Sports Dice Soccer

Soccer is an international sport with millions of fans worldwide. The World Cup captures fans’ attention every four years for a month-long series of matches to determine a champion. Players represent their countries on the world stage to battle for victory and national glory.

Sports Dice Soccer is the latest in the Sports Dice series designed by Andy Geremia and published by Fun Wiz Games (an imprint of FoxMind Games). This release seeks to capture the excitement and intensity of a soccer match – simulated by dice rolls.

Gameplay

In Sports Dice Soccer, players take the role of opposing teams signified by offense and defense dice. To kick things off, flip the Power Chip and call the toss. The team that wins decides if they want to start as offense or defense. The offense places the ball token just past the halfway line on their opponent’s side of the field. The defense player takes the Power Chip.

Next, both players roll their dice and compare outcomes. Whoever rolled the most of any single symbol wins the roll.

Each die has four different symbols: Ball Move, Kick, Penalty, and Red Card. The chart below outlines the action for each face.

Shot at Goal

It’s a Shot at Goal when a team rolls majority of dice with the “kick” symbol. Both teams reroll their dice and the team with the most soccer balls wins. If the Offense wins, the shot scores! But if the Defense wins they Clear the Ball. A “Free Kick” is the same, but the Defense rolls only five dice instead of the usual six.

The match continues until one team scores three goals and wins the game!

Scoring Goals

The Offense scores a goal when they:

• Advance the Soccer Ball token into the goal
• Successfully make a Shot at Goal
• Successfully make a Free Kick
• Roll six balls for an instant goal.

The Defense scores when they roll six balls for an instant goal. Whenever either team scores, the opposing team takes the offense dice and moves the ball just past the middle line.

Offense/Defense Change

Once the ball crosses the center of the field, players swap offense and defense roles (and dice), just like in a real game.

Tie Breaker and Power Chip

Should there ever be a tie when rolling, the player with the Power Chip may use it to win the roll. They win the tie but must give the chip to the opposing team. If the player chooses not to use the Chip, they keep it but lose the roll.

Impressions

Whenever a new Sports Dice game is released I get excited – and I don’t care about sports. The only soccer players I know are Pelé and the fictitious Roy Kent. But I love playing Andy Geremia’s dice games! There’s just something about the simplicity and competitive play that sucks me in.

Sports Dice Football, Soccer’s predecessor is action packed and smoothly simulates playing a game of football. But, does Sports Dice Soccer (the other football) carry the vuvuzela? Resoundingly, YES!!!

Soccer has fewer rules. Just keep rolling and advancing until someone scores. You could even enjoy this while watching a match on TV. It’s simple, but incredibly fun and exciting, playing in less than 15 minutes. We really felt the constant push-and-pull.

I played this exclusively with my 9-year-old son and he loved it. We played games back-to-back, with “I want a rematch” after each game. We even came up with silly mascots before each game: Raptors vs Battle Cats.

The Gridiron vs the Pitch

Sports Dice Football and Sports Dice Soccer have some similarities but Soccer played much faster. In Football, you’re tracking downs and potentially kicking field goals. With both games we’d often refer to the dice chart in the beginning, but the mechanics would click quickly.

My son preferred Sports Dice Football. He enjoys playing and watching football so he naturally gravitated towards it, and that’s okay. I prefer Sports Dice Soccer for the many the reasons mentioned above.

The age rating seems about right, but it can skew younger with a little parental guidance. However, a word about the dice…

Sports Dice on a Roll

The all-star in Sports Dice Soccer is the chunky dice. They’re large, so smaller hands may need a couple of rolls to get all six dice on the table. But rolling them feels very satisfying. I highly encourage use of a dice tray (or the box lid) to dampen the sound and keep them confined, especially for kids.

The small box makes Sports Dice Soccer portable too; it’s easy to take along for restaurant play or in a car. It literally requires less than a square foot of table space.

Sports Dice Soccer may leave you wanting to scream GOOOAAAALLLLLLL… but try to keep it down inside the house.

Find Sports Dice Soccer on Amazon or dribble on down to your friendly local game store to pickup a copy.

Want more sports action? Check out our reviews for Sports Dice Football and Fanzy, and past podcast episodes with Andy Geremia.

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The Family Gamers were provided a copy of Sports Dice Soccer for this review.

This post contains affiliate links, which do not change your price, but help support The Family Gamers.