Other names and variations: Farkle ; 1000/5000/10000 ; Cosmic Wimpout; Greed ; Hot Dice ; Squelch ; Zilch ; Zonk
The setup
1) Have five dice, a piece of paper and a pen ready.
2) On the piece of paper, create a column for each player with their name at the top. It will be used to capture their new score after each turn.
3) Define which player will be starting.
How to play
First phase – ‘Getting started’In this phase, the goal is to obtain 600 points in one single turn.
The first player throw all dice and check for valid ones:
- 5 = 50 points
- 1 = 100 points
- Three 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, 6’s = 100 times the face value (e.g. three 2’s = 200)
- Three 1’s = 1000 points
If no dice are valid after a throw, that person turn ends there and it goes to the next player.
If at least one die is valid, then the person puts that die aside and continue to play with all the dice left (For example: I have two 1’s that are valid, so I put them aside and play again with the three dice left).
If all five dice are valid, the person must always play one more throw and have one valid die before stopping their turn.
When players finally reach 600, their score is now added to the sheet and they are ready for phase 2! Otherwise, they keep trying!
Second phase – ‘Scoring’1) When in phase 2, now each player has to score has much as possible during their turn.
After throwing their dice, now players can decide when to stop as long as they still end with a least one valid die on their last throw. And only then, these points are added to the sheet. Otherwise, no points are collected and it becomes next player’s turn.
For example:
- I threw all five dice and I have one 5 (50 points) – I can stop here and get the points OR continue
- I throw the four dice left, I have two 1 (200 points) – I can stop here and get the points OR continue
- I throw the two dice left, I have none of them valid – My turn ends and get no points…
2) Piggyback: Each player can choose to begin their turn either with a fresh set of five dice, or by throwing the dice remaining after the previous player has completed their turn. For example, if a player stops after getting a three 1’s for a score of 1000, the next player may choose to roll the remaining two dice. If they score at least one die, they score 1000 plus whatever additional score they accumulate.
3) Crosses: Everytime a player manage to get 1000 points in a single turn, it can give “one cross” to another player. This cross is added beside that player name on the sheet. If anyone gets a total of three crosses, they loose 1000 points from their current total score.
How to win
Be the first one to reach a total of 10,000 points to win.