Go on Fantasy Dates with Dragons and Try Not to Get Burned in Cindr

Go on a date with your favorite dragon! The success of your date could depend on how much you have in common, but sometimes you just might get lucky and two opposites will attract.

From Smirk & Laughter Games, Cindr is a light and casual push-your-luck dice game with a sense of humor and an unusual theme.

Gameplay

Each player selects a character card. You can write on these with dry erase markers. There are four compatibility categories with three options in each. They are placed in a grid on each card. You must circle one option in each category, and can only circle two options that are in the same column.

On your turn you look at the top dragon card on the dragon deck. You may read out the description. This will give you clues as to where the dragon falls in each of the four compatibility categories. You may either ‘swipe left’ on the dragon, in which case it goes down into the general dating pool, or you may ‘swipe right’ in which case this is the dragon you are going on a date with this turn. You may swipe left twice each turn for free. Any additional dragons you swipe left on will cost one love point. There can be up to three dragons at a time in the dating pool, after which you discard the dragon that has been there the longest before adding a new one. On your turn you may choose to go on a date with a dragon you already swiped left on or from your personal dating circle, or you may spend three love points to go on a date with a dragon from an opponent’s circle.

Once you have selected a dragon for a date, you place the dragon card in front of you and turn it over to reveal its compatibility attributes. For each attribute that matches one you circled, you take one green die. For each attribute that is one space off from the attribute you chose in that category, you take a blue die. For each attribute that is two spaces off from the one you chose in that category, you take a red die.

Next, you draw the top card from the location deck. This shows you where you and the dragon are going on a date. Locations can have special abilities that can affect your dice or the results of your rolls.

There are three phases to each date. During the first phase, you roll all your dice for the round. You count up how many hearts you rolled, and you must set aside any flames. Some flames also show a spark, which can activate certain bonuses when you roll them based on the location. You must then decide whether you wish to go onto the next phase of the date. If you do, you reroll any hearts, leaving the flames to one side. If you ever have three flames in front of you, you are burned, the date ends, and you do not earn any love points. If you stop the date after a phase, or make it through all three phases, you add up all the hearts you rolled on each phase and add them to your love point total. If you went through at least two phases of the date and did not get burned, the dragon goes into your personal dating circle.

If you are burned, you take one of three burned cards depending on how many flames you rolled during the final roll. You may play these cards on a date. One card allows you re-roll a flame, one allows you to remove a die that rolled a flame, and one allows you to reroll all flames from your previous roll.

Some dragons also have special abilities, some of which come into play when you roll certain things on a date, or that occur when the dragon is in your dating circle, or when you’re burned.

The game ends once one player has reached twenty-one love points and everyone has taken the same number of turns. The player with the most points then wins the game.

Review

Cindr is light and casual. It’s fast to play and easy to learn. It’s a game that’s simple to dip into, and great for a social hangout as it doesn’t require too much concentration. This is very much what the game is setting out to do. It’s not trying to be heavily strategic, but rather offers a light, push-your-luck experience, which it accomplishes quite nicely.

Reading the descriptions of the dragons and gleaning clues as to how compatible they might be with your character, is a clever mechanism that adds a slight deduction element to the game. Of course, as you play the game more, you will start to recognize and remember some dragons and their attributes. With thirty-one included in the game, you’re unlikely to perfectly remember them all, but this is not what the core gameplay is supposed to be about anyway.

The core gameplay is about pushing your luck for more points, while each dragon’s abilities and the location of the date mix things up and ensure that each turn is just a little bit different than the last. The cards combo off each other in clever ways, and there’s some element of suspense when you flip a location card to see if its ability is going to help or hurt you, or when you choose a dragon and hope it’s compatible with you.

Cindr’s theme is quirky and unusual. It won’t appeal to everyone, but we enjoyed the lighthearted nature of it and the flavor text is a nice touch. If you lean into the humor of the game and have fun with the character you are playing, it can be amusing and delightful.

The components are generally well made, with the artwork in particular standing out. The dice are also of a quality that makes them fun to roll. However, tracking the love points on the character boards can be a little annoying as you’re constantly erasing and circling new numbers. We would have preferred tokens or even a clip on the character card to track them instead.

Cindr is both pleasant and light. There’s enough variety to keep it interesting and things unpredictable. It doesn’t offer a lot of player interaction, but if you enjoy a casual press-your-luck game, it is certainly delightful and nicely put together.

Pros: Thematic and amusing, light and easy to pick up and play, variety due to card ability and character creation

Cons: Limited player interaction, score tracking system requires constant erasing

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.