaur, alien etc. before throwing the dice to keep the hands in that position longer. Come prepared with your own jokes because they are not included.
• Put the game away by picking up one die at a time and squirreling it into the palm. Pick up as many as you can before putting them away by the handful.
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, visual scanning, executive functioning skills, manual dexterity, in-hand manipulation, palmar arch development, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In each box: 20 dice, 4 panel cards, 2 cups