Devil Dice

by Shift · published by THQ, Sony Computer Entertainment · Xi series

1998 · PS3, PSP, PS1

Devil Dice is a unique puzzle game, where the player controls a small devil that runs around a grid covered in large dice. The player can both stand atop dice, and stand on the ground (with the dice towering above). When standing on the dice, the player can move from die to die, or can roll a die in the direction he or she runs, revealing a different face as the die rotates. Creating a group of adjacent dice with identical pips—the size of which must be at least the number of pips—causes those dice to slowly sink into the field before disappearing. Chain reactions are possible by adding additional dice to a sinking set. Different types of dice are available in some modes, with different properties to make the game more challenging. It was originally created by developer Shift on the "homebrew" Yaroze platform, and later turned into a commercial game. Released in 1998, it is one of only a handful of games to make the leap from the Yaroze to commercial release. The game is a million-seller and a demo version was released as a PlayStation Classic game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable on November 7, 2007.