The nice folks at Gamewright recently sent me a box of games to try out and to review for all of you. Needless to say, when the box arrived at our front door, I eagerly tore it open and dove into the games, forcing asking my family to play several of them with me that very evening. Of the ones we’ve tried out so far, Curse of the Ruby Rhino is C.’s favorite, so I thought I’d review this one first.

Curse of the Ruby Rhino is a quick and light game for 2-5 players aged 6 and up. Each game last abouts 15-20 minutes, and the rules are easy to understand so you can be up and playing in just a few minutes.

In a nutshell: The idea behind the game is that you and your fellow players are adventurers in search of treasure. But that treasure is buried with a ruby rhino that has a curse on it, turning all riches into worthless counterfeits.

Okay, that’s the theme, but at its heart, Curse of the Ruby Rhino is a fun little dice game in which you are trying to hold on to the “ruby rhino” while holding no fake coins.

When you open the box, you’ll find a pair of dice, 20 fake gold coins, and 1 cute plastic Ruby Rhino (along with the instructions and 2 dice roll legends that tell you what action to take with each roll). You’ll need a pencil and paper to keep score. The bottom of the box is also one of the game components as it is used as the treasure chest.

You begin the game by distributing coins to each player, and then placing leftover coins and the rhino in the treasure chest. Now play begins. On your turn, roll the dice and take the action indicated (by checking the dice roll legend). You will either:

• Collect coins from another player
• Collect coins from the treasure chest
• Put coins in the treasure chest
• Collect coins AND the rhino
• Take just the rhino
• Give up the rhino
• Roll again, OR
• …if you roll the skull & crossbones, you do nothing

As you can imagine, each player’s standing can change at the drop of a hat (or, more accurately, at the roll of the dice). Your goal, as mentioned before, is to have the rhino and no coins, but that’s easier said than done. When I played with C., I repeatedly found myself down to the rhino and one coin when — wham! — I’d roll the dice and have to give up the rhino or have to take all the coins out of the treasure chest. Rats!

As soon as a player has managed to hold on to the rhino while getting rid of all their fake gold, the round ends and the player collects all the loose coins in the treasure chest. Count up the coins and that’s the person’s score. Resdistribute the coins and continue playing until someone reaches 50 points (obviously, you can adjust this number to fit the time you have available).

C. really liked this game because: 1) It plays fairly quickly, 2) It has nifty parts like fake coins (heavy cardboard) and a ruby rhino, and 3) It is entirely luck-based, and that appeals to him for some reason. I enjoyed it too, although to be honest, I enjoy any opportunity to play games with my boys!

In summary:

The Curse of the Ruby Rhino

Number of Players: 2-5
Time required: 15-20 minutes
Ages: 6 and up
Where to buy: Time Well Spent or Amazon.com.

Callapidder recommends it for: A quick game to play with the kids before bed or on a rainy afternoon.

Read more of Callapidder’s Game Reviews by clicking HERE.