YORKTON – Up front dice and I traditionally have had what might best be described as a hate / hate relationship.
The little spotted cubes are typically pure evil when I roll them onto the gaming table, so when I came upon Stakeout by designer Amber Wells I was rather torn.
The theme has players – two-to-four – taking on the roles of private eyes, with the art by Varvara Alay running nicely to hard-boiled detective noir.
I have long been a fan of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, Walter Moseley’s Easy Rawlins, Erle Stanley Gardiner’s Perry Mason and similar pulpy delights so Stakeout intrigued in that way.
As it turned out – not surprisingly – Wells was rather like-minded.
“I’m a big noir detective fan,” she said via email. “One of my favourite films is The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I love stories with sharp-witted, smooth-talking detectives who unravel tangled webs of mystery and deceit. . .
“I started working on Stakeout in 2017, inspired by my love of mysteries, especially the hard-boiled detective fiction of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. I was searching for games that really captured the feel of being a noir detective. While I found some excellent titles (like Martin Wallace’s P.I.), most leaned heavily on deduction. That makes sense for the genre, but I was surprised by the lack of variety. In other themes (zombies, gardening, space exploration, etc.) you can find everything from light dice-chuckers and puzzly Euros to big thematic Ameritrash experiences.
“So Stakeout began as my attempt to make the kind of game I wanted to play: a thematic, strategic dice game steeped in noir.”
But would a considerable reliance on rolling dice quell interest too much?
So it was with excitement and apprehension Trevor and I broke out an advance copy of Stakeout.
Interestingly, while you do toss many dice, placing them on various cards which have an impact on end-game scoring at some point, the options are varied enough rare is a totally wasted die result.
By contrast the noir detective theme was a tad underwhelming. You don’t ‘feel’ like a detective in the sense you are actually using brain power to solve a mystery.
It was actually sort of an opposite experience to what I had anticipated.
Ultimately as a dice roller this was way more fun than expected – and for me to write that is rather surprising.
And while the theme doesn’t drip off this one, the art sets the mood, and the idea of ‘solving’ cases exists in a way which is still a lot of fun.
Aiding the experience is a game which is rather easy to get into, something Wells said she was trying to achieve.
“Stakeout is easy to learn, with quick turns and strong thematic integration,” she said. “At the same time, it offers plenty of strategy and tactical depth, rewarding players who come back for multiple plays. One of my favourite aspects is the emergent storytelling. While the game doesn’t tell a single fixed narrative, the cast of characters, locations, evidence, and clients invite players to weave their own detective stories from the way each game unfolds. I love hearing players recount the ‘case’ they just solved when the game ends.”
Now I might not enthuse quite that much in terms of a complete immersion in the theme, but I’ll admit Stakeout is among the cream of games experienced for the first time this year, and for me to say that about a dice-powered offering is unusual to say the least.
As Wells notes, “Stakeout offers something unique: a noir-detective themed dice game that balances thematic immersion with just the right amount of strategic depth. It’s approachable and fun, but also rewarding for players who enjoy strategic choices and replayability” all of which Trevor and I agree.
Definitely one to check out at www.playlamplight.com
