Dice Tower Parenting

It all started four years ago.

The year was 2018. I was discovering the wonderful world of board gaming. For years I had but looked through the window glass, and now I was running in the populous lands of tabletop madness. At the time, I was young still; I hadn't heard of the 1 Player Guild, Solitaire Times didn't even exist, I didn't even know I couldn't stand worker placement, nor could I make the difference between deck building and deck construction.

But there was a title I had heard about, years ago, a fabled one, with its unbelievable promises of adventures, exploration, conquests, and delightfully solitaire gameplay. It was Mage Knight. At the time, I also thought I could handle any level of complexity. I was that naive.

Anyway. When the 2018 Ultimate Edition got out, I immediately ordered it. I spent lots of money to get it shipped from the US - I didn't know then there would be a much cheaper French edition a few months later. I just got blind, I guess, with the importance of this release.

And then I received it. And I was crushed.

A 150€ game (shipping included). The anointed King of solo gaming. Its insert, mercilessly shattered by the reinless bouncing of the card decks. I cursed WizKids and their frail product. I was disgusted.

Four years later. Now, Mage Knight is but one title in a sea of solo titles. I have never played it, since I couldn't get through the rules. Still, it is still the King of solo gaming. It is still terribly appealing. And now I am hearing about this new release, with a new, sturdier insert, better-painted minis... Suddenly I know what I just need to do.

I purchased the e-raptor insert. I always considered it, yet it was far too expensive for a game I already felt I had spent too much on. But the circumstances were dire: a few more threads on how much better the new insert is and I would have plunged into purchasing the game *again*, that's a certainty.

Now, the e-raptor insert includes a dice tower, because they just don't know how to fill such an oversized box. And it was a nice, sunny Sunday, my wife was working as usual, and I was caring for my son. Since he was obsessed with his tramway, I thought it was a good time to start building the insert. I started with the dice tower, but the little gremlin got pretty interested in it, and I offered him to try it first.

That was definitely fun. So I fetched a few more dice that were laying around.

But of course, he wouldn't stop just there. So I did my best and retrieved a few more dice.

By this time we even had a song (something along the lines of: "Even more dice! Never enough dice! I want more dice! Even more dice!") and he was singing aloud as if trying to call the entire neighborhood to their board gaming prayer. And he kept filling the dice tower with dice and more dice and even more dice! To the point where he just couldn't fit any.

That's a total of 137 dice in there. It kept us occupied for a bit more than an hour. And I challenge you to identify some of the games they are from!

I always regarded dice towers as useless artifacts. I never suspected it could lead to spending a very fun parenting time.