Dice Games: Rules and How Many Dice Each One Needs

What each game needs

Game	Dice	Type
Farkle	6	Push your luck
Yahtzee	5	Fill categories
Bunco	3	Pure chance, social
Shut the Box	2	Light strategy, solo or turns
Liar’s Dice	5 per player	Bluffing
LCR	3	Pure chance, fast

Push your luck

Farkle is the one to learn first. You roll six dice, set aside anything that scores, and then choose: bank what you’ve got, or reroll the leftovers for more. Roll nothing scoring and you Farkle, losing everything from that turn. Single 1s score 100 and single 5s score 50, so there’s almost always a reason to be greedy. Farkle’s scoring table is where the variants live, and groups argue about them.

Ship, Captain, and Crew runs on the same nerve. Five dice, three rolls, and you need a 6, then a 5, then a 4 in that order before the last two dice count as cargo.

Craps is push-your-luck with money attached. Two dice, and the whole game orbits the 7, which comes up 16.67% of the time.

Filling categories

Yahtzee gives you five dice and three rolls per turn, keeping whichever dice you like between rolls. Thirteen categories, each usable once, and the tension is deciding when to write a bad score into a category you were saving. Hit 63 or more in the upper section and you get a bonus. Five matching dice is a Yahtzee, worth 50. The full Yahtzee scorecard covers the lower section, which is where games are won.

Shut the Box is quieter and older. Nine numbered tiles, two dice, and you close tiles matching your total until you can’t. Choosing between closing a 9 or closing a 4 and a 5 is a real decision, and Shut the Box strategy is mostly about keeping small tiles available.

Bluffing and pure chance

Liar’s Dice is the only one on this list where you’re playing people rather than dice. Everyone rolls five dice under a cup, then players bid on how many of a face they think are showing across the whole table. Raise the bid or call the last player a liar. Liar’s Dice rules are simple; reading a table takes longer.

Then the two games with no decisions in them at all. Bunco runs six rounds with three dice, chasing the round’s number, and it exists so twelve people can talk while they play. LCR gives everyone three chips, and the dice tell you to pass left, pass right, or drop one in the pot. Both are over quickly and neither rewards thinking, which is exactly why they work at parties.

Full rules for each game sit below, with scoring tables and the variants worth knowing. All of them can be played here if the dice bag has gone missing.

FAQ

What is the easiest dice game to learn?

LCR. Hand everyone three chips, roll, and follow what the dice say. There are no decisions to explain and a game takes a few minutes. Shut the Box is the easiest one that still has choices in it, and it only needs two dice and a board.

Which dice game is best for a large group?

Bunco. It’s built for twelve players at three tables and the whole structure is rotation, so nobody sits out. LCR scales well too and works with any number above three, though it slows down as the table gets very large.

What dice game can two people play?

Liar’s Dice works well head to head, since bluffing gets sharper with fewer players. Farkle and Yahtzee are both fine for two. Shut the Box was originally a pub game played by one person at a time with others waiting their turn.

How many dice do I need to play most dice games?

Six covers nearly everything. Farkle needs exactly six, Yahtzee and Ship, Captain, and Crew need five, Bunco and LCR need three, and Shut the Box needs two. Liar’s Dice is the exception, needing five dice for every player.