How to play Intelligence

Intelligence is played with five dice and suits two to six players. All you need are the dice and something to note round wins with. The game resembles Poker Dice, but offers more rolls and more choices, rewarding the player who thinks ahead.

On your turn you roll all five dice. You may then set aside exactly the dice you want and reroll the rest, and you may also pick up dice you set aside earlier and reroll them in later throws. You have four rolls in total.

That freedom to change your mind is what separates Intelligence from simpler poker dice games: a hand you were happy with after the second roll can be rebuilt when the dice offer something better.

Hands rank as in poker, from five of a kind at the top through four of a kind, full house, straight, three of a kind and two pairs down to one pair and highest die. On equal hands, the higher dice in the hand win.

Every player takes a turn, and the best hand wins the round. Play to five round wins, for example. Completely equal hands are replayed between the players involved.

The number of rolls varies between house rules, from three to five. Some also play that you must announce which hand you are aiming for after the second roll, and only the announced hand counts. That tightens the game and earns it its name.

More poker-hand dice games: Boss Dice and Cubilete.

Because the choices matter more than in most dice games. With four rolls and the option to rebuild your hand along the way, the player who counts the odds wins in the long run, not the one who hopes the hardest.