In today’s post: The Dice Game is easy to learn and play and tons of fun!
Welcome to the beginning of summer! Since we can all use some easy ideas for keeping the kids happy and occupied this time of year, I’ve decided to share one of our favorite games: the dice game.
This game has a number of different names, but growing up we just called it “the dice game.” The name comes from the fact that all you need to play it are six dice, which makes it absolutely perfect to pull out anytime you just really need people occupied for a while.
It’s also GREAT for playing on car rides, while waiting around in airports, or even lounging at the beach. You just need a hard surface to roll the dice on and a piece of paper to keep score with and you’re set.
I really like that even little kids can play this game with a bit of help – and every little kid I’ve ever met LOVES rolling dice.
The basic premise of the game is this: you roll six dice. Some combinations of dice will score points, while others don’t. You take out the dice that have scored points and then decide whether to keep that score, or re-roll the remaining dice to try to score more points. But if you roll again and don’t score points, you lose what you’ve earned so far. So the game moves quickly and there’s an element of risk that makes it really fun to play.
I’ve created a free printable instruction sheet and scoring chart, which you see below. You can download it by clicking here.
And if you’d rather watch directions instead of read them, I’ve also made a video that walks you through all the rules and different scoring combinations, so you can get playing with your kids in no time.
Have fun!
Looking for more kid fun at home? Visit these posts:
How to make a marshmallow launcher
101 Summer fun ideas kids can do at home
Unicorn masks to print + color
20 kids art projects that turn out pretty enough to frame
Justin says
We played this too growibg up, but we had some differences. Our rules didn’t have 6 1s win the game, instead for any extra die above 3 of a kind it added an extra hundred of that number (or thousand in the case of 1s). So 4 3s would be 600, 5 3s 900, etc.
We also had a lower ice breaker of 500 points to get on the board.
And finally, anyone who had broken the ice, had the ability to choose to forego rolling all the die to instead roll the remaining die in order to attempt stealing the points from the previous player.
If they roll anything that gives points, they successfully stole them and adds the new total. They then continue their turn as normal, but once again at the end of their turn, the next player has that choice. If they don’t roll points, the previous person keeps their points and the dice are passed to the next player (the one after the thief). Also, if they successfully steal, but then continue rolling and fail to get points, they lose the collected points as normal and nobody gets them.
This way you can get some big points if it makes the round of the table haha
Evelyn says
Do you know of the dice game crazy fours? It’s the original colored dot dice game. I purchased it on vacation around 2000. I’ve looked and can’t find anything about it. Thanks for any help you can give me
Jim Smith says
I love reading your blog. You share your ideas and knowledge with us. I also remember a blog that is related to gambling dice games. You should go and check it out.
Katrina says
We call this Zilch, but we usually play it with 5 dice, so there’s a few differences in scoring.
Tracy says
how do you figure out the points if someone rolls a 4 or 5 of a kind?