Free flash games are a little bit difficult to review. Especially the pick-up-and-play variety. Heck, within a few minutes you can decide what you think on your own. Not to mention that most of these games serve out all of their entertainment value within the first few minutes. Zilch seems like one of these games at first, but has a surprising amount of gameplay and replay value.

Graphics:
Zilch emulates playing a dice game on your kitchen table quite accurately. Every interface element in the game is quite wonderfully rendered as torn scraps of paper with handwritten scores, buttons, and pop-ups.

The rest of the game elements are extremely spartan, with 3d rendered dice and a countertop background. It gets the point across without any unneeded flair. Overall though they are perfect for this type of game.

Sound and Music:
Very simple sound effects, no music, and accessible mute button make this a perfect play-while-doing-something-else game. I can't complain about the music and sound, but it seems like an afterthought for the most part. The best part is that (except for the ringing at the end of a match) they aren't annoying.

Gameplay:
There is a surprisingly deep and addictive game here. The rules are a little bit frustrating at first - and you'll probably find yourself confused, not knowing exactly why you can't roll again. Here's how to play:

You roll 6 dice. Each 1 you roll is worth 100 points, and each 5 you roll is worth 50 points. If you roll 3 of a kind or more you get bonus points. A run (each of the numbers 1-6), any three pairs, or no score on the first roll are worth bonus points too.

You can select any point bearing dice each roll. You lock these dice, but can roll the unselected dice again. If you select all of the dice over the course of your rolls you unlock them all and can roll all 6 again. If you collect more than 300 points you can "bank" them, and end your turn. If on any roll, if you can't collect any points you "Ziltch" and lose all of your unbanked points.

You play against a single opponent, trying to net 10,000 points first. There are 3 AI opponents to play against, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer.

I played a few games online, and it ran smooth enough. There wasn't a lot of games running when I played though, which was kind of a bummer. I tried to play later, and hung out waiting for a game to start for 10 minutes. You can play as a guest or create an account. I didn't see any difference in a guest account versus creating an account.

Replay:
There are over 100 different medals to collect, a running stats page, an AI opponent to unlock, and online muliplayer. Add that to an addictive base mechanic, and this is one to add to your favorites collection.

How to support the developers of this game:
Add it to your favorites, and play a couple of games. Zlich is an ad supported game and well worth your time to play a couple of games and watch a couple of ads.

Final IFG Rating:
3.5 out of 5