dice games

Destroyer (a.k.a. 6-5-4)

Requires:

• At least 2 people (5-10 people works best)
• 5 six-sided dice
• Money

Getting Started
At the begining of every round each player antes into the pot. For the first round everyone should roll a die and the highest roller goes first. Every round after the first should be started by the previous winner if there was one or whoever started the previous round if there was no winner.

Turns
Each player gets 3 rolls of 5 dice to try to get the highest score. Before a player can score they must roll a six, then a five, and then a four. The remaining two dice are the player's score. If a player rolls a 6 and a 5, or a 5 and a 4 after already getting a 6, or all three on any turn, they get to keep both/all. It is entirely possible that a player will not score on their turn.

Example
Say a player rolls 6, 4, 4, 3, and 2 on their first roll. They take the 6 and set it aside (the four must be rolled only after a 5 for it to count). The player then rerolls the remaining 4 dice. Say they roll 5, 4, 4, and 3. They take the 5 and the 4 and set them aside. Their current score is at 7. The player may now choose to use their third roll to reroll the 3 and 4 for better score or they may choose to stay with 7.

The dice are passed clockwise to the next player and around the table until everyone has had a turn.

The Winner
After everyone has had a turn the one with the highest score wins all the money in the pot. If two or more people are tied with the highest score then nobody wins. Everyone antes into the pot again and another round is played.

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Come on noders, get this node going...

Don't you know any good dice games?

Liar's Dice

Requires

• 5 six-sided dice per person
• At least 2 people (5-10 is optimal, but I've played it with up to 20)

Getting Started

Give everyone 5 dice, and find a comfortable playing area. The only requirement here is that each player will be able to keep their dice hidden from the other players. If you roll onto a hardish surface, you can just use your hands to hide the dice. Some players prefer covering their dice with a cup.

To start the game, have everyone roll and hide their dice.

Object of the Game

Be the last one left with dice!

Gameplay

Chose someone randomly to begin the first round. That player must bid how many of a given die value they think are present between all the players. For example, the player might say "three fives" indicating that she believes that between all players playing, there are at least three fives. Ones are wild, and count toward anything (ones themselves cannot be bid on - "two ones" is not a valid bid).

Play proceeds clockwise (unless you're playing it with a bunch of weirdos), and each consecutive player must either raise the bid or challenge the previous bid. Raising the bid can be either raising the die value, or raising the number of dice and picking a new value. If the person before you bids "three fours", you may bid "three fives", or "four twos", but not "two fives" or "three twos".

Eventually, the bid will be so high that you find it improbable that there are that many of the given value. At that point, instead of making a higher bid, you should challenge the last player's bid ("I don't think so", "call", "bullshit!", and "yeah right" are all acceptable challenges). When someone is challenged, all players reveal their dice and the number of dice with the given value are totaled - remember ones count toward anything. If the bid challenged was "five threes" and among all the players there were 2 threes and 4 ones rolled, the bid was good (there were at least five threes, or things that counted as three).

If the bid was good, the challenger loses a die; if the challenge was good, the player that was challenged loses a die. Either way, all players re-roll their dice, and the player that lost a die begins the new round.

If a player loses all of their dice, they are out of the game. The last player with dice is the winner.

Strategy

This game involves a fair amount of bluffing and some rough calculating. As a rule of thumb, about 1/3 of the dice will be any given value (ones count toward anything). The actual number varies however, so you have to pay attention to what other players are bidding. If almost every player is bidding threes, there are probably a lot of threes in play. This is where your job comes in - any time you aren't being squeezed by a tough bid, you should bid something that you don't have. The safest thing to bid is the same thing other players are bidding on - you're less likely to get called on it, and other people will be in for a surprise if they start relying on the majority bid.

You should also get a feel for which people's bids you can "trust". Do they usually bid with what they have, or just make stuff up? This will help you throughout the game, but especially at the end. I have seen more than one game where a player with a single die knocks off a player with three or four dice at the very end to win the game.

For beginning a round, you have a couple of options. If you are feeling lazy, you can always bid "one two" and let the other players do the work. With people relatively new to the game, this can give you a fair amount of information about what people rolled before the bid gets back to you. On the other hand, if you bid something substantial (close to the average) you have the chance that the bid won't even get back to you.

Garage Dice
_{(because we play it in the garage, duh)}

Requires:

• 2-6 people
• (5) 6-sided dice
• Paper and pen (to keep score)
• Basic math skills
  

To get on the board, you have to have at least 500 points. After you are on the board, you will need at least 300 points each turn in order to record your score.
Each turn, you have to roll something that you can get points for in order to keep rolling (example: you have to roll at least one (1) or one (5), etc to continue with your turn). You will set aside the dice that you wish to add to your score. Once all 5 dice have been scored and you have not hit a dead end, you can pick up all 5 dice again and roll another turn, adding to your accumulative score.

You can continue to roll the dice until you reach a 'dead end'. Dead ends are when you roll your remaining dice and do not get any score-able points. If this happens, you forfeit the points you had accumulated.
(The trick is knowing when to quit!)

To win the game you have to have at least 10,000 points and your last roll has to be at least 500 points. If someone goes out (reaches 10,000 points,) everyone gets one last roll to try and accumulate enough points to surpass the person who has just gone out.

single 1 = 100
single 5 = 50

*triple 1s = 1000
*quadruple 1s = 2000
*all 1s = 3000

*triple 2s = 200
*quadruple 2s = 400
*all 2s = 600

*triple 3s = 300
*quadruple 3s = 600
*all 3s = 900

*triple 4s = 400
*quadruple 4s = 800
*all 4s = 1200

*triple 5s = 500
*quadruple 5s = 1000
*all 5s = 1500

*triple 6s = 600
*quadruple 6s = 1200
*all 6s = 1800

* means they must be rolled in one roll

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Tips:

• Do not touch the dice until it is your turn. You could pick up someone else's dice and ruin their score. We sometimes institute the rule that if you touch the dice when it is not your turn, regardless of the reason, you will receive a 500 point deduction.
  
  
• Keep track of you scores in a spiral bound notebook. Each time you finish a game, the winner receives a star on their column. Its a good way to keep track of your stats. For instance, I beat my mom in 4 out of 5 games the first week I learned to play. I lost 3 of 4 games to my best friend when I taught him how to play. Plus, I just think it's fun to look back and see how you are improving.
  
  
• I know it's really anal of me to tell you how you should record the score, so I'm not going to, I'll let you figure out an efficient way that works for you, but my way is best. :)
  

WARNING:
This game is highly addictive. The first game you play, you will refer constantly to the instructions or, (in the same manner I learned,) the only other person that knows how to play. ("Mom? What does it mean when I roll three 2's again?")

Note: This is not a drinking game, however I would encourage kicking back with your favorite beer (Old Speckled Hen for me and the man I love, thanks for asking...) and some good friends, and let the shit talking begin.