*This game takes me back! Years ago, I had friends with whom
I’d play dice games. Lots. This one’s for you, Amanda & Chris!
Objective: To accrue a total of 10,000 points by adding the sum of each roll, cumulatively.
Materials: 5 standard 6-sided dice; pencils & paper for keeping score
To begin: Everyone rolls, highest goes first. Each person is in charge of keeping score, for the math practice benefit. Write everyone’s name on the score page, leaving space to calculate and keep track of points in the column beneath their name.
Each player, in turn, rolls all 5 dice. To get on the board, each player must earn at least 500 points. A player’s turn continues so long as their consecutive rolls continue to score points. If a player rolls and does not earn points, that’s a “Farkle!” and the player loses any points they potentially accumulated during that turn.
Points are earned for 1s, 5s, groups of 3 or 5 of a kind (all rolled at the same time) and for straights (1-5 or 2-6).
1 = 100
5 = 50
3 of a kind = 100 x value on dice ((3 “1”s = 1000))
5 of a kind = 1000 x valule on dice ((5 “1”s = 10,000))
Straight = 1500
For instance, if a first roll is 1, 5, 6, 3, and 3, this is currently worth 150 points. The player must leave at least one of the scoring dice there but may roll the other dice to try to get more points.
Perhaps he sets the 1 aside and rolls the other four dice again. On his second roll, he gets a 1, 1, 5, and 3. Beginning the second roll, he had acquired and ‘pocketed’ 100 points. He now adds 250 additional points. (Yes, he now has three 1s, but they weren’t rolled at a single time, so it doesn’t get the 3-of-a-kind bonus.)
Now, with an accumulated 350 points on the line, the partner, if they haven’t yet earned 500 points in the game, he must roll the 2 once more. If he scores, he adds the points to the potential score and can roll all 5 of them again.
The player’s turn ends when they either Farkle, or if they call stop.
When the turn is over, the score (if not Farkled) is added to the cumulative total. When someone reaches 10,000 points, each player has one final round to try to beat that score.