How to play High Dice

High Dice is about as simple as banking games get, and it works for 2 to 8 players. All you need is two dice and a pile of chips. The game is traditionally played for stakes, but chips or points with no value behind them work just as well.

Choose one player to be the banker for the first round. Everyone else puts a stake on the table, one chip each for example.

The banker rolls both dice and leaves them on the table so everyone can see the total. Each player then takes the same two dice and rolls in turn.

If your total is higher than the banker's, the banker pays you the same amount as your stake. If your total is equal or lower, the banker takes your stake. That is the whole game: one roll each, highest total wins, and the bank wins ties.

Pass the bank to the next player after every round, and keep going until everyone has held it the same number of times. Whoever ends the evening with the most chips wins.

The game also goes by the name Beat the Bank, which sums up the whole idea. Some groups play that an equal total is a push, so nobody pays. That makes the game fairer but removes most of the reason to want the bank.

If you would like a few more choices per roll, try Under and Over Seven, where you bet on what the total of two dice will be, or Macao, where the trick is knowing when to stop.

Quite big. Two dice give 36 possible combinations, and because the bank wins ties, you have to roll strictly higher to get paid. If the banker rolls a 7, you lose on everything from 2 up to and including 7, which is more than half of all combinations. That is why everyone should get an equal turn as the bank.

Yes. Keep score on paper instead: everyone starts with 20 points, and wins and losses are added and subtracted after each round. The game is just as quick, and the dice decide either way.