Dynamice is a fine solo puzzler

Brothers! Salvation is at hand! King Rat is holed up at the top of the grandfather clock. If we can negotiate our way safely through the clock and plant 4 sticks of dynamite directly beneath his lair we can end his evil reign once and for all. Move swiftly but softly, mice. Our future is in your hands...

I’ve been focusing on games entered in the 9-card nanogame contest 2016 over at www.boardgamegeek.com for a couple of issues, and will stay right there this week too with a look at the fun offering Dynamice.

The fluff above it from the game’s development thread on the website, and gives you a quick feel for the nifty little theme attached to this game from designer Chris Alton.

“A quick nine-card brain burning puzzle where you are guiding dynamite-carrying mice through the insides of a grandfather clock. Can you guide all four mice to their target before any of them hit an obstacle and explode?” adds the game’s development synopsis.

As you know from other reviews of contest entries the core of these games is simplicity, starting with the components. In the case of Dynamice there are Maze cards (or tiles) and one doublesided Start/Target card, which can be printed playing card size for easy sleeving. You then have to add four D6 dice, and four cubes or small markers (pennies and a dime as another option).

The card art is quite nice, clockwork gears in a sort of gold set against a brown background which suits the idea of a grandfather clock.

Shuffle the eight maze cards thoroughly and lay them out face down in a prescribed pattern.

There are some stated rules for flipping the cards face-up, but in the end you have a maze. The maze works like a sliding puzzle, with each of the eight cards being referred to as a ‘tile’. You can only move a tile by sliding it into the empty space while it is adjacent, and you cannot rotate or flip any tile. The orientation of each tile must be maintained throughout the game, and you must maintain this 3x3 grid of cards (assuming the empty space forms part of that grid).

“There are six spaces on each card, denoted by golden cogs. Each time one of your dice moves forward, it must be to one of these spaces,” details the rules.

“Two of the cards contain these hollow pick-up locations at the centre. You may place a “cheese” or “rotation” cube (described later) on either of these locations at the beginning of each level. They do not count as spaces, and your dice cannot stop here, they must move through them, collecting any cubes enroute to the next space.

“To win the game you must direct all your dice to the target space. If any of them hit a dead end, the Rat Guard or another dice before this happens, you lose.

“At the beginning of each game you must commit your first dice by placing it on either of the two closest available spaces on the first tile. (The term ‘first tile’ is always used to describe the tile adjacent to the start card). Whenever a dice enters the first space of a new tile, it must be showing the ‘1’ face this denotes which direction it is moving.”

There are more rules, but you get the gist. This is a solitaire game, and plays more as a ‘puzzle’ then a ‘game’ in the purest sense, although many solo games fall into that generalization.

Dynamice’s greatest strength lies in the simple components, and solo play, making it great for a boring coffee break.

It plays, generally in about 20-minutes, again great for a solo game.

And it is one of those games you can get close, lose, and want to give it another try.

Search it on boardgamegeek.com and give it a try.