Saxum

A rather straightforward dice game by Sid Sackson. Players alternate rolling two dice and allocating markers onto a 5 x 5 grid at the coordinates corresponding to the numbers thrown. If a six comes up, it can be counted as any other number by sacrificing six points from the acting player's score, or else simply re-rolled. Players are allowed to choose in which order the coordinates are read off the dice, so that each roll (other than doubles) gives two possible placements. If an occupied grid point is selected, points are scored according to the number of adjacent grid points contiguously occupied by stones of the owning player. The game is won by the player first player to reach a pre-determined total score. (The rules suggest 177, but this can lead to extremely long games...) The game was originally published by Gamescience/Renwal. It was re-released by Das Spiel as Saxum, with some significant rules changes.