How to play Jackpot

Jackpot is played with two dice and chips, and suits four to eight players. Draw a ring of spaces on a sheet of paper, numbered 2 to 12, with the 7 space clearly marked as the jackpot. Each player starts with ten chips, and everyone puts two chips on the jackpot space before the game begins.

On your turn you roll both dice and look at the sum:

• 7 (jackpot): you win every chip on the jackpot space. Afterwards each player places a new chip there, so something is always at stake.
• Any other sum: if there are chips on the space with that sum, you take them. If the space is empty, you place one of your own chips there.

Small prizes build up around the ring while the jackpot grows, until someone rolls a seven.

Play continues to an agreed ending, for example a fixed number of rounds or until a player runs out of chips. The player with the most chips then wins. You can also play until someone has collected an agreed amount, for example twenty.

The 2 and 12 spaces can be turned into bonus spaces paying double from the pot, since they come up so rarely. Some also play that doubles (other than seven) grant an extra roll. Rules vary from house to house, so agree on the ring and the rules before the first throw.

If you like games where chips wander, try LCR or Help Your Neighbour.

It swings. Seven is the most common sum with two dice, so the jackpot empties often. But now and then it holds out, and a tempting pile builds up before someone finally cracks it. Those are the rounds the game is remembered for.