Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters

Dungeon Dice Monsters, or DDM for short, is a board game in the anime and manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!. It is seen in the manga and in the second series anime (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters).

Game Stats
In Dungeon Dice monsters, there is a tiled board of 13 x 19 tiles (13 tiles wide) on which play is conducted. On either end of the board sits a "Monster Lord" (on the 7th tile from each side on the row closest to the players) representing either player. Each Monster Lord has 3 Life Points. The first player to lose all their Life Points loses. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime, these were referred to as "Heart Points".

Terminology
Monster Lord - Also called the Die Master, this is a representation of the player. Dungeon Masters cannot move, attack, or defend. Each has 3 Life Points. The Dungeon Master is not affected by items or abilities that affect monsters in the Dungeon. The only way to destroy the Dungeon Master is by attacking it.

Dice Pool - The 15 Dice a player uses. When a Dice is used for a Summon, it cannot be used again. Players are only allowed 10 Summons in a game, so they will always have 5 Dice left over for Crest rolling.

Crest Pool - The place where a player's Crests (Except Summon Crests) are stored. The Crests rolled are stored in the Crest Pool until a player uses them. A player cannot use Crests from the opponent's Pool.

Dungeon Path - Created when monsters are Summoned, it is needed so players can attack each other and move about the board.

Obstacles - Squares placed on a board, neither player can Summon a monster in such a way that their Dungeon Path would lie adjacent to the Obstacle. Strategic placing of Obstacles can cut off a player's main route of Summoning and make the game much more difficult. In the Game Boy game Dungeon Dice Monsters, later levels have Obstacles placed in such a way to only hinder the human player, giving them a large handicap.

History
In the manga and anime, Dungeon Dice Monsters is created by Ryuji Otogi (Duke Devlin in the English anime).

In the manga, Otogi creates the game under pressure from his father, Mr. Crown. Mr. Crown lost to a Shadow Game against Sugoroku Mutou (Solomon Muto in the English anime). Mr. Crown wants Otogi to avenge the defeat and harm Yugi Mutou, Sugoroku's grandson.

In the anime, he idolizes Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the Japanese versions) and strives to create a game just as great as Duel Monsters. He emails the specifications to Pegasus, who challenged him to a match of the game at Duelist Kingdom. Using the Millennium Eye to read his mind and thus, easily master the game, Pegasus defeats the creator. However, he was impressed with the game and agreed to market it. This is shortly before Yugi Mutou arrives at Duelist Kingdom.

Upon being defeated, Pegasus goes into hiding, and the contract to market Dungeon Dice Monsters is never signed. Thus, the game does very poorly, and the only shop selling it is the one the creator himself owns. The creator blames his failure on Yugi. In the English anime, he believes that he cheated to beat Pegasus, crushing his spirit. In the Japanese versions, Otogi does not accuse Yugi of cheating to win.

In both the anime and the manga, he cons Yugi into a match by dueling his friend Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler in the English anime) and forcing him to wear a dog costume. Yugi challenges Otogi for Jonouchi's freedom, and thus the game begins.

Yugi does poorly early on, obviously having little clue on how to play the game. However, he makes a comeback and defeats Otogi. Otogi admits defeat. In the manga, his father's game shop burns down to the ground.

In the anime, shortly after the match, he receives another email from Industrial Illusions, telling him they will sign the contract to market Dungeon Dice Monsters worldwide. It is later mentioned that he travels briefly to the U.S. to market the product, but later returns to Japan.

Sets
Although they are not featured in any real life sets, two cards featured in the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime "Dice Dungeon" and "Dimension Dice" modify the normal Yu-Gi-Oh! card game to be similar to Dungeon Dice Monsters. The two cards combined use dice rolls and a board-like playing field to change the style of play to resemble Dungeon Dice Monsters. The two cards are played by Devlin himself.

Gameplay
The central part of Dungeon Dice monsters is, obviously, the dice. Each player has 15 6-sided dice. There are 6 symbols on each die, called Crests. A player rolls 3 dice each turn, and from the Crests rolled, makes their move. Players alternate turns rolling dice until a player's Dungeon Master loses all its Heart Points. What makes the game a true challenge is that a monster cannot move except along Dungeon Path, which is created when a monster is summoned. So, careful placement of pathway can mean an easy path behind opposing lines. But sloppy dimensioning could spell defeat for a player.

Monsters
The monsters in Dungeon Dice Monsters have 3 main stats: Attack, Defense, and Health (Health is sometimes referred to as 'Hit Points'). The Attack and Defense are in multiples of 10. All monsters have at least 1 Health Point to remain on the board. When a monster loses all of its Health points, it is destroyed. Damage to health points is determined by attacking and defending. (see Attack Crest and Defense Crest for more details). Some monsters are Tunnelers, meaning they can move past other monsters (normally, monsters cannot move over each other.). There are also Flyers, who can not only move over other monsters, but can only be attacked by other Flyers or by monsters with Special Abilities saying they can attack Flyers. Also, there are many monsters with Special Abilities, although many require Trap or Magic Crests to use. (See Trap Crest and Movement Crest for more details)

Crests

 * See main article: Crests.

Real Life
Dungeon Dice monsters was made as a real game in early 2002 as Yu-Gi-Oh!: Dungeondice Monsters, with 137 figures and cards scheduled for release. However, it never really caught on and was cancelled within a few months. The rules are slightly different, and many of the monsters from the card game were used to expand on the barely-touched game. The game was produced by Mattel.

Game Play
Similar to the anime and manga game, two players sit at either end of the field, which is 13 x 19 squares. Each player has a dice pool of 12 dice, 1 for each of the 4 levels of monsters and items available in the game. However, instead of using "Heart Points," the game incorperates a monster called the Monster Lord ( 3 LP/10 ATK/0 DEF).

Summoning
Summoning monsters works like in the show, where three dice are rolled and if any two have Summoning Crests, a monster of the lowest level crest can be summoned. When a monster is summoned, the player picks a path piece to place on the board, leading from their Monster Lord to the game field. If a monster is destroyed, it is removed from play.

Battle
When monsters battle on the field, they can attack once, defend, or use a special ability. Normal Attacks require one Attack Crest, while a Normal Defend uses one Defense Crest. When a monster attacks another monster, the attacking monster's ATK is subtracted from the defending monster's HP. If a Defense Crest is used, the monster's DEF is subtracted from the attacking monster's ATK. If a monster is destroyed, it is removed from play.

An interesting note is the Monster Lord. Unlike on the show where the Die Master could not defend himself, the Monster Lord has 10 ATK and can strike back at an attacking monster. Regardless of the attacking monster's ATK, the Monster Lord only loses 1 LP for each attack. Since a Monster Lord cannot move, this can save a duelist whose monsters are on the other end of the field.

Special Abilities
Some monsters have Effects not unlike their Duel Monsters counterparts. Some special abilities require the use of crests while others don't. For example, a monster may spend a number of crests (regardless of this kind of crest) to attack or defend without using an attack crest. Others have effects specific to the type of crest that is used; Knight of Twin Swords can attack twice for every 2 attack crests used, but cannot perform a single normal attack if the effect is used. Others still have more unique powers, like taking 0 damage from certain monster types.

Many also have the ability to "Tunnel" or "Fly" on the game board. Tunneling monsters can pass through other monsters at the cost of two Progress Crests per space. Flying monsters can only be attacked by other Flying monsters or regular monsters with special abilities, and normal monsters can pass under them. Flying monsters require two Progress Crests per space even when not passing over enemies. However, neither of these types can occupy the same space as another monster, balancing out their advantages

Game Progress
Each player picks their monsters and sets a Monster Lord figurine (or token, if a figurine is unavailable) on white space. (Blue in the Advanced Gameplay; see below.) Players decide on who goes first, and that person then picks three dice from his or her dice pool and rolls. While it is suggested they all be the same level, they can be mixed if desired. The player then takes any crests available and uses them or puts them in the crest pool. As more monsters are summoned, the players will begin to form a bridge between themselves and their opponent. Once the two paths meet, the players must attempt to get at the Monster Lord to attack. If two monsters meet on adjacent squares, they can battle. Once one player destroys all of his or her opponent's monsters or is able to defeat the Monster Lord, that player wins.

Advanced Gameplay
While essentially the same, there is one key difference with the Advanced Gameplay rules. Rather than setting a Monster Lord figure or token on the white starting squares, they are placed on the blue squares, which are farther apart. Basically, this just gives more room for the players to work with, with a larger space to summon monsters and items. This can severely change the length of a game, making it take considerably longer than a normal gameplay session.

Public Reaction
While quite a bit of hype surrounded the game before its release, sales were low and few expansions were released. A Starter Pack containing 7 figures, 7 cards, two Crest Pools (an abacus), 12 dice, a number of hit counters, several pathway pieces, 4 Monster Lord Tokens, and a set of instructions (the booklet modelled after the one used for the card game) was marketed, as well as a limited number of Booster Pack sets, but before the full set was released, the line was cancelled due to lack of support.

Differences between Japanese and English release
Noteably, the Japanese release of Dungeon Dice Monsters was much different than the English version. Instead of molded plastic six-sided die, the dice were snap-together and unfolded on hinges into the dungeon path tiles. This was to effect the dice going out of use when used; while good in theory, the dice tended to be hard to lay flat on the board and use as path. In the Japanese version, one Starter Set containing 10 Monsters, a Monster Lord, and all the accessories was released, as well as seven booster packs.

See also:

 * Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 047, Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 048, Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 049
 * Complete list of all Sets released for this game