High Risk

Iello

2-4 Players

Playtime: 20 Minutes

Climbing mountains isn’t the safest of activities. It’s full of risk and if the climbers aren’t careful they can all come tumbling down. High Risk is a small tabletop game that embraces the dangers of mountain climbing in a short, push-your-luck experience for two to four players.

High Risk comes in a small box, uses a small board with small meeples and small dice. It’s a part of iello’s Mini Games line, giving players a portable and quick tabletop experience. Each player controls two to four little climbers as they try to get all of their climbers to the top of the mountain. The board is simple, with 11 spaces that slowly ascend the mountain. Some spaces represent safe camps, while others are treacherous cliffs. The player that gets everyone to the top wins.

On each turn, players will roll the six dice. Each die has “danger”, “ascend”, and “weather” sides. The danger sides put the climber at risk of falling, while the ascend sides allow climbers to move up one space. The weather side is simply a neutral side in which nothing happens. If all of the dice show “Danger,” the climber will fall.

Players are able to re-roll their “Danger” sides once in an effort to climb further up. If all of the newly rolled dice show “Danger,” the player falls.  If a player doesn’t fall, they may have one climber climb as any spaces as the number of “Ascend” rolled. If a climber ends a turn on a cliff with another climber on it, the other clumber falls to the first camp or unoccupied cliff below.

The re-roll mechanic adds a bit of risk to each decision, but if a player can roll all “ascend” and “Weather” sides, they will get a free turn. The risk is usually worth the reward, but some players might be wary to try to re-roll a single “Danger.” There is a 50% chance of the negative roll, leading to a decent amount of risk in every turn.

High Risk isn’t particularly deep, but that shouldn’t be surprising. This is clearly a game made to be as filler. It is heavily influenced by luck, which might turn away some players. The heavy amount of luck makes High Risk a great choice for casual players and children. Hardcore gamers will be able to find light, quick games that suit them more. Still, for the right audience, this can be an enjoyable experience. Despite the amount of luck, anyone can have fun with High Risk if the game isn’t taken too seriously.

Click For More Tabletop Game Reviews