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Ra - The Dice Game takes all the major thematic elements of "Ra" and uses them very creatively in a dice game. Pharaohs, The Nile, Civilizations, and Monuments as well as the occasional catastrophe are all here.
Instead of auctions, the core mechanism of Ra, each player rolls 5 dice and can reroll any of them up to two times. The five dice have identical sides, but different colors - the die color matters in some occasions (eg. a player can't claim purple civilization square with a green die). Then, according to the roll, the player claims some squares on the central board (civilizations, monuments, Niles etc.) or moves the Ra figure, which determines the remaining time in Epoch. One die side is a joker and can be used as any other side, as long as one of the other dice actually shows the mentioned other side.
Players need to consider how to utilize their roll for the best personal gain. Scoring takes place in three Epochs (with monuments only scored after the third) and is nearly identical as in the original Ra, but this time the score is kept on a score track on the edge of the board, instead of tokens.
From the box: Remember Ra! Now Reiner has added dice to the game and in such a great way. Players still try to score by collecting Pharaohs, niles and floods, monuments and civilizations, but this time they roll dice and choose which to keep and which to re-roll. True to the original game, players must watch out for disasters and each of the three rounds ends when "Ra" shows up a set number of times, so players need to watch Ra and decide when the round may end and when they have more time. After three rounds, the player with the most points is the winner!
- Simple rules that are approachable for families and new players
- High-quality components and chunky dice with clear visuals
- Meaningful strategic choices despite dice-driven randomness
- Good accessibility for kids and casual players
- Dice randomness can limit control and lead to variable outcomes
- Disasters can be punitive and disruptive to other players
- Some scoring areas require time to optimize and can slow pacing
- Civilization development through dice-driven actions and scoring
- Ancient Egypt with tracks for Pharaoh, Nile, Civilization, and monuments
- Instructional and demonstrative
- Raw
- Raw & Wright
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — Markers placed on monument columns score at endgame based on column occupancy and diversity.
- Dice rolling — Roll all dice, then may reroll any dice that did not show a raw symbol on each roll, up to a maximum of three rolls.
- Dice rolling with up to three rolls per turn — Roll all dice, then may reroll any dice that did not show a raw symbol on each roll, up to a maximum of three rolls.
- Epic rounds — There are three epics per game; markers and scoring reset (partially) between epics with ongoing progression.
- Icon-Based Actions — Each die result activates a specific action on the board; ank acts as a wild to modify other dice actions.
- Monument grid and column scoring — Markers placed on monument columns score at endgame based on column occupancy and diversity.
- Track-based scoring across multiple tracks — Advance markers on Pharaoh, Nile, Civilization, and Monument tracks; end-of-epic scoring depends on marker positions.
- Wilds and disasters — Ank wilds provide flexibility; disasters can be chosen to affect opponents’ progress on various tracks.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a simple raw game with very simple rules.
- the components, you know, are real nice, real chunky dice.
- the board gives you enough room to place your markers, but not too big that, you know, it's more than what's needed, but not too small that things are too confusing and crowded.
- there's no bidding. there's no auctions, just rolling chunky dice up to three times and getting what you get.
- the Nile track can be used to cash in some big points, but sometimes it takes the entire game for this to happen.
- the civilization area can be interesting.