One of the most well-known games in the world is Yahtzee (also known as Kismet in some circles). It's the classic where you roll some dice, keep some, and roll some more, hoping to get a scoring "hand." There are several games which can trace their roots back to Yahtzee, but the ones I'll showcase here are of the Eurogame style. In essence, this is meant as a great way to bridge the gap between old school family games and the European strategy games that are gaining in popularity. The games I'm writing about here are Catan Dice Game, Roll Through the Ages, and To Court the King.
The Catan Dice Game serves as a great "double-whammy." Not only is it a great twist on Yahtzee, but it's a wonderful bridge to the most popular European strategy game, Settlers of Catan. Like Settlers, the Catan Dice Game has you building communities on a newly-discovered island. When you roll the dice, you're looking to collect resources which allow you to build improvements like settlements, roads, and cities. The score pad is a miniature depiction of the island from the Settlers of Catan board game.
Roll Through the Ages is, believe it or not, a civilization building game. You use the dice to increase your population, develop new technologies, build monuments, and build cities--all using the simple dice mechanic recognizable from Yahtzee. This game lead to many different civilization games including the same publisher's Through the Ages and other games like Rise of Empires.
To Court the King is a game where you are trying to gain the favor of people in a kingdom, with the ultimate goal being the king himself. The two major differences between this game and the two mentioned above are the lack of specialized dice and the lack of the need for a score pad. In To Court the King you roll standard dice with pips and the hands you come up with allow you to collect cards, which represent people in the king's court. These cards give you special abilities with the ultimate goal of getting the king card. It's just a great twist on Yahtzee, and for people who don't like the math element in Yahtzee's scoring, this is a great answer. To Court the King sets you up to identify scores of European strategy game which involve mechanical buzzwords like "set collection" and "role selection." It can also be a great gateway to games like Magic: the Gathering.
If you're looking for that bridge to European strategy games, or if you want something more from your games than rolling dice and keeping score, you can't go wrong with Catan Dice Game, Roll Through the Ages, and To Court the King.
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