Looking for an alternative to three-dragon ante? Arena is an easy to learn dice and cards game where players select terrible monsters and force them to face off against one another for gold and glory!
—description from the publisher
Arena is published as a print-and-play game requiring each player to have three standard dice. The document includes thirty-six card images.
Arena fancifully is presented as a game that adventurers might play in the taverns of Forgotten Realms.
Players receive four coins (betting tokens), three dice, and are dealt four cards. Each card denotes a "monster" that can be played into the Arena.
Play proceeds in rounds. In each round, each player selects a card from their hand and plays it face-down on the table; all cards are revealed simultaneously.
Each "monster" has a specified number of dice (one to three) and players roll the appropriate number of dice to resolve the round - the high result wins, and ties are resolved by re-rolling.
The winning player selects one other player as the round loser. The loser moves a coin (betting token) into the stakes and discards the losing card. All other players return their played card to their hand.
Play proceeds until one player runs out of cards (and coins). At this point the game winner is determined by the player holding the highest number of cards, and ties are resolved by summing the dice value of the held cards; if a tie still exists the players roll dice to determine a winner. The winner claims the stakes.
—user summary