I have long said that a great game comes from a mix of luck and skill, and Take It or Leave It from Gamewright is absolutely that mix. The game consists of a miniature dice table, twenty small blue, orange, and red dice, and two decks of cards, Combo and Action. The dice are rolled, and players attempt to match combinations on their hands of Combo cards for points, while Action cards give them a chance to change up the table. On the one hand, TIoLI is luck when a roll of the dice could leave a player stranded with a bad hand; on the other, it is a game steeped in strategy.
The main strategy of TIoLI comes from the Combo cards, giving a player one to five points for completing a combination of blue and orange dice. Some cards simply ask a total greater than a number, while others can be as specific as calling for an orange one, a blue five, and a six of either color. More difficult combinations give more points, but players draw the dice one at a time, and planning to fulfill a difficult card might prove useless if someone steals that needed blue three. It makes for a tense, edge-of-the-seat game with players constantly calculating, reading opposing players, and re-calculating.
Further strategy stems from the Action cards. Each player receives one Action card per round and may play it to manipulate a die on the table before picking his or her die for the turn. Some cards allow players to reroll multiple dice; others allow for extra dice taken, and others simply, and powerfully, allow the player to change a number on a die up or down. Careful planning and skillful timing could change a loss to a stunning victory. However, opposing players have Action cards of their own, meaning that the table could change at any time, for better or worse.
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