Dice Throne is a hybrid dice and card game designed by Nate Chatellier and Manny Trembley that blends elements of
strategy
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...
,
probability
Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...
, and tactical decision-making, often described as "
Yahtzee
Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley (a company that has since been acquired and assimilated by Hasbro). It was first marketed under the name of Yahtzee by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlie ...
meets
Magic: The Gathering".
Players engage in fantasy-themed battles, winning by eliminating all other opponents using their chosen hero's unique set of dice and cards.
Gameplay
Each player selects a unique hero with their own set of five custom dice, player board showing the hero's abilities (activated by rolling a specific combination of dice), and deck of cards. Many cards are common to all heroes, but some are hero specific.
Players start with 50 health and win by reducing their opponent's health to zero. Each turn, players draw a card and gain a combat point (CP), which are used to play cards. On their turn, players roll dice up to three times in an attempt to activate an ability and may "lock" or "unlock" any number of dice after each roll. Abilities generally deal damage or apply status effects, like poisoning the opponent or protecting the user. Cards heavily influence the outcome of a match: they can permanently upgrade abilities, manipulate dice rolls, impact combat results, apply status effects, and generate resources such as extra cards or CP.
Dice Throne is played with 2 to 6 players in various formats including
1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or free-for-all.
Characters
Dice Throne features 16 unique heroes as of 2025. Each hero has a complexity rating (ranging from 1 to 6) that measures how difficult they are to play. Higher complexity heroes often take more time to master and require good strategy to play effectively.
Season One
* Barbarian (1), Moon Elf (2), Pyromancer (3), Shadow Thief (5), Monk (4), Paladin (5), Ninja (2), Treant (6)
Season Two
* Gunslinger (2), Samurai (3), Tactician (5), Huntress (5), Cursed Pirate (4), Artificer (6), Seraph (3), Vampire Lord (4)
Each hero is designed to be fully standalone and cross-compatible with others, allowing for a wide variety of matchups and strategies.
Expansions and Spin-offs
* Dice Throne: Season One Reloaded – A rebalanced and re-illustrated version of the original season.
* Dice Throne Adventures – A cooperative dungeon-crawling expansion, players use their heroes in a persistent campaign setting.
* Marvel Dice Throne – A licensed version featuring
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...
characters like
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
,
Loki
Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...
, and
Scarlet Witch
The Scarlet Witch is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #4 in March 1964, in the Silver Age of Comic Boo ...
.
Development
The game was successfully funded through multiple
Kickstarter
Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaigns, raising over $5 million in total. The design team includes Nate Chatellier (lead designer), Manny Trembley (illustrator and co-designer), and Gavan Brown (graphic design and development).
Reception
Dice Throne has been praised for its accessibility, replayability, and high production quality. It has a strong community presence and is frequently recommended for both casual and competitive play. Reviewers have highlighted its balance of luck and strategy, as well as the distinctiveness of each hero.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official websiteDice Throne on BoardGameGeek
Dice games