How to Play LCR: Left Center Right Dice Game Rules

These are ordinary six-sided dice, so read them with the substitution below and the face mix comes out identical to a real LCR set.

• 1, 2, or 3 is a dot. You keep that chip.
• 4 is L. Pass a chip to your left.
• 5 is C. That chip goes to the center pot.
• 6 is R. Pass a chip to your right.

Roll one die per chip you hold, up to three, and ignore the extras if you are down to one or two chips.

What’s in the game

Three dice and a pile of chips. LCR sets from George & Company come with 24 chips, which covers eight players at three apiece.

Each die has six faces: one L, one C, one R, and three dot faces. So on any given die you’re twice as likely to keep a chip as to send it anywhere, which is the only reason games end at all.

No LCR dice in the house? Use three ordinary six-sided dice and map them. Dice Game Depot’s substitution reads 1, 2 and 3 as dots, 4 as L, 5 as C, and 6 as R. That gives you the exact same face composition. Our dice roller will throw three at once if you’d rather not hunt for physical dice.

Poker chips, pennies, candy. Anything countable works as long as everyone starts with three.

Setting up

Sit everyone in a circle so each player has a clear neighbor on the left and a clear neighbor on the right. Half the arguments in LCR come from a horseshoe-shaped table where two people disagree about who’s on whose left.

Give every player three chips and leave an empty space in the middle for the center pot. Pick a starting player however you like. Play moves to the left from there.

Taking a turn

Count your chips. Roll that many dice, to a maximum of three.

• Three or more chips: roll all three dice.
• Two chips: roll two dice.
• One chip: roll one die.
• No chips: roll nothing, and pass.

Then read the dice one at a time and pay out one chip for each:

An L means you slide one chip to the player on your left. An R sends one chip to the player on your right. A C puts one chip in the center pot, where it’s gone for good and nobody gets it back until the game ends. A dot means nothing happens for that die and the chip stays with you.

Roll L, dot, C with three chips and you end the turn with one chip: one went left, one went to the center, one stayed put.

Pass the dice to the left. That’s the entire turn structure.

Zero chips does not mean you’re out

This is the rule people get wrong, and it changes the game completely.

A player with no chips stays in. They just have nothing to roll, so their turn is skipped. But their neighbors are still passing chips around, and the moment somebody on either side rolls an L or an R in their direction, they’re back in with a chip and rolling again on their next turn.

Players have won LCR from zero. It’s the reason nobody leaves the table.

Winning

The game ends when only one player has any chips left.

That player wins, and takes the center pot. If you’re playing for money or candy, the pot is the whole prize, which is why the C face stings while the game is running and pays off at the end.

The winner does not roll again. As soon as everyone else is at zero, it’s over, and their remaining chips are theirs on top of the pot.

Chips only leave the game through the C face, so the total shrinks slowly and a big table can pass a handful of chips around for a long time. If you want a quicker game, start with two chips each instead of three.

LCR Wild

George & Company sells a second version called LCR Wild, and it’s a real rules change rather than a reskin.

The set comes with three larger dice carrying a Wild face and 24 chips. When a Wild comes up, you take chips from other players rather than giving any away:

• One Wild: take one chip from any opponent you choose.
• Two Wilds: take two chips, either both from one opponent or one each from two different players.
• Three Wilds: take the entire center pot and win the game on the spot.

That last line is the big one. In standard LCR the center pot is untouchable until the end, so a triple Wild turns the pot from a prize into a target. The variant also gives you decisions, since you pick who to take from, where the original game gives you none at all.

Keep the two games separate. The Wild dice aren’t a house rule you bolt onto a standard LCR set.

Is there any strategy?

No, and that’s fine.

You don’t choose how many dice to roll, you don’t choose which chip to pay, and you don’t choose who receives it. The dice decide everything. LCR is a game you play while talking to people, which is exactly what it’s for and why it turns up at family gatherings next to Bunco, another dice game where the social part is the point.

If you want dice games where decisions actually matter, Farkle and Shut the Box both give you real choices on every roll.

FAQ

How many players do you need for LCR?

Three at minimum, since you need a left neighbor, a right neighbor, and yourself. It works up to about a dozen, though big tables run long because chips circulate rather than disappear. Six to eight is the sweet spot. A standard set’s 24 chips covers eight players at three chips each.

What do the dots on LCR dice mean?

A dot means keep. The chip that die represented stays in front of you and nothing is passed. Each LCR die carries three dot faces alongside one L, one C and one R, so most rolls leave you holding at least some of what you had.

Can you win LCR with zero chips?

Yes. Losing your last chip does not eliminate you. You skip your turns while you have nothing to roll, but either neighbor can pass a chip to you with an L or an R, and you’re immediately back in the game. Only the center pot removes chips permanently.

Can you play LCR with regular dice?

Yes. Use three six-sided dice and treat 1, 2 and 3 as dots, 4 as L, 5 as C, and 6 as R. That reproduces the LCR die exactly, since the real die also has three dots and one of each letter. Any small tokens work as chips.

What happens to the chips in the center pot?

Nothing, until the game ends. Chips sent to the center with a C are out of circulation and cannot be passed, taken, or won back during play. The last player left holding chips collects the whole pot. In the LCR Wild version, rolling three Wilds takes the pot immediately and ends the game.