Welcome to the world of Dice Hospital, where our patients are just numbers, literally!
Parents mad you didn’t become a doctor? Feeling unaccomplished? Want to wield the power of life and death over dice?! Try talking to someone about it, but if that doesn’t work, play Dice Hospital. Dice Hospital is a worker placement, dice drafting game for one to four players. I will do my best to give an unbiased analysis of this Dice Hospital, but if I’m being honest, it is one of my all-time favorites!
Setup for Dice Hospital can take a few minutes, but it is not too bad after your first game.
Each player has an administrator, a hospital board, and 3 nurse meeples. Players take turns choosing which ambulance they would like to take. Fill the ambulances by rolling 3 “patients”, represented by D6s of varied color. The lower numbered dice go in the lower numbered ambulances and the higher numbered dice go in higher-numbered ambulances. Lower numbers are more critical and harder to treat. Each player takes a turn choosing an ambulance. Whoever takes the lowest-numbered ambulance becomes the first player and gets a blood bag. The first player gets the first choice in the upgrade phase. Choose between treatment rooms to add to your hospital or staff that can use the rooms you have.
After all the drafting and upgrades, it is time to begin the “activation phase”.
This phase can be done by all players simultaneously. You finally get to treat patients in your hospital. Different rooms can heal different patients based on the number on the dice, patient, or color. Using different staff can also have bonuses. Finding the proper combo can lead you to victory. Discharge patients by healing their dice above a six. The more you discharge in a turn, the greater the victory point bonus. Be careful, if you ignore a patient they will deteriorate. Rotate their dice down a number. If this would bring them below a zero, they DIE! If you do not make enough room in your hospital for the next ambulance, patients will also die to accommodate new patients. Each death gives you negative points at the game’s end.
After the final round, the player with the most points is the supreme hospital admin! Dice Hospital is fun and unique. I would recommend it to anyone who likes dice or worker placement games. It also has expansions! Thanks for a great game Ally Cat Games!
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