I love casinos, well, fake ones anyway. I have only been to a casino once and I will be honest, they are not places I should be going. I get far too involved and have a very addictive nature. In board games though, it’s a different story. Get me in there, let me lose all my cash and have a right hoot while doing so.
Las Vegas, the board game, I have seen in its many guises. It is always something I have wanted to play, something that would fit in many of my game groups and has that easy-to-play, raucous party style that people love. Roll some dice, screw your friends over and shout at everyone. What more could you want?
I love casinos, well, fake ones anyway. I have only been to a casino once and I will be honest, they are not places I should be going. I get far too involved and have a very addictive nature. In board games though, it’s a different story. Get me in there, let me lose all my cash and have a right hoot while doing so.
Las Vegas, the board game, I have seen in its many guises. It is always something I have wanted to play, something that would fit in many of my game groups and has that easy-to-play, raucous party style that people love. Roll some dice, screw your friends over and shout at everyone. What more could you want?
Get Ready to Roll
Las Vegas is a combination of a dice-rolling game and an area control game, all dressed up in a party suit. After getting the 6 casinos out of the box, you lay out some cash at each one and give each player dice in their colour. You're off and running in mere minutes and that’s what you want from a game of this weight and complexity.
You will be taking turns rolling dice and assigning them to casinos. You will be trying to wrestle casinos and their cash away from other players. We all know that dice are evil and no matter how well you plan, they will always have the last laugh.
Simple Rounds
Your turn in Las Vegas is simple: roll all of your dice and assign all of 1 number. Each of the game's base casinos has a dice number on them; you take all of your dice with the same number and place them upon the matching casino. Do you pile a large number of dice to secure the big monies or do you place a small number of dice, leaving yourself more flexibility in the future? The choice is yours.
The play then moves around with each player continuing to roll and place dice, nudging each other away from each casino’s payout. This continues until all players have placed all of their dice. There are a few vital but small wrinkles to this system. Firstly, every player has a slightly larger die that counts as 2 when tallying up who won at each casino. Secondly, if any players have a matching amount of dice at a casino, they are wiped out, which can be brutal! You never quite know until the last dice are rolled who is getting what.
You could your last die in a casino as it's your only option, with 2 other players who have loads more dice there, you wouldn't think you would get anything out of it. On their last turn, they roll that number, tie with each other and give all the money to you. Due to you having to place dice each turn, especially towards the end of the round, wild things can happen, with players being pushed out and others taking cash, even though they did not have a chance. It's this alone which makes this game exciting and hilariously exhilarating.
Give Me the Moolah!
At the start of the round, each casino is assigned 2 random banknotes. These can range from 10,000 to 100,000 and the winner of each casino gets to choose first, with the second place at each casino picking up what’s left. The randomness of the draw and how lively the dice placement can be, each round is very different. Throw in that dice can be very evil at the best of times and you have a fun and never predictable excursion.
In the Box
Everything in the box for this latest printing of Las Vegas is very well made. The dice are lovely, the cardboard thick and everything just works. My only criticism is that some players find it hard sometimes to tell the larger and smaller dice apart. Perhaps a little size adjustment would serve it well. It's not a gamebreaker by any means; people normally notice in the end.
Variants
There are a couple of variants in the box, which I will usually play with. Firstly, there’s a variant for lower player count games, which gives every player a die or two of another colour. These dice act like a non-human player; they just add more kicking each other out of casinos and make the rounds more dynamic.
The other variant is for 5 or 6 players and introduces another casino with slightly differing rules from the rest. You can place any die number here, apart from a number that already exists at that casino. Ties are not fatal here either; if 2 players are tied on the number of dice, then it's decided by the pips on the dice instead. Lots of weird things can happen at this casino and it really adds a bit more choice to every roll.
Final Thoughts
I started out playing Las Vegas and thinking it was shallow and dumb. However, the more I played it and with more players, the game's entertainment and tactics started to appear to me. If you have the right group, it can get very stabby and cutthroat, putting dice in casinos just to take money off your friends never gets old. Even if it offers you no benefit, the entertainment alone is worth it. There's shouting and name-calling aplenty, which I adore.
The components are good, it takes nearly no time to play and everyone, even your nan, can get involved. Las Vegas is a near-perfect party game, nearly zero rules but loads of width and breadth for tomfoolery and back-stabbing. It will be staying in my collection for a long time indeed.
