Rogue Review- Oh My Gold!

Oh My Gold! by Blue Orange Games is a quick kid’s game where you set out as pirates to find the most treasure.

Gameplay- B+

*Treasure Chests. There are a few that contain nothing but stinky, dead fish, so beware.*

You’re a pirate and your goal is to gain the most buried treasure. To gain your treasure, you need to first unlock a treasure chest and then claim it. On a player’s turn, they roll a set of four dice. The dice have four different symbols on them: gem, gold coin, key and swords. To unlock a chest, you need to roll a matching number of keys (chests have one to three keys on them). The swords can be used as wildcard symbols for treasure or to capture other pirates’ treasure.

Once you’ve unlocked a chest, it moves over to your play area. To claim it for good, you need to roll matching symbols. You could do this on the same turn. If you’re lucky, and roll two keys, a coin and a gem, then unlock a chest with those exact symbols on it you can claim it right away and put it under your pirate ship, where it’s yours for the rest of the game. If you don’t claim it on your turn, it remains in front of your face up. Any of the other players can then claim it on their turn by rolling a sword and the symbols matching the treasure. You are pirates after all.

The rule book offers a couple of variations for different age kids. The simplist is you only roll once. The most advanced rules allow you to choose some dice to keep and then reroll the rest. But you have to commit your kept dice. For example, if you want to claim a chest with two diamonds and a coin from another player, and roll a sword and three diamonds, you could commit the sword to attack and two diamonds, and then reroll the fourth dice hoping for a coin. If you get it, the treasure is yours. If you don’t, then you can’t use the dice for anything else.

The game ends when the last treasure has been claimed. Players then tally the total symbols they’ve claimed. The one with the most, wins. In the case of a tie, the person with the most gems wins.

Production- A

Everything fits in a nice small box which makes the game easy for storage and transport. It’s a game you could pull out anywhere to entertain some kids.

Theme- A

The game has very few components, which means it does not have much to convey its theme. But what it has, it uses effectively. Each player gets a pirate ship token and the treasure is all stored in treasure chests. The chests themselves are their own tiles and rather than just being squares with an image on them, they are cut in the shape of a 2D chest. It’s a minor detail but it helps.

The box art shows the pirates as silly woodland creatures but that doesn’t carry over into any other components. But it does help set the tone of the game as silly and friendly rather than sinister. Which, well, we’re talking about pirates, so sinister is always on the table.

Expansions- TBD

Not that type of game.

Conclusion- B+

This is a quick game to play, which makes it good for distracting kids for a short period or playing during a break between activities. The mechanics are simple, so even fairly young ones can play, but it’s not completely inane to drive adults to tears of boredom (I’m looking at your Chutes and Ladders).