DIG is a game where players control dogs digging for bones to put in matching colour bowls.
But where will those bowls end up?
Each player is a dog that will run throughout the Yard, dig up bones and attempt to return them to the matching coloured Dog Bowl.
DIG Game Play
This is my first time playing a game from the Pack O Game series which comes in a gum sized container.
The yard is set up with the Dog House at one end and yard cards placed in a row face down. On these cards are bones that have 2 colour scents one of which is the colour of the bone on the back. The other cards are dog bowls matching the colours of the bones.
On a player’s turn, they do these 2 actions in any order:
Move – Their Dog up to 4 spaces along the Yard but they move one fewer space for each bone they are carrying.
Dig – Dig up the bone space they are on and put the bone card in their hand. The empty space left is filled by the yard card at the far end of the row.
Drop – Drop a bone into a dog bowl of the matching colour. These bones are kept face up.
When there are only bowls left in the yard the game ends.
Players score points per bone based on the value of that colour. The value is determined by which dog bowl is closest to the dog house. The closest is worth 5 points, the next closest 4 points etc
The player with the most points is the winner
Theme
I like silly themes like this. It actually reminded me of a very old audiotape game from 1985 called Go Fetch It. Here you go into a different room when instructed by the tape to find a hidden bone. The longer you take, the more turns you miss!
OK, that’s nothing like this but thought it was worth a mention!
Setup
Layout cards, that is all.
Components & Artwork
The stick of gum sized cards are OK and the art is cute.
Sometimes the row of yard cards gets knocked and flipped around a bit but it’s fine.
Ease of Teaching
Yep, easy to teach with so few rules. You just need payers to understand how the scoring works so they can score, but also not help opponents too much.
DIG Summary
This reminds me of a game like King Frog. It looks simple but it’s really quite difficult to plan.
You need to pick up bones and get them to the bowls. Pick up too many and you can’t move very fast so you need to be really efficient.
You also need to manipulate the board to get the bowl that matches the colour of the bones you have closest to the dog house. I tried this and misjudged it by just one place and it cost me a lot of points!
Then you have to choose to diversify and get a lot of different colours or put all on your bones in one bowl so to speak.
It’s deceptively difficult and a lot of fun.
Jesta ThaRogue