Mountain Goats: A Quick and Fun Dice Game Review

The team at Meeple Mountain has always appreciated the small box line from Allplay. Games like Dandelions, Big Top, Mori, Things in Rings, Waddle, and the recent Ruins and Oddland have been favorites. These games offer excellent value and style at a low cost. The components might seem simple, but the quality is top-notch. Mountain Goats follows this tradition perfectly. Let’s climb to the summit together.

Being at the top is a wonderful feeling! Mountain Goats is a game that uses dice and set collection with a straightforward idea. You roll four dice and then group them however you want. The total number of pips in each group lets you move one of your goats up the slopes of one of six different mountain tracks. A group totaling 5 lets you move forward on the “5” track. A group totaling 10 moves you on the “10” track. When you reach the top of a stack, you take a chip with that stack’s value. The 5 stack gives you 5 points, and the 10 stack earns you 10 points. So far, it sounds easy, right?

However, being at the bottom can be tough! If you are already at the top of a stack and roll a group that matches that stack, you get another token from that stack. But if another player reaches the top of a stack where you are currently standing, you slide all the way down. That player then becomes the top dog—or should I say, the top goat.

Did I mention something about set collection? Besides the points from individual chips, you can earn a bonus chip if you collect one of each different stack token. These bonus chips start at 15 points and decrease in value as players collect them. If you are lucky, you might even earn more than one.

Play continues until all the bonus tokens are gone, or until all point tokens from three different mountains have been claimed. You then add up your points to crown the king of the mountain.

Unless you dislike dice games, it is hard not to love Mountain Goats. With a play time of about 20 minutes and a price point to match, this game is right for everyone. Turns are quick: you roll four dice, and there are only a few groupings you can make. The groups must add up to at least 5 and no more than 10. It is incredibly satisfying when you roll four 5s and zoom up the 5 track.

And if you think there is no strategy, let me remind you that visualizing all the dice combinations is key. Do you want to move up three goats, or take one all the way to the top? Should you take the top spot and bump someone down the mountain, or move multiple goats into position for the next turn?

I haven’t even mentioned the artwork, but I absolutely love it! The artists and designers did a fantastic job with this title, just as they did with GPS, Sequoia, and Dandelions. Even better, Allplay has announced a Kickstarter campaign for Mountain Goats: Legacy. This will be a campaign-style game where your decisions in one game affect future games.