I have always been a fan of Yahtzee, the fast paced dice game from my childhood.  For those of you who are not familiar, you start with five dice (6 sided).  You will have three rolls to make the best “hand” you can.  Hands consist of matching sets of a particular number (such as 3-6’s) or rows of 4 or 5 (1,2,3,4,5) or a variety of special combos.  Don’t worry, though, there is a scorecard which keeps you in line.  Anyway, when I saw that Yahtzee was available for my iPod Touch, I just had to give it a try.

The first time I loaded Yahtzee Adventures, however, I could see that this was more than I had bargained for.  This is not just roll the dice and add up your points.  I mean, sure you can always play traditional Yahtzee (also called Classic), but the folks at Electronic Arts have done a fantastic job of creating three additional game modes, which could never have been done with physical dice.

Rainbow.  In Rainbow Yahtzee, the dice are constantly changing color.  While all of the rules of Classic Yahtzee are in play and unaffected by the color of the dice, you also have additional scoring opportunities by matching the colors as well as the numbers.

Duplicate.  This is a great opportunity to play What If.  Here, you and your computer opponent will always play with the same dice.  Whatever you roll, he (or she) rolls.  So, it gives you a chance to see what could have happened if you had played your dice differently.

Battle.  This is by far the most unique mode of play.  Here, each player starts with 100 points.  Rather than trying to score the most points, use your scoring dice to attack an opponent.  The rolls are scored just like traditional Yahtzee, but your points will be deducted from the score of the player you attack rather than added to yours.  Obviously, if your score drops to 0 then you are eliminated.  However, there are certain rolls which can also replenish your score, so watch for those opportunities as well.

In addition to these playing modes, however, you can also take the Yahtzee dice on a vast adventure, in which you will meet a wide variety of opponents.  These adventures will force you to dual against some of the best Yahtzee-ers (is that a word) in the Yahtzee Adventures universe.  Along the way, you will collect a variety of Yahtzee based awards and unlock all 10 player biographies.

Finally, there are14 challenges covering aspects in all of the game modes.  These are difficult to accomplish, but not impossible by any means (such as scoring over 400 in Rainbow Yahtzee).  I do have to admit, though, that there is one challenge which I cannot figure out.   The Minimalist requires you to score 5 in a game.  I cannot figure out what that means or how to do it.

When I downloaded this game, I was really just looking for a decent Yahtzee game to kill some time.  I was really not expecting all of the extra features and modes, which really made this game superb.  In fact, now playing a game of classic Yahtzee seems so pedestrian.  Why just roll the dice and add up scores, when you can play with rapidly changing colors, or better yet attack your opponent with your scores as you go.  It is a rare game which turns my expectations upside down and simply dazzles me, but this one got there and so much more.  Add to that the fact that the AI and graphics were both excellent, and I suspect I will be enjoying Yahtzee Adventures for quite some time.

What I Liked: The new modes added an exciting new angle to a classic game.

What Needs Improvement: I though the Adventure component could have been developed more.  I raced through it in a matter of hours.

Developer: Electronic Arts

Price: $2.99

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