Pop Your Kernels But Don't Get Burned in Popcorn Dice

Roll the dice, pop all the kernels, and avoid any burnt corn; because nothing ruins a lovely helping of popcorn like burnt ones!

A 10-15 minute push-your-luck game for 2-6 players by Van Ryder Games, Popcorn Dice is all about deciding how much popcorn you can get popped without overcooking it!

Gameplay

On your turn, put all the dice into the dice bucket, and roll them. There are four possible results: kernel, pop, double pop, and burnt.

All kernels go back into the bucket automatically. Any burnt dice are set aside. Pop dice are worth one point and double pop are worth two points. You can choose to return a double pop to the bucket to also return a burnt die, but only if they were both rolled at the same time, during the current roll.

If you only rolled kernels and burnt popcorn, you stop rolling and move on to scoring. If you have four or more burnt popcorn set aside, then your turn ends and you do not get to score. Otherwise, you can choose whether to reroll all the dice in the bucket again or to end your turn and score. If you manage to roll pops and double pops on all your dice, this is the perfect pop and you win the game (after everyone has had an even number of turns to make sure no one else gets a perfect pop). Otherwise, you score the pop and double pops you rolled.

The game ends once someone has reached 30 points, and everyone has had an equal number of turns. The player with the most points wins.

Review

Popcorn Dice is simple, it’s really fast, and its fun. There are not a lot of rules. You can have the game taught in a minute, and it has a nice flow to the gameplay. The rules are really distilled down to the core push-your-luck element, which is straightforward and engaging. Do you want to roll again and risk more burnt popcorn? Or do you want to bank your popped corn now? Do you want to save your double pops for points or use them to return burnt corn to the bucket?

Getting a perfect pop is not impossible, and helps to ensure that no one is ever completely out of the game. There is always that possibility, no matter how far behind you fall in points.

The game is quite portable. You could make it even more so by traveling with just the dice and keeping the box at home. It’s really aesthetically pleasing, with the game box being a popcorn bucket, and while it’s a bit noisy to use the box to roll the dice, it’s also pretty fun. Unfortunately, no scorepad is included, but it’s easy to grab a scrap of paper.

If you like these kinds of really streamlined, simple dice games, Popcorn Dice is beautiful in its simplicity. It's fun, nicely designed, doesn’t try to overcomplicate anything, has a couple of interesting design choices, and has an enjoyable theme and table presence.

Pros: Looks great, so fast to teach and play, everyone always has a chance to win

Cons: No scorepad, if you roll the dice in the bucket it can be quite a loud game

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.