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VivaJava: The Coffee Game: The Dice Game – or, more simply, VivaJava Dice – is the successor to the well-received 2012 release of VivaJava: The Coffee Game. As in its predecessor, players of VivaJava Dice take on the roles of employees at the VivaJava CoffeeCo., scouring the globe for the best beans to keep the company on top while keeping themselves one step ahead of the rest of the executives.
Also as in VivaJava, VivaJava Dice has players making the crucial decision between blending beans and research, but with a quick, new twist. Players must now use the dice in their pool to blend – using the beans to create a best-seller for quick points, then deciding whether to press their luck in subsequent rounds for bigger points but fewer dice as the blends degrade – or to research, which involves using their valuable beans to gain an ever-changing variety of dice-manipulating abilities, new ways to score, and paths that lead to aiding a competitor for a later payoff or hindering that competitor for immediate gratification. VivaJava Dice also offers a unique system of cooperative dice-rolling that can help you rise to the top, but at the price of someone else riding your coattails.
With an astounding mix of plug-and-play research abilities, subtle social play in semi-cooperative mode, and the chance to hog all the glory and blend the best for yourself, VivaJava Dice is all about choice, making each game fast and furiously different.
Part of the VivaJava family — see VivaJava: The Coffee Game for the combined view.
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- Fun to play
- Technologically driven Yatsi
- Yatsi
- Agricola
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Rolling — Players roll dice to determine actions or results.
- Roll and Write — The game involves rolling dice and using the results to write on a sheet, with upgrades needed for rerolls.
- upgrades — Players can purchase upgrades, such as for rerolls.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We call a roll and write game a game like yatsi which by the way wasn't in the running for my list where you roll dice and then you use the results of that roll to write something on your sheet.
- So there is really no good term for it but either way it is a fun genre and there are hundreds of games in this category.
- Although these games still come out, they're easy to produce for many companies. All you need to do is make a sheet of paper and put some dice out.
- It's the closest simulation of pinball that we're going to get in a board game.
- This isn't just one game. It's multiple games.
- This is such a huge game. It's by far one of the biggest ones out there.
- It's one of the most thematic rolling rights I've ever played or flipping rights because you're flipping a deck of cards.
- When I was making my list, it was this was such an easy thing. I wrote Flip Town as number one, then 10 as number two. Then I thought about the rest of the list because these those two were just so obvious to me on how much I enjoyed them.
References (from this video)
- replayability with dice randomness
- solo play option
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Drafting — roll-and-write style with dice choices
- dice_drafting — roll-and-write style with dice choices
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Shelf of opportunity video and the idea that this space is for unplayed games.
- This is all available Adventures for me to go on, so it's a great thing—it's a shelf of opportunities.
- Penny's favorite thing in the world I have a blanket basket.
- Please let me know down in the comments if this is something that you do as well.
- You are somebody's reason to smile.