We’ll gladly take Take It Or Leave It

It’s time to pull out another fun family dice game – Take It Or Leave It!

If your family loves games that involve rolling dice and simple, light games that have a lot of luck with a bit of strategy mixed in, then Take It Or Leave It might be just what you’re after.

Can the whole family enjoy Take It Or Leave It?
We’ll give you a hint on this question. Take It Or Leave It is made by Gamewright.

Is that enough of a clue to know that this dice game is great for families of all ages?

If you’ve seen many of our game reviews, you’re probably already familiar with a number of Gamewright games. They make great family board games, card games, kids games, cooperative game, and yes – dice games.

Take It Or Leave It can be enjoyed by anyone in the family who can add and tell colors. And if your kids aren’t quite that old yet, then team up together and teach them along the way.

How to play Take It Or Leave It

In Take It Or Leave It 2 to 5 players compete to complete their Combo Cards to earn the most points over a number of rounds. To do so, players take turns removing one die at a time from the dice tray.

To start, each player receives 4 Combo Cards and 1 Action Card. Then, depending on the number of players, put the prescribed combination of dice in the dice tray. For example, with 4 players it will include 8 Orange dice, 8 Blue, and 2 Red (Wild) dice. The first player then rolls all the dice in the dice tray.

That player then chooses to either take one of the dice from they tray or pass. Once a player chooses to pass, they are done being able to select any more dice from the tray that round. After that player has taken a die or passed, the next player in clockwise order chooses to take a die or pass. The round continues until all the dice are taken or everyone has passed.

Combo Cards

Before moving on to how to score each round, we better explain the Combo Cards. Each Combo card in the game is worth a number of points for completing it. As you’d expect, cards worth more points are more difficult to complete and range from 1 to 5 points.

The picture to the right will show you a few examples of the different point values of some of the Combo cards.

At the end of the round, players match up the dice they’ve taken with a similar die symbol on their Combo cards. Each die taken can only be used on one card. If all of the die symbols on a player’s card have a corresponding die, then that player earns the points on the card.

For each die that a player took that he/she can not use, they receive a Red Chip that equals a negative point.

In addition to the orange and blue dice, there are also Red dice available which are Wild and can be used as either a Blue or Orange die (number on it doesn’t change). But if a player uses the Wild die, then they also take a Red Chip (minus point). So use those Wild dice with caution.

Action Cards
Each round, every player also holds 1 Action card that they can use on their turn (before taking a die). The Action cards let the players manipulate the dice in various ways. Some cards let players re-roll all the dice or certain colors of dice. Some cards let players swap numbers on blue and orange dice. And other cards let players increase or decrease the value on a die by a set amount.

As you can see, well-used Action cards can add in a bit of strategy to the game.

Once players have recorded their scores for the round, they can choose to discard one of their remaining cards. Completed or used cards are discarded and non-scored Combo cards or non-used Action cards are kept. Players can then choose to discard 1 card from their hand. Then everyone draws back up to 4 Combo cards and 1 Action card and the next round begins. The next player in turn order rolls all the dice in the tray and on it goes.

The rules suggest a certain number of rounds depending on the number of players, but it’s really up to you to decide how many rounds, or how long you’d like to play.

The mix of Luck and Strategy
Take It Or Leave It has a lot of luck and chance. The first bit of luck is in the card draw. Every Combo card is different and some rounds players may not have any high value cards and as such may not be able to score a lot of points in a particular round. And while Action cards can help out a lot during a round, a player may not have the Action card they need most to manipulate the die just right. Then add to that the obvious luck of the random dice rolls.

However, even with all those elements of luck, players do get to make choices on their turn about which die to take, which to leave, when to pass, and when to use their Action card.

But overall, the scale definitely tips in favor of more luck than strategy in Take It Or Leave It. But that usually isn’t a problem when looking for a fun, light game to play with the whole family that gives everyone a chance to win.

How does Take It Or Leave It score on the “Let’s Play Again” game meter?
Take It Or Leave It scores high on our “let’s play again” game meter. Once we’ve played a full game we’ll either find ourselves starting a new game because it’s so easy to do or we’ll just play more rounds. The same has held true when we’ve played it with our scout troop of boys.

The part they love the most is when they take a die from the tray and another boy cries out in agony because that’s the die the other boy needed to complete a high point value card and now they’ll be stuck with minus points. In other words, they’ll dash each other’s hopes all night long and have a great time doing it.

Thanks again Gamewright for yet another great family game – this time with dice!

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