Farkle
Roll six dice and keep the ones that score. Bank your points, or risk them all on one more roll.
the best bit: risking 2,000 points on one die and somehow rolling a 5
- Players
- 2–8 (best with 3–6)
- Time
- 30–60 min
- Learn in
- A minute
- Mood
- Lively
- Format
- Everyone for themselves
The 30-second version
Roll six dice and set aside at least one that scores, like a 1 or three of a kind. Then decide: stop and bank your points, or roll the rest for more. Roll nothing that scores and you lose everything from that turn. First to 10,000 wins.
read this, then walk through the steps below once.
Grab these
Set up
- Grab six dice and some paper for the scores.
How to play
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Roll all six
On your turn, roll all six dice.
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Keep a scorer
Set aside at least one die that scores. The scoring list is below. Combinations only count if they all came up in the same roll.
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Push or bank
Roll the dice you have left to try for more points, or stop and write down everything you've set aside this turn.
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Farkle
If a roll has nothing that scores, that's a Farkle. You lose all the points from this turn and the dice pass left.
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Hot dice
If all six dice have scored, pick them all up and keep rolling.
How to win
First to 10,000 wins. Once someone gets there, everyone else gets one last turn to beat them.
Scoring
- Each 1: 100
- Each 5: 50
- Three of a kind: 100 times the number (three 4s are 400)
- Three 1s: 1,000
- Four of a kind: 1,000
- Five of a kind: 2,000
- Six of a kind: 3,000
- A straight, 1 through 6: 1,500
- Three pairs: 1,500
From experience…
- With two dice left, bank. The odds of a Farkle get scary fast.
- You don't have to keep every scoring die. Setting aside just one 1 and rerolling five dice is often the stronger move.