Farkle Rules

David at www.Tadmas.com has an online Farkle game which he has written and generously allowed us to host, here at Farkle Rules.  The game is pretty much the standard Farkle.

The basic rules of our online game are:

1. 1000 pts to get on the board
2. 10,000 pts to win
3. 1’s = 100
4. 5’s = 50
5. Triple 1’s = 1000
6. Triple other = 100x face value
7. Three pair = 750
8. Straight = 1000 (points are safe)

Be careful playing - it’s almost as addicting as the real thing!

David also has an online Sudoku game on this site, in case one time-sink isn’t enough!

The perfect combination

When I talk to people about the game of Farkle, many of them associate it with drinking - but NOT as a classic drinking game, more likely as a game you’d play while drinking, just to pass the time, such as in a bar.

Back in the college days (no comments from the peanut gallery about age, please) we’d sometimes hang out in the lounge and play Farkle for drinks.

It was very simple.

When you Farkled, you drank.

If we were feeling mean, when you Farkled you had a drink for each die that you had rolled.

The only additional rule we’d play with occasionally, was if you scored on all six dice (”Hot Dice”) you could make someone else take a drink IF you continued rolling.

The nice thing about the Farkle=Drink rule was when you were losing, you tended to play more aggressive, ergo more likely to Farkle. The worse you were playing, the more you drank, which could turn into a vicious circle sometimes.

If anyone has played different versions of Farkle the Drinking Game, I’d love to hear the details. I’ve got some dice ready, just in case we need to test the new rules.

Later, From Farkle-ville

There are so many dice games out there, but many require unusual dice, playing surfaces, etc.  So we held an impromptu survey here at Farkle Rules, to find out what the 5 best dice games were, which needed nothing more than dice, maybe a dice cup, and a score sheet.

#1 - Farkle

- dice and paper for a wild time
For 2 to 8 players, ages 7 and up. An ancient game, still popular today. Commercial version called “Farkel” marketed by Legendary Games. Similar to 10,000, Zilch, Wipeout, Dix Mille, and several others.

A “press your luck” dice game, players roll 6 dice repeatedly, excluding scoring dice until they choose to pass the dice or “Farkle” and lose all points for the round. Easy to learn, easy to play, there are many variations in the rules. Games typically take about 15 minutes per game.

#2 - Yahtzee

- grand daddy of the modern dice game
For 1 to 6 players, ages 7 and up. Designed by Edwin Lowe, published by Hasbro.
Numerous variations on this came including American Yahtzee, Swedish Yahtzee, Maxi Yahtzee (6 dice), Triple Yahtzee (3 columns) and Kismet (colors).

The grandfather of modern dice games, there are numerous versions of Yahtzee available, and seemingly everyone has a box tucked away somewhere in their home. You roll the dice, trying to get specific sets and thus earning points. Yahtzee takes about 20 minutes per game.

#3 - Bunco

- the ultimate social event game
For 8 to hundreds, ages 7 and up. Traditional dice game actively played since World War I. Numerous commercial versions available. Sometimes spelled Bunko or Bonco.

Players compete in teams, changing teammates constantly to score points rolling the progressive trump among 3 dice. As much a social event known for eating, drinking and talking as for game play. Almost exclusively a women’s game, 7,000,000 a year play Bunco under everone’s Radar. Admittedly no strategy to this one, yet still, a good time is usually had by all. One night of bunco (three sets) typically takes about 3 hours to play.

#4 - Liar’s Dice

- for the larceny in all of us
For 2 to 6 players, ages 8 and up. Old game, part of the pirate lore of the turn of the century. Commercial version designed by Richard Borg, various publishers. Also known as Call my Bluff, Dudo, Mexicali, and others.

A perennial favorite , Liar’s Dice goes in and out of print with some regularity. Each player rolls five dice and keeps the result secret from other players. They then take turns bidding on the total results. of all the hands. (e.g. “There are seven 5s.” or “I say there are eight 2s.”) Great fun with good friends. Liar’s Dice takes about 20 minutes per game.

#5 - Aces

- game of survival
For 3 to 8 players, ages 8 and up. International game of dice survival, with ancient roots.

Extremely popular in Asia, each player starts the game with five dice which they lose according to the numbers they throw.  Everyone stays involved until the very last throw. The person to roll a one on the last remaining die wins / or loses depending on what the prize/penalty is.  About 10 minutes a Game.

Honorable Mentions

Street Craps - great game, but the betting is flawed

Choice - Great game, just a little complex for home scoresheets

Scumbag - Great drinking game, but not much to be said for while sober!

I’m sure this will foment some disagreement - if we’ve left something out, why not let us know.

Strategy Hints

To give yourself a better chance at a higher scoring combination, it is better to throw more dice.Take the case where you throw all six dice and get a 1 and a 5. If you were to keep only the 1 and re-throw the 5 remaining dice you would have better odds of getting a higher score than if you kept both the 1 and the 5 and only threw the remaining 4 dice.

If you are significantly behind, it is almost always better to play aggressively than to play conservatively. So it only stands to reason that if you are significantly ahead, it is better to play conservatively than more aggressively. Of course there are always some players who consistently play aggressive or conservative, but the adaptive player is the one who’s most likely to win in the long run.

Throwing all six dice will almost always lead to at least one scoring die. Only the ultra-conservative player will stop rolling with all six dice in their hand.

Scurvy Jake, in his Pirate Blog describes a version of Farkle he learned of, that uses not 6, not 7, not 8, not 9, not even 10 but 11 - ELEVEN - count them - 11 dice. The scoring seemed pretty standard - which is just as weird with that many dice.

Now if that isn’t strange enough, one of his readers, SUZE, claims to play the same game, calling it GREEDY. The name certainly makes sense with tha many dice in play.