Dice Games

There are hundreds of different games you can play with dice. Here are just a few suggestions.
For all of the games, a good way to decide who goes first is for each player to throw one die. The highest score wins and that player goes first. Play then continues clockwise.

How to Play It's Dicey or Giant Yahtzee

Throw 5 dice.

Retain as many dice as you want and re-roll the rest. Roll up to 3 times per turn, but stop after 1 or 2 rolls if you want. Re-roll as many dice as you want each time - even ones you have retained in a previous roll. You must place a score on the scorecard in one of the categories for each turn or enter 0 in a category. Play then passes to each player in turn. The player with the highest score after all 13 rounds wins.

How to Play 10,000 or Farkle

Throw 6 dice.

Retain scoring dice and re-roll any unwanted ones. Retain any further scoring dice and add the points to your total. Continue re-rolling unwanted dice until you don't score. Then your turn is over.

Minimum score > 500 points per round.

If you score from all 6 dice, you can re-roll them all continuing to add to your total.
Play then passes to each player in turn.

When one player has reached 10,000 points, all other players have one more turn to try to beat their score. If they can - they win! If not, the first player to 10,000 wins.

How to Play Beetle

Throw 1 die just once.



You must throw a 6 to start. If you don't, it's the next player's turn. Once you have thrown a 6, draw the body of your Beetle. You can continue to score to draw the other body parts by rolling as follows:

1: eyes, 2: antenna, 3: legs, 4: wings 5: head, 6: body

You must roll a 5 for the head before you can draw the eyes and antennae
The winner is the first player with a complete Beetle with 1 body, 1 head, 2 antennae, 2 eyes, 2 wings and 6 legs.

How to Play Pig

Players take turns to roll a die repeatedly.



Add the score from each throw together to get the highest total you can. If you roll a 1, your total for that turn is wiped out. Players can choose to stop rolling whenever they wish and pass the die to the next player to have their turn.

The first player to reach 100 with the total from all of their turns combined is the winner.

How to Play 4 , 5 , 6 or Cee Lo

A banker is chosen by the roll of one die. The highest scoring player is the banker for that round.
The banker bets a stake and all other players place bets up to the total amount of the banker's stake. If the other players bets don't add up to as much as the banker's stake, the banker takes back the excess of their stake.

The banker then throws 3 dice.

If they throw a 4, 5 and 6 or 3 of a kind or any pair plus a 6, the banker wins and takes all of the stakes that have been bet.
If they throw a 1,2 and 3 or any pair plus a 1, the banker automatically loses and each player's stake is returned to them.
If they throw a pair plus a 2, 3, 4 or 5, the banker scores the value on the die not in the pair.
Any other combination and the banker throws all three dice again until they get one of the combinations above.

If the banker hasn't automatically won or lost, but has recorded a score, then each player gets a chance to roll the three dice and get an automatic win or beat the banker's score. Their rolls follow the same rules as the banker's.

The banker pays a winning player the value of their initial stake. If the banker beats a player, the banker takes that player's stake. If there is a draw, the stake remains on the table.
Players keep re-rolling until there is a result for each of them.

One die is then rolled again by each player to determine who is the banker for the next round.
If the banker changes for the next round, the remaining stakes from the last round are returned to the players. If the same player is the banker for the next round they can leave their stake on the table or add to it.

How to Play Ship, Captain and Crew

The aim of the game is to roll a 6 (the Ship), a 5 (the Captain) and a 4 (the Crew), then roll the highest score from the remaining 2 dice (the Cargo). 5 dice are used in total and can be thrown up to 3 times each.

Each player places a bet of an equal amount at the beginning of each round, with the first player setting the amount.

They then take turns to roll the 5 dice.

They need to roll a 6 (the Ship) in the first roll to be able to retain any dice. They can then retain the 6 plus a 5 (Captain) and a 4 (Crew) if these have been rolled as well. If a 5 has not been rolled, but a 4 has, then the 4 must be rolled again.

The player can then roll the remaining dice twice more to try to roll the 5 and 4. If the 6, 5 and 4 are rolled in the first or second throws, then the remaining 2 dice can be rolled again to try to get a higher score if the player chooses, or they can stay with the score they have already rolled. If they choose to re-roll, both dice must be re-rolled. They cannot retain one of the other 2 dice and not the other.

The player with the highest Cargo at the end of the round wins that round and wins all of the money bet at the beginning of the round.

How to Play Snake Eyes

You will need a ring or hoop to throw the dice into and 6 dice.

Players take turns to throw the dice into the ring from a set distance. Any dice remaining in the ring at the end of the throw are totalled to give the player's score.

The winner is the first player to reach 21 points or all ones (Snake Eyes) in a single turn.

How to Play Shut the Box

You need 9 playing cards numbering from 1 to 9 or a special shut the box "box".

Each player places a bet of an equal amount into a "pot" at the beginning of each round.

Players then take turns to throw 2 dice and add up the total score.



They must then turn over a combination of cards between 1 and 9 that add up to the numbers on the dice. For example, if they throw 9, they can choose to turn over the 1, 2 and 6 or just the 9 or the 2 and 7.

They then throw again and keep turning over the cards to match the score on the dice. Once the 7 , 8 and 9 have all been turned over, the player can choose to just throw one die instead of two.

When they roll a score that they can't match with the remaining available cards, that player's turn comes to an end and they record the total value of the cards that they haven't managed to turn over.

The winning player is the one with the lowest score at the end of the round. They take all of the "pot" If a player manages to turn all of the cards over on their turn, they win immediately and win double the "pot".

How to Play Bunco

Throw 3 dice

Get a point for each dice matching the number of the round i.e. throwing two 1s in round 1 scores 2 points. If you throw three of the target number (a Bunco) you get 21 points. If you throw three of the same number (a mini Bunco), you score 5 points. If points are scored, the player gets to roll again continuing to add to their score. Once no points are scored, that player's turn ends and play passes to the next player. The first player to reach 21 points in a round wins that round. You then go on to round 2. After six rounds, the overall winner is the player who has won the most rounds.

How to Play Drop Dead

Players take turns to roll 5 dice.

If any of the dice show a 5 or a 2, they score nothing and remove these dice from play. The remaining dice are then re-rolled. If neither a 5 or 2 are rolled, the player scores the total of the numbers on all of the dice. They then roll again and continue to score in the same way until all of the dice have been removed or are "dead" and the player is deemed to have "Dropped Dead".
Play then passes to the next player. The player with the highest score at the end of each round is the winner.