Chuck Dice and Harness the Power of Nature in Impact: Battle of Elements

Chuck your dice into the box one at a time, and collect any that match! No matches? Choose whether to risk another die and keep rolling, or end your turn and live to roll another day!

A remake of Strike, Impact: Battle of Elements is largely the same game with a fantasy theme. However it does bring a new, element-based variant, as well coming in a more portable size.

Gameplay

The game’s box is set in the middle of the table and each player takes a certain number of dice. At the start of the game, one die is rolled into the box.  Each die can roll five different elements and one blank. The goal of the game is to be the last player with any dice left.

On your turn, you roll one die in to the box. Any dice in the box that are then showing blanks are immediately removed from the game. If any dice in the box match each other, you take all matching dice and end your turn. If there were no matches, you may either end your turn, or choose to roll another die into the box. You may continue adding a die until you choose to end your turn, you make a match, or you run out of dice. If, when rolling a die, you accidentally roll it outside of the box, it is also removed from the game.

If at the start of your turn there are no dice in the box, you must roll all of your dice into it at once, taking any matches. If you ever run out of dice, you are eliminated from the game. Players may choose to play a tournament mode, in which case when you are eliminated you earn points equal to the number of players still in the game. The player with the lowest score after you have played rounds equal to the number of players wins the game.

There is also an element variant. In this, the element that is rolled at the beginning of the game is considered the ‘active’ element. A special ability is available whenever a match occurs of that element. The ability varies based on which element is active for that game.

The lightning ability causes every other player to throw a die into the box. The active player then collects any matches that are still in the box. The hurricane causes players to pass all their dice to the player on their left. The stone ability causes the active player to stack the matching stone dice, and on subsequent turns when he tosses them into the box, must toss the stacked dice together. Water’s ability is that it cannot be removed from the box, even if it is matching with other water, while fire causes players to race to stack all the dice they have in their supply; the player who finishes first then gets to collect the matching dice from the box, rather than the current active player.

Review

Impact: Battle of Elements is a fun, light, casual dice game that’s really easy to get into and play several rounds of. It’s satisfying to throw the dice around, and there is an enjoyable push-your-luck element in deciding when to keep rolling as you fail to make matches, and when to end your turn.

Impact: Battle of Elements is largely a re-themed version of Strike, with identical rules. But it does have a couple of interesting variations. The most significant is the element abilities. You don’t have to play with them, but if you do they can add a little more luck, make matches more difficult, or add a speed element. This variant works particularly well in a tournament, as the roll at the start of each game determines which element will be active and keeps changing the game in small but significant ways from round to round.

The components are excellent quality, with the dice being satisfying to roll and the symbols colorful. The box is also a lot smaller than Strike, which makes it a good, and more portable, travel edition. Also since the box is smaller, it is a little more likely that players can miss the box.

If you already own Strike, you might not find the size or element abilities enough to justify owning this game as well. However, the core gameplay here is quite enjoyable, and artwork and theme, as well as the more portable size, ensures that Impact: Battle of Elements has something to offer in its own right to certain players.

Pros: Variants, component quality, size

Cons: Hard to justify owning both this and Strike

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