Wilderness Dice Duel

I don’t want to let the Wilderness Dice brand go. Despite the powerful push at JAMR towards producing more Stellar Empire content, I’ve been ruminating on an updated set of rules that will put playing in even more direct conflict than in the original game, and also let players make their own personalized decks.

Hence, Wilderness Dice Duel…

There has never been a better time to have a spouse who plays games…

While it’s said in jest, it’s true. The proliferation of “Duel” games in recent years has taken these large multi-player games, and compacted them into a box that travels well and plays with just two people.

Just to name a few; Duelosaur Island (from Dinosaur Island), 7 Wonders: Duel, Splendor: Duel, Cosmic Encounter: Duel, Azul: Duel, King of Tokyo: Duel, Cthulhu Wars: Duel, Tesla vs. Edison: Duel, Furnace Duel, even Catan has Rivals for Catan.

Disclosure: These links contain affiliate links that help support JAMR, llc. Your cost does not increase using affiliate links, they help support the work of JAMR as we receive a small commission, and you get a sweet game to play with your significant other.

That’s not even an exhaustive list, it’s just the ones I knew of when I still owned Jakrew Games, or that I’ve seen advertised recently.

Now, let me be clear, as a person who plays games with his spouse … I love this trend. That being said, I don’t want Wilderness Dice Duel to be lost in the wake of "just another game turned ‘duel’.”

This isn’t a cash grab at a fad. It’s an intentional attempt to revitalize a game that I’ve enjoyed designing and had fun playing.

One of the issues with Wilderness Dice came from our relaunch of the Bring Your Own Dice edition. While it allowed us to sell smaller boxes of the game at a reduced cost, it ended up costing us sales.

That was my problem. Ultimately, I think that’s the problem with Wilderness Dice as it stands now. With access to a new box supplier, I’ve been able to make card games that rely on up-to four dice (see Landing Party). This set the framework that I had to operate within. So with that structure I began designing Wilderness Dice Duel.

Thus far, I have redesigned the game, given it a new branding and have designed a box that holds the four dice for play. Additionally, I have put together a play testing guide that I am making available below to paid subscribers of my Substack.

We’re also going to revisit and off the original Patreon Exclusive packs again, updated for Wilderness Dice Duel.

In January of 2026, I am planning on launching a Kickstarter or Gamefound (still trying to weigh the pros-and-cons of each) which will help me fund the box and card printing. Both the card and box printing is USA based, so we will avoid tariffs on those items.

As an independent game studio, JAMR doesn’t have the resources to do full print runs overseas. So while we avoid the tariffs our cost-per-unit is higher.

Keep an eye here and on my Bluesky for more information as we get closer to January of 2026. If you want to help in the play testing and get a play testing credit in the game (plus I’ll send you a copy of Wilderness Dice to use), please consider a paid subscription to my Substack to unlock the instructions below.