Spots review

CMYK | 1 to 4 players | 10+ | 30 minutes

Can you fill all the Spots? 

Spots is a push-your-luck game all about dots. Who would have guessed? And there are quite a few of them: dots on cards, dots on dice, dots everywhere you look. But what are you actually supposed to do with all those dots? And just how far are you willing to push your luck?

Let’s start with the goal of the game. You want to be the first player to complete six dog cards. You complete a dog card by filling it with dice. Each card has one or more spaces where dice can be placed. A die can be placed when the number you rolled matches the number of dots shown on the card. See? It really is all about dots.

So how does all that dice rolling work? On your turn, you choose one of the available action tiles on the table. Most actions let you roll one or more dice, sometimes more than once. After rolling, you check whether you can place the dice on your cards. Can you place all of them? Lucky you. The question is: do you roll again? Great, those dice fit too. But do you dare roll one more time? That is where the real tension starts, because sooner or later your luck is going to run out.

Rolled dice you cannot place? That is unfortunate. Luckily, dogs love digging, so you can bury those dice in your yard. You cannot keep doing that forever though, because that would be a little too easy. If the buried dice add up to more than seven dots, you get caught. That means removing all the dice you had placed on your cards and starting over.

Do you like treats? Dogs definitely do. You can use treats to reroll your dice and hopefully get a better result this time, so you do not have to bury them in the yard.

Once you complete a dog card, you can score it. Are you the luckiest player at the table and the first to score your sixth card? Then you win Spots!

Spots is not a game that will fill an entire evening, but it definitely deserves a spot in the spotlight. It is perfect for those moments when you want to play something quick, or when you do not have much time but still want a bit of tension at the table. The rules are simple and setup is done in no time. 

The game is for 1 to 4 players, but in our experience it works best with 3 or 4. With more players, there are fewer action tiles available when your turn comes around, which makes the push-your-luck element even more tense. The action you really wanted may already be gone, leaving you with one that forces you to take a bigger risk. That means everyone ends up watching the dice roll with you. Will it work out, or does everything fall apart? 

Every dog card features a unique dog illustration, and each dog even has its own name. There are also several different action tiles in the box, giving you plenty of variety between games. 

You can also play Spots solo, although with all those loyal four-legged friends around you are never really alone. In solo mode, you play against an AI called h0nd. Once again, your goal is to complete six dog cards before your opponent does. H0nd starts with one treat. On the AI’s turn, you roll a die. The number rolled corresponds to one of the action tiles on the table. Roll a two, for example, and you flip over the second action tile, meaning you can no longer choose it on your turn. As soon as h0nd has two treats, it automatically scores the top card of the dog deck. So make sure h0nd does not steal all those treats right from under your nose!

Spots is a game where pushing your luck too far can cost you everything. You do need to be able to handle that ;-) Of course, you can play it safe, but that is not really what this game is about. Is Spots only about luck? Not quite. There are still some tactical choices to make when selecting your action tile. You can even grab the exact action someone else was hoping for, forcing them into a riskier turn and increasing the chance that they lose everything. 

Spots is simply a fun game with just enough tension, where you definitely want luck on your side. Thanks to its simple rules and quick setup, it is very accessible and easy to get to the table with almost anyone.