Dice Monsters

Hi there! I'm a 5th grade elementary school teacher, and I love to use games in teaching and reinforcing mathematical concepts - I thought I'd share a little something with you since it involves the use of one of your games.

This past summer I had the opportunity to teach a three week mathematics mini course as part of our district's summer enrichment program for a group of fourth graders. I was able to choose the topic so I focused on probability in games. As a part of the course we did a lot of tinkering with various polyhedral dice, and in the course of things it came to me that "Button Men" would be a neat game to analyze. I took the basic rules mechanics and paraphrased the rules, eliminating the actual buttons and "X" die, and presented the game as a pencil/paper game called "Dice Monsters" (playing up to the average 5th grader's current Pokemon fanaticism). After playing with four basic Dice Monsters that I made for demo purposes, the kids studied the probability of winning with various die type combinations/ numbers of dice in theory and practice. I then had the kids design their own and fight each other with their creations. The design limitations were to have no more than 50 total "sides" in their creations, with no less than four dice and no more than six dice. Toward the end we even got into tinkering with the addition of "2 sided dice" by adding coins to the mix. Overall, it was one of the top rated activities in my mini-course - the kids had a blast with it and learned a lot at the same time. I've included the rules for "Dice Monsters" as I presented them to the kids below (for laughs if nothing else).

That's about it - just thought I'd share. Thanks for making such great games!

Matthew Steflik

Dice Monsters

Players: 2

Playing Time: about 10 minutes

Equipment: One Dice Monster for each player, and several polyhedral dice.

Summary of Play: Players are Monster Trainers, whose Monsters fight several rounds of combat, rolling dice and capturing each other's dice. The first player to win three rounds wins the game. Dice Monsters is a modified version of the great game "Button Men" created by James Ernest.

The Dice: Each Monster uses several dice of different sizes, as specified by the numbers on that Monster's sheet. Generally, small dice mean speed, and large dice mean strength.

To Begin: Take all of your Monster's dice and roll them. Arrange the dice in a row in value from lowest number to the greatest number so they can be easily read. Whoever rolled the single lowest number will go first. If the lowest dice are tied, compare the next lowest dice, and so on until a starter is determined.

On Each Turn: You must make either a Power Attack or Skill Attack if you can. These attacks are explained below:

Power Attack: Use one of your dice to capture one of your opponent's dice. The number showing on your die must be greater than or equal to the number showing on the die you capture. Take the captured die out of play, then re-roll the capturing die.

Skill Attack: Use several of your dice to capture one of your opponent's dice. In this attack, your dice must add up exactly to the value showing on the die you capture. Remove the captured die from play, and re-roll all the capturing dice.

Passing: You may not pass unless you cannot make any legal attack.

Scoring: When both players pass, the round is over. Calculate your score as follows: For each die you captured, you score its size in points. For example, a captured 8-sided die is worth 8 points. For each die of your own which you kept, you score half its size. So, keeping your own 8-sided die is worth only 4 points. The highest score wins the round, and the first player to win three rounds wins the game.

Ties: If any round is a draw, re-play it.

Example of Play: Shown below are the starting rolls for two Dice Monsters. The size of each die is not shown, but the rolls are:

Bill: 2 4 5 13 18

Sarah: 2 2 6 9 13

Sarah goes first because she rolled the lowest single number, not counting the first pair of 2's, which cancel out. She can't take Bill's 18, because she can't add to it exactly, and she can't overpower it with a single die. She could take Bill's 13 with her 13, or by adding 9, 2, and 2.

She decides to take Bill's 13. She removes the captured 13 from play, and re-rolls her 9, 2, and 2. Now it's Bill's turn.

Sample Dice Monsters: Here's a few basic Dice Monsters to play with.

TORCHY - A fiery Dice Monster that's pretty quick, but is a little weak in attack power..

Dice: 6 8 8 8 20

DRIPPY - A wet Dice Monster that's a little slow, but has pretty strong attack power.

Dice: 6 10 10 12 12

GUSTY - A windy Dice Monster that's really quick, but is weak overall in attack power.

Dice: 4 4 6 6 10 20

STONEY - A rocky Dice Monster that's really slow, but has very strong attackpower.

Dice: 8 10 12 20