Yamslam
Overall Rating: 10/10
Age: 8+
GLAM Age Range: 6-Adult
Number of Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 15 min
Publisher: Blue Orange Games
Complexity: Low
Available At: Amazon.com
Quick Take: I love variations of classic games and this is one of the best I've seen. Simple and quick to play, it's Yahtzee with a little more strategy and fewer penalties. You also don't have to keep track of your score on paper, there are poker type chips you collect over the course of the game that my kids are more than a little obsessed with. I like that unlike traditional Yahtzee, it's more interactive in how you play because you are competing with one another for a shared amount of chips. I also really appreciate the felt covered space for rolling the dice in the center of the game. It makes everything very self contained so there's basically no set-up for the game and I greatly appreciate a dice game that's actually quiet! There are a handful of games that I will say yes to anytime my kids want to play and this is one of them.
How to Play: You are trying to end the game with more points than your opponents. You have three chances to roll the dice with five total dice and you set aside the dice you want to keep and reroll the others as needed. But the twist is that you're competing for a total of four of each kind of dice roll: Large straight, four of a kind, full house, flush, small straight, three of a kind, and two pairs. Once the chip is gone for an item, you can no longer get points for that roll and if you can't collect a chip of any sort you must discard a chip from game play. A Yamslam is when you get five of the same number and whenever you get this you get to pick whatever highest value chip is left and get an extra turn. There are official bonuses in the rules for collecting all four of one of the chips or for collecting one of each type of chip. Add up your points and bonuses once all the chips have been collected and see who has the most points!
Variations: They have official variations listed at the back of their rules sheet, which I love. You can go for the top score of multiple games and you can do team play for a 4 player game. Also, there's the option for playing 1 player which actually works quite well and you challenge yourself to get as close as possible to the best possible score of 1000.
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