MLGG: Pop Culture News, Reviews & Interviews

Does it feel like too much hard work to get yourself out there on the dating scene? Your dating problems are nothing compared to the ones faced by the characters in Cindr – their dragon-focused dates will often end with them getting burned!

From the pun of the clever title, all the way through the wonderful illustrations and inclusive, diverse nature of the game, it’s clear that a lot of love and attention has gone into the making of Cindr. Essentially a push-your-luck game in the vein of the classic, incredibly addictive Zombie Dice, on each turn of Cindr players will choose a dragon to go on a date with – from the ‘app’ itself (actually a card deck to draw from), the recent selection of up to three ‘rejected’ dragons (lined up next to the deck of dragons) or from their dating circle (featuring dragons they’ve previously dated). A location for the date is chosen, which will add bonuses or penalties to certain rolls or dice and the player builds their dice pool based on how closely their character’s personality aligns with the dragon.

From there, the dice are rolled with the aim of rolling hearts; there are three stages to each date and the aim is to collect as many hearts as possible without getting burned. Rolling a total of three flames sees your character burned and the date ended without any hearts being collected, but the date can be ended at any stage and the hearts banked before a burn occurs. If you get past the first two stages of a date successfully, the dragon will remain in your dating circle so that you can try to date them again on subsequent turns (this is really handy if there’s a good match with your personality types, as you’ll have a good dice pool to roll with!). The aim of the game is to be the first player to collect 21 hearts.

The theme is beautifully integrated and the wipe clean, glossy card character sheets allow for a nice level of personalisation each time you play, even featuring space for the character’s preferred pronouns. The flavour text on dragon cards and locations is clever, witty and adds a great deal of fun to the experience – and the translucent, coloured dice are a really aesthetically pleasing touch too. Solo and Co-Op modes of play are possible as well, both of which are welcome inclusions.

Cindr is a genuinely pleasant surprise; an addictive, dice rolling game with a fun, unusual fantasy theme and superb aesthetics. It also has an admirable commitment to diversity and inclusion that’s great to see. Easy to learn and teach, it’s a game that’s well worth seeking out and playing – just do your best not to get burned!

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