How To Play Cubitos

Looking for an organized, easy way to learn how to play or teach Cubitos? Then enjoy my take on how to play the game! Let’s get right into it.

Each round of Cubitos is split into a Roll Phase and a Run Phase. All players take their turns at the same time, rolling their dice in the Roll Phase and hoping not to bust, and using special abilities, moving around the race track, and buying dice in the Run Phase. The player who gets their Runner Figure to the finish line space first wins. If more than one player does this in one round, the player who went the farthest past it wins. If this still results in a tie, all players play additional rounds until one player is the farthest at the end of one.

Now, lets get into much more details!

Back-Of-The-Box Facts About Cubitos

• Player Count: 2-4
• Time To Play: 30-60 minutes
• Age Range: 14 and up
• Difficulty: Beginner/Easy
• Price Range: ~$50-$60
• Release Year: 2020
• Publisher(s): Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)
• Designer(s): John D. Clair
• Artist(s): Jacqui Davis, Philip Glofcheskie, and Ryan Iler
• Where to buy: Amazon

How To Play Cubitos

Let’s start with what Cubitos is.

What Is Cubitos?

Cubitos is a racing game in which players roll dice to move around a track. Each turn, they can acquire more cards, which lets them use more and better dice to help them move faster.

What’s The Goal In Cubitos?

The goal in Cubitos is to either be the only player to reach the Finish Line. If you’re not the only player to reach the Finish Line, then you want to be farthest across it. There are no ties in Cubitos, so if players are still even, all players play additional rounds until one player ends up in the lead at the end of one. That player wins.

Setting Up Cubitos

Each player gets the following things:

1. A player board in their color
2. A phase token with the green “Roll Phase” facing up
3. Seven light gray starting dice
4. Two dark gray starting dice
5. Two Runner Figures in their color

Players place all their starting dice, light gray and dark gray, into the Draw Zone on their player board.

Then, players will need to choose a card set for the game. These cards determine which dice players can buy to improve their runner figure. The game suggests a set for the first game and even more later in the rulebook. Whatever card set players choose, they need to place those cards and their accompanying dice around the racetrack, which should be in the center of the table.

Players then place the Fan Track next to the Racetrack, and each player puts one of their Runner Figures on the Bleachers’ Space on the Fan Track.

Select a Start Player at random (I recommend rolling some dice from the game!), then place the Start Player Die in their Roll Zone on their player board.

Some Important Cubitos Concepts

Here are the concepts you’ll need to know to play the game of Cubitos, starting with the dice.

The Dice

All the dice in Cubitos will have symbols or blanks on their faces. Here’s what that looks like.

Light Gray Starting Dice

These dice will only have 1 money symbol (a circle with a 1 in it).

Dark Gray Starting Dice

These dice will have 1 money symbol and 1 movement symbol (a foot).

Start Player Die

This die, which is black with red symbols, can only be rolled by the Start Player for that round (the die is given to the player to the Start Player’s left at the end of each round). One face will have a foot symbol, one will have a money symbol worth two money, and the other will have a credit symbol worth one credit.

Other Dice

Other dice will have a variety of symbols on them, including special-ability symbols, money symbols, fight symbols, and blanks.

The Zones On A Player Board

On a player board, there are the Draw Zone, Roll Zone, Active Zone, and Discard Zone. Let’s start with the Draw Zone.

Draw Zone

Your player board’s Draw Zone contains all the dice you can move into your Roll Zone for a turn. All players start with the ability to have nine dice in their Roll Zone, which is called the Draw Amount. So, if a player already has three dice in their Roll Zone, at the beginning of the Roll Phase, they could move any six of the dice in their Draw Zone to their Roll Zone.

However, if they only had four dice in their Draw Zone, they would take all of the dice out of their Discard Zone and put them into the Draw Zone, then move another two from there into their Roll Zone.

Roll Zone

When it’s time to roll dice, players can only roll dice from here unless a dice’s ability says otherwise.

Active Zone

This is where dice go when they land with a symbol showing face up. This is called a Hit. A Miss is when a die lands with a blank showing face up.

Discard Zone

Dice go here after they’re used in the Run Phase. They remain here unless needed for the Draw Zone or a special ability takes them out.

Money And Credits

Money is represented by a circle with a number in it. It is used to move, get more dice, and pay other costs. Money is also lost at the end of a round, so any unspent money just goes away.

Credits are represented by a square with a number in it. Credits are used just like money except they don’t disappear at the end of a round.

The Two Phases

There are two phases per round in Cubitos: the Roll Phase and the Run Phase.

The Roll Phase

During the Roll Phase, all players roll their dice until they decide to Push or Pass or they Bust.

The Run Phase

During the Run Phase, which happens after all players have completed the Roll Phase, players use their abilities, resolving any fighting symbols (represented by a pair of crossed swords), figure out how much money, credits, and movement they have, move, buy more dice, then discard used dice.

Hits And Misses

A die Hits if it lands with a symbol showing face up. A die Misses if it lands with a blank showing face up.

Pushing, Passing, And Busting

There are three things that can happen when you roll dice during the Roll Phase: Pushing, Passing, or Busting. Here’s how they go down.

Pushing

Pushing is when you decide to roll again during the Roll Phase. You can make this decision after any roll during the Roll Phase.

Passing

Passing means your roll phase is over. You’ll flip your phase token over to the red side, which is the Run Phase side. Then you wait until everyone else is done rolling as well.

Busting

After a roll, you always check if you Bust. Busting happens when a player rolls no Hits (no dice land with a symbol showing face up). However, there’s a catch to this. They can only Bust if they already have at least three dice in their Active Zone.

What that means in practice is if you roll your first roll and come up with all Misses, you get to roll again! You only risk Busting if you have three or more dice in your Active Zone, so plan carefully!

What To Do On Your Turn

All players take their turns simultaneously in Cubitos.

During The Roll Phase

Let’s start with moving dice.

Move Dice From The Draw Zone Into Roll Zone

During the Roll Phase, they move dice from their player board’s Draw Zone into their Roll Zone until there are dice equal to their Draw Amount in their Roll Zone.

Roll Dice In Roll Zone And Check For Busts

Then all players roll all the dice in their Roll Zone. If they have three or more Hits in their Active Zone, they check to see if they bust. They bust if their dice come up with all Misses.

Move HIts To Active Zone

All dice with a symbol showing face up must be moved to the Active Zone. All misses are left in the Roll Zone.

Push Or Pass

If a player wants to roll again, they do so and follow the same three steps prior to this one.

If they pass, they flip their Phase Token to the Run Phase side and wait until everyone else is done with their Roll Phase.

Busting

If a player Busts, they move all dice from their Active Zone to their Discard Zone.

However, they may also move any dice from their Roll Zone to their Discard Zone as well. They also move their Runner Figure one space forward on the fan track, which will usually give them a bonus of some kind.

Now, it’s on to the Run Phase.

During The Run Phase

Here is the order of steps for the Run Phase.

Using Hits

Any dice that Hit in the Roll Phase are now in a player’s Active Zone. The first part of the Run Phase is doing what those Hits let you do.

Some Hits will let you use special abilities, which are indicated on the cards associated with those dice. Others let you compare crossed-sword symbols. Others still provide you with money, credits, and movement.

In this phase, you use those special abilities, compare the crossed-sword symbols, and collect money and credits.

Moving The Runner Figure

Every foot symbol lets a player move one space on the Race Track (if they want as moving is not mandatory). Players can also spend four money and/or credits to move another space, which they can do an unlimited number of times.

Runner Figures can also move into spaces with other runner figures, which is a nice touch since normally that’s not allowed in racing games.

Also, if a Runner Figure landed on a Reward Space on the Race Track, the player gets that reward.

Buying Dice

During this part of the Run Phase, players can buy up to two dice from the ones available. Each card associated with these dice will list how much they cost, and players can spend any amount of money and/or credits to buy them.

When a player buys a new die, they place it in their Discard Zone. Also, if a player buys two dice, they must be different colors.

Moving Dice To The Discard Zone

Players move all dice from their Active Zone to their Discard Zone but not from their Roll Zone. Dice in the Roll Zone stay there.

Then they flip their Phase Token back over to the Roll Phase side.

Passing The Start Player Die

The Start Player passes the Start Player Die to the player to their left. That player is now the Start Player.

How The Game Ends

Once a player’s Runner Figure reaches the Finish Line Space, the game is over. If more than one player’s Runner Figure reaches that space, then whichever player’s Runner Figure moved farther past it wins. If that still results in a tie, then all players play and keep playing more rounds until one of their Runner Figures is farthest at the end of a round.

Did You Know?

(Each time you refresh the page you will get a new “Did You Know” fact!)

Did you know that Terror Below has nothing to do with Stone Age, but it’s a game inspired by the Tremors franchise? Interested? Well, then take a look at our review of Terror Below here!

Conclusion: How To Play Cubitos

So, that’s how to play Cubitos. I did review the game and I liked it! I hope you end up feeling the same way, and I hope my explanation for how to play Cubitos helps you enjoy it even more.

Let me know how playing it goes in the comments below!

And, as always, keep on gaming, fellow board gamers.