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Players: 2-4 (ages 8+)
Playing Time: 15-30 minutes
For either the avid .nightsandweekends.com/articles/08/NW0800638.php>Farkle fan or the beginner, Farkle Frenzy is easily played as a new twist on an old favorite. The basic rules of Farkle still apply here, but I’ll review them quickly for any newcomers to the party.
Farkle is a basic points-based game. Players roll the dice on each turn. You set aside any dice that are worth points and can then choose to continue rolling the rest. However, if at any time you roll and can’t set aside any more dice for points, then you’ve “farkled” and must forfeit the points you’ve rolled for that round. In the end, the object of the game is to be the player with the highest score over 10,000 points.
Now, here’s how Farkle Frenzy differs from the original:
First and foremost, Farkle Frenzy game play is a lot faster, since there are no individual turns—players roll their dice at the same time. It’s also a bit more exciting for a dice game (mainly because you don’t have to sit around watching each other roll time and again). There’s no worry either about which dice belong to which person. Each player has a brightly colored set, so it’s a snap to see who rolled what. The only downside to this method of play? You can only have up to four players, since each person uses his or her own colored dice.
Both games require you to roll a minimum number of points at the beginning of play in order to start accumulating points on your score sheet. In Farkle, you have to reach 500 points in a single round, but in Farkle Frenzy, you only need 400 to get going (though I still like the challenge of trying to get 1,000 points to get your scoring started). Four hundred points does mean less difficulty—but, once again, it steps up the speed in game play.
The most visually noticeable difference, however, is the bubble hub. While Farkle has players rolling six dice, you only roll five in Farkle Frenzy. The sixth die is instead housed within the bubble hub (for those of you familiar with the game Trouble, you’ll recall the use of the “Pop-O-Matic” die container) and is a common die that’s “rolled” in the bubble for each round. Simple enough, right? Sure—except for the fact that the common die is not all that “common” after all. This die has some special features. There are regular sides (such as the 1 or 5) for scoring, but there are also some fun extras. Roll a “2x,” and you double any score for the round. Roll a “Wild,” and players can choose a number (1 through 6) for the die to represent for that round. With these additional scoring options, you can potentially roll big points fast (regular scoring combinations range anywhere from 50 to 3,000 points), but they also incorporate a little bit of strategy into your dice rolling, which really adds some extra fun.
Farkle Frenzy has plenty of new additions to game play to keep things fresh and entertaining. It may even be more kid-friendly than its original, with less repetition and various methods to keep play moving along as you roll and risk your way to victory.
