Lure review — a fishy gambling game

Lure is a fishing-themed gambling game in the small box line from Allplay. Players will bid and attempt to entice fish onto their lines via every fish's favorite food, dice. The game supports 2-5 players and wraps up in just 15 minutes.

Rounds in Lure are lightning fast. Some new fish will be drawn from the deck, and players simultaneously bid how many dice they are going to use for that round, along with any special lures. The dice come in different flavors. You have a pile of your standard d6s as well as a single d12 and a single d20, which are considered “special”. You can bid to use as many dice as you want, but whoever bids the fewest gets first dibs at the fish. Bid too much, and you may find yourself with no fish left to catch. The d6s are returned to you each round, but the special dice have to sit out a round after use. I guess they are so powerful that they scare all the fish away.

Lures also come in a few different varieties. Some can be added to a catch for extra points, but they can also be incredibly useful as substitutes for specific dice values, or modifiers to bump your dice results up or down. They also act as a bit of a catch-up mechanic. If you’re doing great and slinging fish into your point pile every round, you won’t see many lures. If you’re behind and miss a catch, you get to take a new lure to hopefully help you out with the next cast.

The fish are all worth end-game points and feature different requirements if you want to catch them. There is always the total dice roll that needs to be hit, but you also have things like two dice that need to be the same number, or you have to have a 1 and a 5 in your roll. You can see where the statistical requirements to hit certain combinations will drive you to want to roll more dice. Then again, what if Jimmy gets lucky and takes the fish you were eyeing with fewer dice before you get a chance to roll? Quite the pickle. The game ends when the fish deck runs out, and the player with the most points wins. 

The production quality of this tiny game is fantastic. The artwork is lovely, and I have to tip my hat to Allplay for investing in unique artwork for all of the fish. The player screens have a great reference printed on the inside with absolutely everything you need to know to play the game. The dice have great color choices that are easy to read across the table, and the font is even reminiscent of fish hooks. Despite being a small filler game, Allplay did not cut any corners. 

Lure isn’t doing anything that makes it a huge standout or a must-have for me, but what it does do, it does well. The risk vs reward bidding gameplay is interesting enough to be engaging, and the game doesn’t overstay its welcome. These small box games can be appealing as travel games, but the dice rolling doesn’t lend itself too well to that space. Maybe I just need to get better at rolling on the table. If you are in the market for a new quick filler game or looking for a fishing-themed game specifically, I think Lure is an easy recommendation. Just don’t expect it to blow you away.