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Dragon Farkle game review: Slay the dragon with the roll of dice
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The cardboard dragon, dice, player board and special companion are featured in the game. - photo by Ryan Morgenegg
The game Dragon Farkle takes a light-hearted approach to the business of slaying a dragon, and the game ends when said dragon is defeated. Each player represents a hero trying to acquire a bunch of soldiers, a few companions and some magical items to attack the dragon's keep and defeat it once and for all.

To begin the game, each player receives a player board, a companion, a magical item and a set of six dice in select colors. The central mechanic of this Yahtzee-inspired game is the roll of six dice plus a special die. Players are trying to get certain combinations in order to recruit soldiers to fight a dragon.

For example, a player rolls six six-sided dice and gets three 2s and three 4s. He or she looks at the soldier chart and determines that 600 soldiers have been recruited and he or she may choose to roll again. Every roll soldiers are gained, players may continue to press their luck, but if the dice are rolled without any recruitment, the player loses all soldiers accumulated that turn. Farkle!

Each player can also hire companions to help. Possessing only one companion at a time, players can use a companions special ability to break the rules. Magic items are also included in the game but typically can be used once and discarded. Magic items allow variety, spice and fun to the game.

Another option on a player's turn is to try and battle another player. Player's compete to recruit the most soldiers and whoever does the best job steals the difference from the two scores from the other player plus a bonus 500 soldiers from the bank. Huzzah!

When a player starts a turn with 5,000 or more soldiers, he or she may attack the dragon. This time when the dice are rolled, the recruitment number is actually the number of soldiers owned by the attacking player who is killed by the dragon. A special die rolled with a player's standard six indicates if none, one or two points of damage are done to the dragon each turn.

Dragon Farkle is a fun, fast-paced dice rolling game with a fantasy theme and some interesting options to spice it up. It's a quick game that could be played in 30 minutes while waiting for more people to arrive at game night or when time is limited. It accommodates two to five people and is published by Z-Man Games. Check out more details at Zmangames.com.