How to play Farkle

Farkle is played with six dice, paper and a pencil. The game works for 2 to 8 players, and the turn passes clockwise around the table. Agree on a target score before you begin. The classic goal is 10,000 points.

On your turn you roll all six dice. After each roll you must set aside at least one die or combination that scores. Then you choose: stop and write down the points you have collected this turn, or roll the remaining dice again to build a bigger total.

If a roll gives you no scoring dice at all, you have rolled a farkle. Everything you collected this turn is lost, and the dice pass to the next player. Points written down in earlier turns are always safe.

If you manage to make all six dice score, you have hot dice. Pick up all six and keep rolling in the same turn.

The standard Farkle table is simple:

• Single 1: 100 points
• Single 5: 50 points
• Three of a kind: the die value times 100, so three 4s score 400 points
• Three 1s: 1000 points

A combination must appear within a single roll. You cannot build three of a kind across several rolls. Dice showing 2, 3, 4 or 6 score nothing on their own; they only count as part of three of a kind.

The first player to reach the target score triggers the last round: everyone else gets one final turn to try to beat that total. When the round is over, the player with the highest score wins.

Farkle goes by many names. Zilch, Greed, Zonk, Hot Dice and Squelch are in practice the same game, usually with small differences in the scoring table. Popular additions are a straight from 1 to 6 for 1500 points, three pairs for 1500, and four, five or six of a kind doubling the value for each extra die.

Many groups also use an opening requirement: you must collect at least 500 points in a single turn before you may write down points for the first time. The close relative Ten Thousand is built on the same idea, with its own scoring table and house rules.

The two games are so similar that many use the names interchangeably. The core is the same: roll six dice, set scoring dice aside and stop before you lose everything. The differences sit in the scoring table and the house rules. Ten Thousand is often played with a requirement to land exactly on the target score, while Farkle tends to have more scoring combinations. Agree on one version before you start.

Yes, Farkle works fine with two. The game is at its best with four to six around the table, though, when the tension rises every time someone risks a big turn total on one more roll.