Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice Review

I think I’ve mentioned before that my FLGS has a Used Game Sale every year. People can bring in games they no longer want, and have the opportunity to sell them. The event itself has actually gotten pretty big and intense, with people camping outside the store hours before opening so as to get a first look at all the games! This year, I was #14 in line! Believe it or not, the first 13 people snagged some pretty awesome deals before I could get to them….. But anyway. The Used Game Sale. That’s where I stumbled upon Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice. The title caught my eye, and I picked up the box to take a look. It seemed cute and funny, and was only $5.00, so I figured, why not? Was my $5.00 well spent, or will this game find its way back to the Used Game Sale next year?

Disclaimer: This game can be played in two different modes: 2-player or Tag-Team (4 or 6 players). I will be covering the basic 2-player mode in this review. -L

Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice (simply referred to as just Luchador from here on out) is a push-your-luck dice game in which players take on the roles of professional Luchadores. Over a series of rounds, players will be rolling dice, resolving their effects, occasionally using special Luchador powers, and attempting to either Pin their opponent in a 3-count, or completely knock their opponent out. To setup for a game, set the board (a 3D Wrestling Ring!!) in the center of the table between players. Each player receives a Luchador Superstar Card, 4 Wrestling dice, 1 Hit die, 1 Pin die, and a Strength Score Card with a strength marker set to 21. Players may choose to take their corresponding Lucahdor standee to serve as a reminder as to which character they are playing. Set the Luchador dice off to the side, and the game is ready to begin! A typical 2-player setup is pictured below.

To begin each round, both players will simultaneously roll their 4 Wrestling dice in the ring. Something important to note – if any dice roll off of the board during this roll phase, they do not get used this round at all! Then, without changing the results, players will line up their dice in the center of the ring, and all dice a resolved. Your Wrestling dice could show any of these faces: Miss, Hit, Block, Counter, or Pin. Rolling a Miss is pretty straight-forward – you miss and no damage is dealt. When you roll a Hit, you deal damage to your opponent. If you roll a Block, it allows you to block a Hit from your opponent, and thus you receive no damage from that Hit at all. A Counter lets you block a Hit and also deal damage to your opponent. When you roll a Pin, and your opponent is sufficiently weakened, you may attempt to Pin your opponent – more on that in a bit.

Players compare their dice, and determine who will roll Hit dice this round. For each Hit (that is not blocked) or Counter rolled, you get to roll your Hit die against the opponent. The Hit die faces show different wrestling moves that will deal set amounts of damage to the opponent. When damage is dealt, that player will move their strength marker down on their Strength Score Card. During this dice resolution phase, a player may opt to try a Signature Move by using the Luchador die. If you were able to score 2 Hits against your opponent, you may, instead of rolling the Hit die twice, choose to roll the Luchador die once. The Luchador die results can be special moves that deal significant damage, or they could be a fail or even Injury to yourself. There’s a risk/reward balance when deciding to use the Luchador die or not!

At a certain Strength threshold, a Luchador becomes Pin-able. If you rolled any Pins during the initial roll phase, you may hold onto that result and attempt to Pin your opponent after the other dice have been resolved. For each Pin result rolled, you will then roll your Pin die – resulting in either a failed Pin attempt, Stunning your opponent, successfully Pinning them, or showing off to the crowd (and healing 1 Strength). If you roll a successful Pin, then the pressure moves to your opponent. They must, in 3 rolls or fewer, save against being pinned. All 4 Wrestling dice are rolled, and that player must achieve 3 Save results – rolling Blocks or Counters. If a player is able to successfully save within 3 rolls, then they break out of the Pin and a new round begins. If they are unable to save, they are Pinned and lose the game! The game continues in this fashion, rolling/resolving dice, until either one player is Knocked Out (Strength marker reaches 0) or is successfully Pinned. The remaining Luchador is declared the winner!

So this game originally really caught my eye because the back of the box had a picture of the 3D wrestling ring. I found that hilarious, and for $5.00 decided to give it a shot. Having played it now, I have to say that it’s a cute little dice game, but not one that will ever break into my Top 10. The gameplay itself is straight-forward, and there really isn’t too much strategy involved here. I guess deciding when to Pin or use a Luchador die gives you some opportunity to strategize, but mostly this game has to do with the luck of the roll. Probably my biggest qualm with the game is that the rulebook mentions resolving the dice, but no real set resolution order is given. So can you look at your results and decide to use a Luchador die immediately, or do you need to have 2 Hits left after the other dice have been resolved to elect to use the Luchador die? Who deals damage first when resolving the dice? Can the Luchador die be Blocked or Countered? There’s some ambiguity around this step, and that can slow down the gameplay a bit as players try to figure out what should happen first.

On the other hand, the gameplay is relatively quick and funny as it revels in the theme of Luchador wrestling. The names of the wrestlers themselves, the wrestling moves, and the signature abilities keeps the atmosphere light and thematic. My personal favorite standard hit has got to be the “Chair Smash.” The game does also come with Advanced Rules to offer a bit more strategy to the gameplay. With the Advanced Rules, players have Strengths and Weaknesses that will affect their gameplay, as well as a Killer Combination that could be a game changer for their specific wrestler. I think playing with the Advanced Rules is more of a sweet spot for me, as it just provides more depth to the gameplay. But the basic game is good for a light filler. Luchador is marketed as a 2-6 player game, but playing with more than 2 players means that everyone is playing on teams. While your teammate is in the ring, you kind of are just sitting there, waiting to get tagged in. So I personally would really say that this is a 2-player only game.

Let me touch on components for a second. Obviously, my favorite is the 3D wrestling ring. Is it necessary? Nope. But it’s so fun and elevates the gameplay to me. It’s nice sturdy cardboard, and the ‘ropes’ are little bungee cords that have held up well so far. The Luchador standees are also nice thick cardboard, and the cards are large and sturdy. The dice are chunky and fun to have in hand. All in all, pretty decent production quality, if you ask me!

Was Luchador: Mexican Wrestling Dice worth my $5.00 at the Used Game Sale? At that price, I would say yes. But not at a higher price. The gameplay is cute and thematic, but mostly luck-driven and not too strategic unless you play with the Advanced Rules. So although the box drew me in, unfortunately the gameplay isn’t really engaging me too much. It’s a goofy little game, but not one that I really anticipate pulling out on those 2-player game nights – guess it’ll find its way back to the Used Game Sale next year! Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a “Table Slam” score – so a 3 / 6.