Nice Buns Review

This article originally appeared in issue 62 of Tabletop Gaming. Pick up the latest issue of the UK's fastest-growing gaming magazine in print or digital here or subscribe to make sure you never miss another issue.

Giving your game a pun name is always a sure-fire way to get attention as people either giggle childishly to themselves or groan at the clever wordplay. Nice Buns, as you might expect, had us giggling as everytime one of us won we’d get the opportunity to say “those are some nice buns.” It’s the simple things in life and Nice Buns captures that in every aspect.

The premise is that you are trying to collect three coloured sets of steamed bao buns on your plate. To do this you roll the three dice and take the actions that you roll which can be – draw from the bag, put one of your non-plated buns back in the bag, take from the serving tray, give a bun to another player, steal a bun, or swap a bun. So far so straightforward but Nice Buns throws a curveball. The player that rolls the dice chooses how to split them up; small and big dice to one side with the medium to the other or any combination thereof. But the player to the left gets first choice of these sets and the player that rolled gets what remains and this is where the strategy comes in. If your opponent has two red buns and one of the dice lets them draw a red bun from the serving plate, you want to find a way to discourage them from taking that dice or offer it up as juicy bait all on its own so you can take the other dice and have more actions.

While the strategy is light it’s present enough to feel like the game isn’t entirely dependent on the roll of a dice… though drawing three of the same colour from the steamer bag and winning out of sheer dumb luck is a pretty good feeling.

ANNA BLACKWELL

PLAY IT? Yes

Time: 30 minutes

Players: 2-6

Ages: 10+

Price: £30

Designer: Big Potato Games

Publisher: Big Potato Games

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