Last Chance

Last Chance
"Risk on each roll. Live on the edge. Play the game."
A question and answer writeup

What is last chance?
Last Chance is a dice game. Like any self respecting dice game, it involves betting. Oh, but this isn't a regular dice game, it's a dice game with a twist. The twist being 36 2.5"x2.5" cards. A card is drawn for each round. The objective of the is to make as much money as you can by matching a roll of dice to the information on the current card.

What are the rules and procedures?
For two (2) to six (6) players.

Setup:
1. Shuffle the 36 cards.
2. Choose seven (7) cards at random and stack them face down. Remove leftover cards from play. (Seven is only a suggested value, I like 10 myself)
3. Each player gets one (1) betting token (I'll explain later)
4. Choose a player to be banker (handle chip between players and the bank). Give each player $5,000 worth of chips: 5 $100 chips, 3 $500 chips, and 3 $1,000 chips.

Playing the game:
1. Players bid. Players call out bids auction style. The highest bidder wins a chance to play the card. The first bidder is always the banker. He also has the duty of flipping the card face up and let everyone know what they're bidding on. After the initial bid (or pass/check) anyone may bid. Each player may continue to increase his or her bid as long as her or she wants. The highest bid wins a chance to play the card.
2. Side bets. The players who did not win the bid now bet whether or not the rolling player will succeed. This is done by placing the a token and placing it with either "Yes" or "No" facing up. The bet amount (between $100 and $1000) should be placed on top of the token. You win this amount of money if right, lose it if wrong.
3. Rolling player rolls. The rolling player now rolls the dice as instructed by the card. Each die that matches a die on the current card is placed on the card on top of the die it corresponds with.
4. At the end of the roller's turn, side bets are taken or paid off. If the card is complete, you get your payoff and bid amount as well as the card. If you lose, your bid is taken. The di(c)e on the card are left in place.
5. Continue with same card until complete. Go back to step one (1) and play the card starting with bidding. The card will progressively get easier with each round until someone wins. At this point, a new card is placed face up.

Losing:
When you run out of funds, you leave the game.

Winning:
When all cards are complete, the person with the highest dollar amount in chips wins. Anyone who hasn't won a card is not eligible to win.

Why it's called "Last Chance":
If a player is "down on his luck" and has no money to compete with other players' bid for a card, he or she make call "LAST CHANCE" once per game. The player automatically wins the bid for the card. If he or she does not finish the card, they are out of the game. If they do, they may continue the game as normal, but may not call "last chance" again.

Wait... what's this about the cards?
Well, have a look:

Rotated 45 degrees
       ________________Top
      |   __   __   __ | 
      |  |D1| |D2| |D3||  D#  = Die Number
      |             __ |  RR  = Roll Range
      |      R     |D4||  $$$ = Payoff
      | $     R     __ |
      |  $         |D5||
      |   $            |
      |________________|
Bottom

As seen on the poorly depicted card above, there are 3 main parts to the card (D#, RR, and $$$). Each card shows a 5-dice combination. Your goal is to match the 5 dice to those picture on the card (D1-D5). If a joker appears in place of a number, any number maybe be used for the joker, but once a joker is used, all jokers on that card must be the same number. In the center is a number (RR) between 2 and 5. This number represents the maximum number of rolls a player may attempt this turn. Finally, the payoff amount is at the bottom of the card ($$$). If you complete the card within the roll limit, you receive this amount of money on top of your bid amount. The card is given to you with your earned chips.

Who makes it?
The game is produced by Milton Bradley. It started production in 1995.

What are your thoughts on this game?
It's a good party game. Something for friends to enjoy instead of poker. It isn't a family game, but it's still good... very good. It gets intense near the end when players without a card realize they desperately need one to win. On occasion you'll get an impossible card in one roll or not be able to roll a 6 for about 20 rolls, but this adds to the excitement. The game is much like any game of chance, if you place your bets right you'll do well. Statistics are your friend in this game, so don't go against them.

If I were to rank this game, I would give it 4 penguins out of 5.

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Sources:
"Last Chance" instruction manual
My own experiences.