Desert Duel

Desert Duel is one of the two-player multiplayer games available in Extras Mode in Mario Party DS. Unlike Pen Pals, which involves cooperation with the second player, Desert Duel has the two players competing to earn the highest score possible. The game takes place on a desert stadium, on a 5x5 board, on which both players move around by rolling the Dice Block.

Both players, in an order determined by rolling a Dice Block before the start of the game, roll the dice, with a 1-6 on it, and move around the board, claiming squares as they go. Any squares claimed add one point to the player's score, and taking the opponent's spaces results in that many points being added to the one player's score and subtracted from the other one's. Also hidden on the board are Stars, which add five points to the player's score, and Dice Blocks, which allow the player to roll and move again; only three of each are hidden on the board, and can only be collected by landing on a space containing one. Landing on the same space as the other player results in both players competing in a minigame (the settings of which are determined before the game), with the winner claiming one of the opposing player's stars if they have one. The player with the highest score after ten turns is the winner.