Is It a Dice Frenzy? No, It’s Tenzi!
In April we told you about a Thrift Treasure we found called Sharp Shooter. It was a dice game that required you to roll certain patterns in order to earn points. It quickly became a favorite game night game for our family, mostly because everyone has an equal chance to win. In fact, we name it one of our top 5 games in our most recent semi-annual list. But now the king has been dethroned with our latest dice game experience: Tenzi from Carma Games.
Billed as the “World’s Fastest Game”, they just might be right as each ‘game’ takes only about 15 seconds! The premise is simple, each player gets 10 colored dice, someone yells “Go!” and everyone races to roll their dice until they are all the same number. First to get all ten to match yells “Tenzi!” and wins!
I know what you’re saying – “That’s it?!” Yes, that’s it – sort of. Because the play is so fast and furious (and close), you find yourself wanting to play “just one more round”. You can run through multiple rounds in just a few minutes, making it great for a quick diversion. But once you’ve mastered Tenzi, there are a few other game options mentioned in the instructions, like “Splitzi” where you must now get five of one number and five of another to go out.
There’s also Tenzi Tower which requires you to not only roll ten matching, but then stack them in a tower without knocking them over. Since we were on the carpet, we didn’t try this version, but we did take a shot at “Stealzi” which allowed us to take a die or dice from an opponent if they had a number we needed! Let’s just say, dice were flying everywhere, hence no photos…
A very worthwhile addition to Tenzi is an expansion card deck that suggests 77 Ways to Play Tenzi. At under $10, this is a must-have for both the regular and party-pack editions of Tenzi. The games on the cards opened up so many more creative ways to use the Tenzi dice! There’s “Leftzi-Rightzi” which requires you to change hands after every roll. “Barkzi” which, well, has you barking like a dog (or meowing like a cat if you’re one of those cat-people). And one of our favorites, “Pyramidzi”. This unique version has you rolling four 4’s, three 3’s, two 2’s and one 1 and then stacking them up like a pyramid with the 4’s on the bottom, etc.
And 73 more to try out. Sure, you could play many of these games if you round up enough dice on your own, but they wouldn’t match and they wouldn’t be all these awesome colors. We first noticed this game at our local BAM! bookstore, but you can also find it directly online from Carma Games or on Amazon. There’s also a Tenzi app. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter to hear about new game ideas that you can use with your Tenzi dice!
One last thing! If you think this would be a great game for you and your family, you can win your own set right here on SahmReviews! Enter via the simple entry form below and come back and enter tomorrow – there are a couple daily-entry options that you can do to improve your chances of winning! Good luck!
I’ve never heard of this game before! Looks like a lot of fun .
I love games like this. They can be so fun and addicting to play!
I love that these games make you think, too. Family friendly, also!
I don’t know you do it, but you always seem to find the coolest games! Like seriously all the time!!
Oh, we do find ‘uncool’ ones, and even write about them once in a while. Usually they aren’t worth the effort though…
This sounds like so much fun! I bet kids would love it as much as adults!
This looks like fun. We used to play games all the time when I was younger. I grew up on Scrabble, Yahtzee, Battleship, Monopoly and Uno. Kiddo doesn’t play games to much. Not for a few years. Seems these days shes too interested in video games which we dont play here.
what a cool looking game. I think that my kids would enjoy it almost as much as me.
We love playing games at out house! It’s always a great time with the kids!! Can’t wait to try this on!
There is not a lot of game playing going on here, but if it was this game with dice, that would be a game changer. That is a favorite with my in-laws side of the family, this might be great for my son and his many cousins on Staten Island!
thanks,
Mitch
I have never heard of Tenzi, but it sounds like a lot of fun. I like that there are so many ways to play it, so you don’t get bored!
I love the names of the different games. I think any game that gets the family together is a win in my book. 🙂
I bet this would get intense in our home. We would all be rushing to finish first. How exciting. I’ll have to purchase it for our roadtrip, fun hotel game.
I love playing dice games! I’ve never heard of Tenzi before though!
we love trying new games at our house. We have a ton of rainy days here in florida, so I’m going to check this out
I love dice games because they move so fast! Thanks for sharing this one.
I like fast games like this. My family would like this one too, I’ll have to show hubby so he can look for it.
What a fun new game for game night! Buying it this weekend!
Looks like fun! I can imagine it getting exciting – kind of like rolling dice at Bunco. 🙂
The game sounds like fun. Never heard of this one. I think my niece would really enjoy it!
Tenzi looks like a really fun game! I will have to keep my eye out for it.
This looks fun I know my son woud love this.
We did have this game but never tried it. What a bummer – we’re always looking for fun stuff for family game night!
I love that these games make you think, too. It’s great to bring on trips too because it’s so small and portable.
My kids are absolutely fascinated with dice games right now. I’ll have to pick this up for them. I think this would be better than hearing “come on…come on….SNAKE EYES!” shouted 20x a day LOL
That looks like a fun game. Definitely going to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation.
This looks interesting. I bet my my hubby would play with me!
This looks so fun! My daughter loves dice games!!
Never heard of this! Looks pretty interesting!
This looks like a fun game. Game night is always fun in our house.
We love dice games. The kids can easily join in too
Interesting game! I love dice games, I would have fun playing this when we have family board night. Looks pretty challenging.
My two youngest are drawn to stacking games, so I know they’d like to try the Tenzi Tower. We do have a room without carpet too, where we could play and still be on the floor. 🙂
I bet we would like this game! I’ll have to look for it!
I’ve never heard of Tenzi before. It looks like a cool game.
My 5 year old is learning to count. We’ve been using dice. This may be a good game to incorporate.
Dice games are my absolute favorite. I’d never heard of this game but I want to check it out! Thanks!
I’ve never heard of this game before. It sounds very interesting.
I haven’t heard of this game. It looks like it could be fun… and addicting.
This looks like such a fun game! Easy for everyone in my family.
We love games! I have never heard of this one so I will have to check it out.
Wow. Looks like such fun. Might have to invest in this for the grandkids. Thanks Scott. great review.
I like fast games. They keep my attention!
Sometimes, the simpler and lo-tech the game, the better. This sounds like a lot of fun! I can see the educational value for young children.
We like faster ones! That way we can play some different ones and keeps the kids from getting bored!
I like a mixture of both fast and slow.
The game looks like it would be really fun to play!
I love fast games that keep you attentive and on your feet.
easy to take with you
INTERESTING GAME
One of our favorites! My son has lost most of the dice though.