How to play Ten Thousand

Ten Thousand is played with six dice, paper and a pencil, and works well for 2 to 8 players. The goal is to be the first to reach 10,000 points. The game belongs to the same family as Farkle, and house rules vary from home to home, so agree on the rules before you start.

On your turn you roll all six dice. After each roll you must set aside at least one scoring die or combination. Then you decide whether to bank the points and end your turn, or roll the remaining dice to increase the total.

If a roll gives no scoring dice, your turn is over and everything you collected this turn is lost. Points you have already banked are safe.

If all six dice end up scoring, you pick up all of them and keep building the total in the same turn.

The classic table looks like this:

• Single 1: 100 points
• Single 5: 50 points
• Three 1s: 1000 points
• Three of a kind (2 to 6): the die value times 100

Combinations must come in the same roll. Many groups add that a straight from 1 to 6 scores 1500 points, three pairs score 1500, and four, five or six of a kind double the value for each extra die. None of this is mandatory. What matters is that everyone at the table plays from the same numbers.

The first player to reach 10,000 points wins. Many play that the others get one last turn to beat the total, so everyone has had the same number of turns when the winner is decided.

The game is known under several names. In French it is called Dix Mille, and the variant 5000 is the same game with a target of 5000 points, handy when you want a shorter evening.

Common house rules:

• Opening requirement: you must collect 500 or 1000 points in a single turn before you may bank points for the first time.
• Taking over dice: the next player may choose to continue with the dice the previous player left behind. If the first roll scores, the turn starts with the previous player's turn total on top. If it scores nothing, the turn is over with zero.
• Exact landing: you must hit 10,000 on the nose to win.

If you want the American version with more combinations, have a look at Farkle.

That depends on the house rules. In the simplest version, the first player to pass 10,000 wins. Many play it stricter: you must hit 10,000 exactly, and a turn that would take you past it scores nothing. The strict version gives an exciting endgame where the lead can change several times.

Almost. Both are about rolling six dice, setting points aside and knowing when to stop. Farkle is usually played with more scoring combinations, while Ten Thousand often has an opening requirement and exact landing. If you know one of them, you can learn the other in half a minute.