Five years ago we reviewed a fun dice game that has stayed a family favorite game ever since. The game is That’s Pretty Clever by Schmidt Spiele and Stronghold Games.

We rattled through the score pads so quickly that we laminated the last of them so we can use dry erase markers to track our games. And we still pull it out regularly to play around dinner time for some light family fun. 

Since the original was published in 2018, Schmidt Spiele has published 3 more iterations of this dice game: Twice As Clever, Clever Cubed, Clever 4-Ever. 

Today we’re reviewing the second in the set, Twice As Clever. 

We’ll answer what’s added, what’s different, and if it’s just as fun. 

 

How to play Twice As Clever

Like the original, Twice As Clever is just as simple to learn and play. And that’s mainly because it maintains the same game flow as the original. 

Players roll the dice, choose one to use, they may set aside others for their opponents to use, then roll some more. Each colored die is recorded and scored differently. And the player with the most points after a set number of rounds (based on player count) wins the game. 

If you’d like to see how to play the original, check out our review of That’s Pretty Clever.

The big difference between the games is how each colored die is used and scored.

Game play

On a player’s turn, they roll all 6 dice and choose one to use. They place the die in one of their 3 dice spaces on the top left side of their score sheet. The player then uses the color and number on the dice to mark the appropriate space on their score sheet. 

The player then places all the dice that show lower values than the one they took onto the Silver Platter in the game box. If the player still has dice spaces left, they roll the remaining dice and repeat this process. After the third dice space is filled, the player’s turn is over and they place any left over dice on the Silver Platter.

The other players now all get to use one of the dice that were set aside on the Silver Platter. After choosing which die to use, they mark it in the corresponding place on their own score sheets. More than one player may use the same die result. 

Play then proceeds with the player to the left – who will now roll all 6 dice. 

After all players have taken a turn as the active player, the round ends. After a set number of rounds, based on player count, the game ends. The player with the highest score wins. 

But how do you score points?

 

How the dice score 

The 5 different areas of the score sheet are coordinated with the color of the dice chosen. The white dice is a wild, and can be used as any color, so it doesn’t have its own scoring area. 

Silver: 

Players record the silver die in the silver area by marking the value of the die but on any color space available. For example, a Silver 3 can be marked on any available 3 in the silver area (yellow, blue, green, or pink). In addition, any dice added to the Silver Platter when taking the Silver die can be marked on the associated number and color in the silver area.

For example, if I take a Silver 3 and in doing so place the pink 2 and yellow 1 on the Silver Platter, I will get to mark any open 3 in the silver area, plus the pink 2 and yellow 1 also in the silver area.

Points are scored for each row depending on how many numbers are crossed out in that row. Then all 4 row scores are added together. The point values are indicated at the bottom of the silver area.

Yellow: 

Players record the yellow die on a corresponding number in the yellow area in two ways. The first time a number space is marked, it is circled. The next time that space is marked, the player places an X (or crosses it out). 

The circled spaces are used to activate bonuses for that row or column. Spaces that are crossed out, are the ones that score points – as indicated at the top of the yellow area. For example, if I’ve crossed out 3 yellow numbers, I’ll score 21 points.

Blue: 

Players using a blue die add its value to the white die (no matter where it is at the time). The player writes the sum in the blue area. Players have to start at the leftmost space and proceed to the right. For each space, the number must be less than or equal to the previous number.

Points for the blue area are awarded for how far the player has progressed on the track – as indicated by the points above the spaces.

Green: 

Players multiply the green die by the multiplier listed in the open green space and write that number in the space. Players must start in the leftmost space and proceed to the right. As soon as two spaces are filled, the value in the second space is subtracted from the first space. The result is written in the green star space above.

At the end of the game, players total all the values in the green stars.

Pink:

Players simply write the value of the pink die in the spaces. Players must start in the leftmost space and proceed to the right. If the value they write is equal to or higher than a number listed in a space, the player gains the bonus listed below that space.

At the end of the game, players score the sum of all numbers written in the pink spaces. 

Bonuses: 

Players can earn bonuses along the way. These bonuses are listed at the end of rows or columns and below certain spaces. As soon as a number is written on a space with a bonus or fills the associated row or column, the player immediately take the bonus action. These bonuses include filling in other colored spaces or gaining extra actions. 

The Fox bonus awards points at the end of the game. Each fox earned is worth as many points as the player’s lowest-scoring area. 

Extra Actions:

The three special actions players can earn along the way are Re-Roll, Extra Die, and Return.

The first two are exactly the same as in the original That’s Pretty Clever game. The active player can use an earned Re-Roll to re-roll all the dice they just rolled. The Extra Die action allows players the chance to use any of the 6 dice at the end of a turn as an extra. 

The new action with Twice As Clever is the Return action. This action can only be used by the active player. With this action, a die that had already been placed on the Silver Platter can be returned to the dice pool and used in the next roll.

 

Can the whole family enjoy Twice As Clever?

Twice As Clever is another great family dice game.

You may notice that the recommended age for Twice As Clever is 10+, which is 2 years older than the recommended age for That’s Pretty Clever. We believe that’s because the dice recording and scoring is a bit more complicated than the original.

In the original, each colored area is very straightforward. The only restrictions come in the green and purple areas where the values essentially must be higher than the previous and reset after 5 (green) or 6 (purple).

In Twice As Clever though, there are more factors to consider in most areas. The blue and pink areas are still pretty simple. Blue and white dice still add together for the blue area, but the next space must be equal to or lower than the prior one. And in the pink area you can write any number, but only get the bonuses listed if the number is of a certain value or higher. Simple, but with restrictions for bonus actions.

However, silver, yellow and green have more going on.

Silver has you thinking more than just crossing off numbers because of the bonus option the active player has of being able to also record extra dice if they place them on the tray at that time. That’s an added level of consideration.

With yellow, you first have to circle a space and then cross off that space to get points. So there’s more going on and you have to build up to the points. Plus you have to consider which bonuses you want because circling everything in a row or column grants the bonuses. It can sometimes be a tradeoff of pushing for more bonuses or more points when marking in yellow.

And with green, you take the different between each pair of results. So timing of when you choose green is critical to get points going. Out of each pair, you first want a high number, then you want a low number. So it’s a back and forth hope of what you roll.

That being said, it’s still a light dice game that most family members can enjoy playing.

As with the original, what we love so much about these games are the continually choices throughout the whole game. For simple dice rolling, there can be a lot to consider.

And our favorite part comes in later rounds when you can start chaining bonuses from area to area. When you trigger one bonus that let’s you mark in another area that then chains another bonus and that marking gets you another bonus = total joy.

Plus, we really love that all players are invested in everyone’s turn. Because even when you’re not rolling the dice, you’ll get to mark something on your sheet. So you really do care about which dice the active player sets aside for you to use.

The added Return action is one that we find ourselves forgetting to use. Sure it’s listed on our sheets, but we often forget about it because we’re just not yet accustomed to having it in our thought process when considering which dice will be placed on the Silver Platter. Thinking ahead to also being able to bring those back into the dice pool and roll again can really help in the silver area. (We just have to remind ourselves of that option ahead of time.)

One complaint we have is the color of pips on the silver die. The white pips can be hard to see depending on the lighting. So after playing a few times, we colored the pips black.

Overall, Twice As Clever lives up to its name in being clever in what you can do with a set of six dice.

 

How does Twice As Clever score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Twice As Clever scores high on our “let’s play again” game meter. It doesn’t score quite as high as the original for us, but that probably has a lot to do with how familiar we are with the original over tons of repeated playing.

Yet, we know we’ll also get to a point with this game that we did with the original – where we run through the pad of score sheets and laminate the last 4 sheets so we can use dry erase markers to make our marks.

Add another fun dice game to your family’s game shelf with Twice As Clever.

 
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