How to Play Farkle Dice Game

Farkle is a dice game that's great to play while socializing late into the evening. You roll 6 dice, must keep continual score, and reach 10,000 points to win. This game is also known as Hot Dice, Zilch, Zonk, and Wimpout.

To get started everyone in the circle must roll a die to find out who goes first. The person with the highest roll starts the game.

Here is how the scoring breaks down:

Rolling ONES = 100 PTS

Rolling FIVES = 500 PTS

3 ONES = 300 PTS

3 TWOS = 200 PTS

3 THREES = 300 PTS

3 FOURS = 400 PTS

3 FIVES = 500 PTS

3 SIXES = 600PTS

4 of any kind = 1000 PTS

5 of any kind = 2000 PTS

6 of any kind = 3000 PTS

3 pairs = 1500 PTS

TWO TRIPLETS = 2500 PTS

Straight 1-6 = 1500 PTS

Four of a kind and a Pair = 3 pairs

You start your turn by rolling all 6 die. Then you have to at least rolla 1 or a 5 to pull out of the mix, and bank. You can keep rolling the other die, but you must keep pulling your points aside, and roll whats left.

In order to get on the scoring board for the first time, you must roll at least 750 points, but once you've reached that number or higher, you are forced to stop. You cannot choose to gamble and continue rolling if you have yet to score on the board. After your initial 750 point or more turn, you can always gamble your points and keep trying to roll for more.

You can always roll again, but if you don't score any points, that's a Farkle. You get to start over with 6 dice if every die throughout your roll contributes to points. Example: You start by rolling 6 dice, and roll a: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 3. Now you have to keep some points to keep rolling. Pull out the 1, and roll the rest. On your second roll, you get a: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 5. Now you can decide to keep one of the fives, and roll the remaing 3 die, or you can choose to only pull out one of the fives, and roll four more die.

On your third roll you decide to pull out one five, and roll the other 4. You roll: 3, 3, 3, 1. Your doing great if this roll comes up because you just scored 400 points, 100 for the one, and 300 for the set of 3's. At this point your total score for this turn is 550 when you add the points from your 1 and 5 bank, and the good news is you get to pick up all 6 die and keep trying for more points. Be careful though. If you roll a 6, 2, 3, 4, 3, 6, you lose your 550 from the last part of your play. On the other hand, you can rack up a large score if you avoid the Farkle Fairy.

When someone at the table breaks 10,000 PTS they are done, and everyone else get one more chance to out score them. If somebody does, the other player simply looses, and the others at the table get one more chance, if they have yet to roll since 10,000 points was broken.

It real easy to enjoy yourself with this game. Great for parties, watching that movie you've seen ten or more times, or for a quick 20 minute time out from reality. You can always play to 20,000 points, but most prefer to play tournament style 10,000 point games such as best 2 out of 3, or 3 out of 5.