Kniffel Master (2015)

Overview

As with other Kniffel games, players in Kniffel Master roll dice to try to build specific combinations of numbers. One difference, though, is that Kniffel Master is a race game and not a points game; complete those combinations the fastest, and you'll be the one who wins.

Each player receives a personal game board and four tokens. On your turn, you roll five dice up to three times, saving the results that you like after each roll. After you stop rolling the dice, you record the results on your board, choosing one of the options below:

Roll a small or large straight, a total less than 11 or larger than 24, or a kniffel (five-of-a-kind), and you can immediately gain a star, placing it in the slot next to that combination on your board. Roll 1-2 pairs, a full house, three-of-a-kind or other combinations, and you can move a token up a "coin" track on your board, with the number of spaces moved depending on the value of your roll; reach the end of the coin track, and you gain a star, in addition to shortening the track for your next journey on it. Roll two or more dice of the same value, and you can move a token on that number track on your board; reach the end of a number track and you gain a star, but put that track out of play for the remainder of the game. You gain an additional star when you finish your fourth, fifth and sixth number rows.

The first player to complete a particular task or a number row receives two coins and moves that marker on the coin track to record that gain; the second player to complete the same task or number row receives one coin.

The game ends the round that someone collects her fifteenth star. After all players have completed the same number of turns, whoever has the most stars wins!