Cost: $12 From: Ravensberger Players: 3-6 Playing Time: 20-40 minutes Type of game: Beer and pretzels Complexity: 3 Skill level: 2 Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 2.4, Summer 1994
A quick, light game deserves a quick review. Each card in Last Chance depicts five symbols. Each symbol is either the face of a die (a value from 1-6) or one of two different wild symbols (a highball glass or a cocktail glass). Also on the card are a monetary value and a boxed number.
Players start the game with an equal amount of cash and one card is turned face-up. Players bid for the right to try to claim the card. To claim a card, the player must match the values of five rolled dice to the symbols shown on the card. Matched dice may be put on the card and the remainder rerolled, up to the number of times indicated by the card's boxed number. Wilds match any value, but the same value must be used for all instances of a wild symbol on a card.
Here's an example for a card showing a 2, 3, 3, and two highball glasses, with a boxed three. On my first roll I get 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I set the 2 and 3 on the corresponding symbols on the card. I also choose to put the 5 on one of the highball glasses. I now need to roll another 3 (because there's an unmatched symbol of that value remaining) and another 5 (because I've put a 5 on one highball glass, the other highball glass also needs a 5). I roll the remaining two dice and get 6, 6. Since I got a pair, I decide to remove the 5 from the highball glass and put the two sixes there. Now all I need is a 3. I roll the last die and get a 4. Since this was my third roll, and the card's boxed number is a three, I fail to complete the card.
If the roller succeeds, she wins the amount indicated on the card and gets to keep it. If she fails, she loses the amount she bid and the card goes up for auction again. Everything is exactly the same as before, except that now some symbols on the card are already match and thus the card will be easier to complete.
While one player tries to complete the card, other players can make side bets on whether or not they think the roller will succeed. The bank pays even money for correct side bets and collects all losing bets. Once per game, each player may call "Last chance!" and risk all their money for the right to try for a card. If they succeed, they only win the value of the card. But failure knocks them out of the game.
After all seven cards have been claimed, the person with the most money and at least one card is the winner.
Last Chance is almost entirely dependent on luck. But like many such games, it creates a level of excitement more cerebral games lack. At the Gathering of Friends, Last Chance was undoubtedly the game with the loudest, most enthusiastic players (ask Carl about Crazy Pete's House o' Dice). It sounds completely random and uninspiring, and yet for some reason in works. Certainly not a game to base an evening around, but Last Chance is a great filler and may just be the perfect choice to satisfy the "one last game" itch at the end of the night.