Cosmic Wimpout®
Players: How many do ya got?
Age: 8 and up
Playing Time: 1-30 minutes (I lost on my second roll in one game)
Publisher: Cosmic Wimpout
Price: $5.00 (basic set); $20.00 (Deluxe Travel Set)
Rating: 10 of 10

Review by Brutilus

The Real Scoop:
Sometimes, nothing beats a simple game of strategy and chance. Cosmic Wimpout is one of those games.

I picked up the Deluxe Travel Edition of Cosmic Wimpout. The primary difference between the basic set and the "Deluxe" set is 15 dollars. All kidding aside... The basic edition comes with the 5 dice and a small print copy of the rulebook in a small dice tube. This is all you need to play the game. Really... I swear.

This Deluxe Travel Edition comes with the 5 dice, a large print version of the rules, a kick-ass bandana that acts as a scoreboard, a beautiful window decal for Cosmic Wimpout, and an awesome suede bag to carry it around with. Did I mention the artwork on the bandana rocks, too? The scores "orbit" a flaming sun. All of the game components (dice, bandana, & rules) can be folded up to fit in the bag very easily.

The only pieces of equipment you absolutely have to have with you to play are the five dice. Four of them are identical white dice. They are not your ordinary six-siders. They have symbols representing the numbers 2, 3, 4, 6 and a large number 5 and 10 printed on them. The black die is almost identical except instead of a 3 symbol, it has a flaming sun on it. This is the wild card.

The gameplay is simple, yet very addictive. You start your turn by rolling the 5 dice. Depending on what comes up, you can either take your points for the turn and add them to your score, choose to keep rolling, or (in some situations) be forced to keep rolling in order to "bring your points home".

The only times you are required to stop rolling are upon rolling a supernova (5 tens in the same roll) or when you wimp out. A wimpout is the failure on any roll to roll any points.

The following are possible ways to score points: rolling one or two 5's; rolling one or two 10's; rolling a "flash" (three of a kind in a single roll); or rolling a freight train (five of a kind in a single roll of anything but 10's). Sounds simple so far, right?

Well, 3 rules keep things from staying that simple: Getting in the Game; You May Not Want To But You Have To; and the Futless Rule.

Getting in the Game means that you can't start your trip to 600 points (the goal of the game) until you bring home 35 points in a single turn.

You May Not Want To But You Have To means that, if in the course of a turn, you score with a five dice; you are required to roll again.

The Futless Rule states that in order to take home the points from a flash, you a required to "clear" the flash. You do this by re-rolling any non-scoring dice until you wimpout or score without matching the number that you just flashed. (I.e. If you rolled a flash of fours, if you roll a four on your re-roll, you must re-roll again until you wimp out or score without rolling a four.)

The game is set-up, on the bandana at least, to go to 600 points. As soon as one player passes 600, Last Licks begins. Last Licks is where all the other players attempt to pass the leader's score in a single turn. The players keep rolling the dice until they either wimp out or pass the leader's score. That player then becomes the leader and the old leader becomes a challenger. This continues until all challengers wimped out.

This is an incredible game that has managed to insert itself into my gaming group's rotation without a second thought. Cosmic Wimpout is tons of fun, easy to pick up, and exciting. It rewards ambitious players with high scores. The drama of lost opportunity is also there. Going on a 200-point tear and then wimping out really sucks. This game has enough excitement and drama to maintain its replay value for years to come.

Check out Brutilus' variation on this game, Cosmic Drinkout

Cosmic Wimpout® is available from Looney Labs and from Funagain Games.

Cosmic Wimpout is copyright Cosmic Wimpout. All images are copyrighted Cosmic Wimpout. Article is copyrighted 2003 MillionairePlayboy.com.