#DiceStars is another roll-and-write game in the same vein as #Qwixx, #NochMal and #RollingAmerica. However, it's a notch more complex than those games. Despite having played this apparently innocuous little game 5 times, I’m still not quite sure what the optimal strategies are. The rules aren’t terribly complex, but the strategy is so subtle that it took a couple of plays for me to realize why some of the rules existed in the first place. In this game, you fill out a 5x4 grid by taking dice from the pool in the center. Each turn, the active player draws 1-3 dice from the bag and adds them to the pool. Then, they have 3 options: take ALL the dice of one color, take ALL dice of one value or take ALL dice showing stars. If you choose a color, you sum up the dice and put them in the appropriate column on your sheet. If you choose a value, you do the same, but fill in the appropriate row across your sheet. And if you take stars, you fill those into the 5 special rows on the sheet. Your final score is the sum of your 5 subtotals for each row. Each row also has an associated row for filling in stars. If you can fill up a star row, you get to DOUBLE your total for that row. However, if you fail to completely fill up a star row, that row scores you absolutely nothing, so there’s a fun and tense push-your-luck element to the game. You fill in a number of spaces depending on the number of dice you take, so taking the right dice to get your high rolls to meet up in the same row to then double with your star multiplier is a fun puzzle. Any dice you don’t take from the pool are then left for your opponents, so if you see they need 2 stars to fill in a row, but you leave them with 3, you force them to make a very tough decision on whether doubling a row is worth making another one potentially worthless. And since the game ends when someone fills up their sheet, you can control the pace of the game by taking lots of dice at once; potentially screwing someone out of finishing their very lucrative star rows. #DiceStars is a more pleasant way to fill 15-30 minutes that has more decision making than your average roll-and-write game and that's really hooked me. Recommended.