Gemlok

The BFF had a B&N coupon burning a hole in his pocket, and we needed to get out of the house, so yesterday we ventured out and The BFF picked up Gemlok. The first thing I thought of when seeing the picture on the box was 'Bejeweled: the Board Game'. But it's not.
The second thought when looking at the box was: gotta get these dice! Cool, funky, movement with arrows dice. And the surprise when the box was opened, the dice are huger than I expected. (yeah, I know that's not a real word, but it's fun)

Huge dice with regular sized Meeple for comparison

It's a pretty solid little game. Reminded me a bit of some of the tactics in chess, the movement only, the what's-the-other-player gonna-do Analysis Paralysis is gone, with every player only able to do what the roll of the dice tell him/her to do.
The two dice are different except for the one Gemlok side, so there are ten possibilities of how to move. You have to take the two or three steps laid out on the dice face, but you can turn the die any direction to start the movement (that was the one part that alluded me for about 1/2 the first game).
If you land on yourself or an opponent on your last movement, you get to bump, them/you, up to three spaces.

CU of game play

The board is set up with smaller point value gems sprinkled around the outside, with plenty of empty spaces, the center is a four by four cluster of higher end gems. I like that the colors of the gems seem to represent actual gems and dollar values, I'm not sure what 4 is, though, Opal? When you bump, of course, you want to bump your opponent out into the boondocks, and yourself closer to the center squares (and Paul Lynde). If and when you roll a Gemlok, with the exception of your very first roll, you have to/get to lock one of your gems. (Thus the name. Drink.) You don't want to get the Gemlok side when you're sitting in the sand, but you are aching for it when you're sitting atop one of the diamond 9 pointers (the highest point gem). Of course, as dice go, you can sing 'Luck Be A Lady Tonight' all you want, Big Jule, but you know those dice ain't gonna roll how you want them to.
After ten rounds, either player can declare the game end, but the other player(s) get another turn to try to bump you. I tried this tactic the first game, and sure enough, The BFF bumped me off TWO separate seven point jems, left me sitting in sand, and he beat me by less than that 14 points. So second game, I waited and let him call it quits, and that time he only beat my by two points. ;p You're supposed to play a four game series, but we were done after two, only because it was a long weened, and we were ready for relaxation, not thinking.
The other game ending condition would be if someone gets all eight of their gems locked. Which I think would be really hard with the two player game that we played, probably even harder with three or four. We're interested to see just how different the game will be with three or four. Next weekend is our family game day, we really think my dad and older son will like this. Maybe The Munchkin can get Grandma to play something else for a while. Or I'm sure she'd be happy with Plants vs. Zombies.

P.S. Now that The BFF has started his own gaming (and movie) blog, I hope this won't turn into a who-can-blog-it-first competition. But I did blog it first this time. With photos. ;p

Meeples swimmin' in Gems

P.S.S.
Be careful letting your Meeples out along with any kind of gems or gem-like bits. They are soooo money hungry, they jumped intot he gems like they were Uncle Scrooge McDuck.