Alea Elementis

Alea Elementis is the second game in the Creating a Better Pig franchise.

Like its sister game Pass the Meeples!, Alea Elementis is based on the public domain game Pig, but this time instead of using meeples as a basis for a set of dice with uneven outcome distributions, Alea Elementis uses actual dice.

Due to the limitations of what The Game Crafter had to offer, I went with a set of two 8-sided dice, and after much trial and error I came up with this:

The alchemy and element theming is in part inspired by Opus Magnum and in part by the excellent golf game Roll in One. “But Roll in One isn’t alchemy themed?” No, but it does have triangles on the die faces, and that was an aesthetic I loved enough that I had to find some sort of theming that fit.

One die only features the triangular element shapes and the numbers 5 and 10.

The other die has all that and also Salt (🜔) and 15.

Salt was added as an extra failure case that wouldn’t work with any of the elements, and 15 was added as a rare bonus that couldn’t be doubled.

How to Play

To play this game simply roll both dice and observe the outcome.

  • If both dice show different elements (i.e. not numbers), you bust, lose all points for the round, and pass the turn to the next player.
  • If both dice show the same element, score 1 point. You can now choose to roll again or stop and record your score.
  • If one die shows a number and the other shows an element, you get that number in points.
  • If both dice show different numbers, add the two numbers together.
  • If both dice show the same number, add them together and add an additional 10 to your score.

First to 150 points wins.

Note: While the rulebook in the Game Crafter version distinguishes between 🜂 and 🜄, the difference is merely thematic. The faces have triangles. Those triangles either a line through them or they do not. That’s the only part that matters. Orientation is irrelevant.

What You Need to Play This

You can head over to the Game Crafter page and buy a copy, or if you want to craft your own set, you’ll need a score pad and a set of blank d8s, then draw on the following faces:

Here’s the scoring reference from the back of the manual:

Links