Solitaire Dice

Solitaire Dice is not an easy game to explain, but once you get it, it is a tad addictive.

Equipment: Five 6-sided dice. One piece of paper. One pencil.
Object: To score the most points possible. 500 points is a win.
Setup: Create a scoresheet like the one below.

Scoring                              Throwaway           
2  (100) - 
3  ( 70) -
4  ( 60) -                           1 -
5  ( 50) -                           2 -
6  ( 40) -                           3 -
7  ( 30) -                           4 -
8  ( 40) -                           5 -
9  ( 50) -                           6 -
10 ( 60) -
11 ( 70) -
12 (100) -

The numbers 2-12 on the left are your scoring numbers that you roll with 2 dice. The numbers in parentheses is the amount you score each time you roll that number. E.G. Each time you roll a 2, you score 100 points; each time you roll a 7, you score 30 points. The numbers 1-6 on the right are your throwaway dice. You can choose up to three throwaway dice in a game. The game ends when you roll one throwaway die 8 times.

The Play: Roll all 5 dice. Group four of them in two pairs. These are your two scores. The remaining die is your throwaway die.

Example A:
You roll -- 1 1 3 5 6.

You decide to group the dice as follows
1 5 -- Place a mark next to 6 in the scoring section
1 6 -- Place a mark next to 7 in the scoring section
3 -- Place a mark next to 3 in the throwaway section.

Keep rolling until one of your three throwaway dice has 8 marks, then figure your score.

You must divide up your dice so that you use one of them as a throwaway die. The only exception is when you have already selected three throwaway dice and your roll does not include any of them. For example, you roll 1 1 2 2 3 and you have already marked the throwaway dice 4, 5, and 6. In this case, you score as usual and throw away the die of your choice for free. This is called a "free ride".

The Scoring Catch: The first 4 marks you make for any scoring die count as -200 to your score. The fifth time you roll it, your score for that die goes to 0. It is not until the sixth time you roll a number that you score the value in the parentheses. Marks 6-10 score that value. Marks after 10 do not add to your score.

Example B:
Your score sheet looks as follows.

2  (100) -
3  ( 70) - II
4  ( 60) -                           1 - IIIII I
5  ( 50) - IIIII II                  2 - IIII
6  ( 40) -                           3 -
7  ( 30) - IIIII III                 4 -
8  ( 40) - IIII                      5 - III
9  ( 50) - IIIII                     6 -
10 ( 60) -
11 ( 70) -
12 (100) -

In this example, the player has a score of -210.

Two rolls of 3               = -200
Seven rolls of 5  50 * (7-5) = +100
Eight rolls of 7  30 * (8-5) = + 90
Four rolls of 8              = -200
Five rolls of 9              =    0
                                 --
                               -210

She would be advised to try to use combinations that will result in 5 and 2 being used as the throwaway die. If she uses the number 1 two more times the game will end. She can use 5 and 2 three and four times respectively without ending the game. She should also try to score at least one more 8. (Scoring three 3's would also be nice but perhaps not possible). The next 8 will remove the -200 penalty.

Multiple Players

Despite its name, Solitaire Dice can be played with more than one player. Each player gets her own scoresheet. All players share the same dice rolls, but can divide them up individually according to the regular Solitaire Dice rules. (It is helpful if one player takes responsibility for rolling and announcing the dice. Think of this version as something like Bingo.) As usual, players go out of the game when they accumulate 8 marks for one of their throwaway dice. When all players have gone out of the game, they compare their scores, and the player with the highest score wins the game.

Credits

Game designed by Sid Sackson and described in his book A Gamut of Games.

This rules writeup by Randy_Evans?, with Ron_Hale-Evans?.

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