Farkle
Game rules
Farkle is an Anglo-Saxon dice game played with 6 dice. The objective of the game is to roll the dice, make combinations with obtained rolls, and collect points to achieve victory.
When your turn comes, you keep rolling the dice until you decide to stop or are forced to.
After each roll, you must choose at least one winning combination. Dice that are part of the chosen winning combination are set aside, and you continue with the remaining dice.
If you decide to stop rolling the dice, the points collected from all combinations formed so far during your turn become permanent, and the next player starts their turn. If you can't make any winning combination with the roll, you are said to have farkled, and all points collected since the beginning of your turn are lost. The next player's turn then begins.
You can keep rolling as long as you wish, provided you don't farkle. If you manage to use all six dice in your combinations, you can continue playing by rolling all six dice. This situation is commonly called hot dice.
Usually, a minimum score is set below which you aren't allowed to stop or to bank the points from your turn. Similarly, the first time you bank points (i.e., save points to get above 0) must reach a minimum slightly above average. These limits are typically set at 30 and 50 points, respectively. A complete game is usually played to a total of 1000, 1500 or 2000 points.
Combinations
The following combinations are recognized:
- A single 5: 5 points
- A single 1: 10 points
- Three 2s to three 6s: 20 to 60 points
- Three 1s: 75 points
- Four of a kind: 110 to 160 points
- Five of a kind: 320 to 420 points
- Six of a kind: 625 to 750 points
- Small straight (5 consecutive dice): 100 points
- Large straight: 200 points
- Three pairs: 150 points
- Full house (four of a kind and another pair): 250 points
- Two sets of three of a kind: 250 points
All combinations have to be made in a single roll. For example, if you roll 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, you use the 1 to score 10 points. If you then roll 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, you cannot use the 1 from the first roll to make three 1s.
Keyboard shortcuts summary
- Enter: roll the dice
- C: say number of points collected during a turn
- D: repeat the last roll obtained
- S: say scores
- T: say whose turn it is