Button Men

Well boys and girls, this is a deviation for me. This game is not collectible. Kinda. You can collect it if you want, but it is not necessary since they are sold in set packs.

Button Men is produced by the aptly named Cheapass Games. It is a game where you take on the role of one of the characters and do battle with a friend. Each character has set stats, and well… let me get into a little more detail…

This is a game deigned for two players, and can take 10 minutes and up depending on your luck. Luck is one of the primary factors in this game, though skill and cunning is not a bad thing to bring to the table. All you really need is one button each, some dice, and a way to keep score. The dice needed are denoted on the character you are using.

At the beginning of the game, each player will roll all of their dice and arrange the in a neat little row so that they can be read easily. These dice are what are used in combat. The player that rolls the lowest number goes first. That is when the fun begins…

The player that goes first decides if they want to use a “Power” attack or a “Skill” attack. These are not very different from each other, but they do affect game play. A power attack involves the acting player capturing an opponent’s die using one of their own that has a value that is equal to or greater than one of their opponent’s dice. A skill attack is similar, but instead it uses multiple dice to capture one. The only problem is that the dice have to add up exactly to the value of the intended target. After the attack, the attacking player must roll all of the dice used.

Both players continue on until they can no longer make an attack on their opponent. When this happens, that player passes. When both players pass, the round is over. Once the round is over, both players total up their points to determine who actually wins. The dice you capture have a point value equal to their number of faces. On the other hand, the dice you keep are only worth half as much.

Of course, there are many modified dice that change game play. But then again, that is expected from all games.

If I were to make a character, I think the dice it would use would be a d5, d7, d24, d30, and a dX (X meaning you can use any die you would like). The best part is, each of the lsted dice actually exists as its own unique polyhedron.

If you would like to read the complete rules, try here: http://www.cheapass.com/bpu/butnrulz.html . And of course you can pick up Button Men at your local game shop or the Cheapass Games main site: http://www.cheapass.com/ .