Farkle Dice Game: Rules for How to Play

Setup

Pick one player to be the scorekeeper. They will need a piece of paper and something to write with.
All of the players will roll one die. The player that rolls the highest number starts the game. Play will pass left/clockwise throughout the game.

Playing the Game

To begin your turn you will place the six dice in the dice cup and roll them. Should you roll any dice off the table, you will re-roll those dice.

After each roll you will set aside the die/dice that are worth points. See the scoring section below for details on how you can score points. You must set aside at least one scoring dice. All dice that are set aside cannot be re-rolled for the rest of your turn unless you roll out (see below). As you set aside the die/dice, you will score points for the dice you set aside. You will keep a running total of your score throughout your turn.

First roll in Farkle — On this player’s first roll they rolled a one which is worth 100 points. They also rolled a five which is worth 50 points. They will have to roll the other four dice again since they aren’t worth any points.

You will then re-roll the dice that you didn’t set aside. You will keep rolling the dice until you either roll a Farkle, or you can bank your points. Play then passes to the next player in clockwise/left order.

Second roll — On this player’s second roll they rolled three fours which are worth 400 points. They will set those dice aside. The two is not worth any points so it will have to be re-rolled.

Once you have scored at least 500 points in your current roll or banked them on a previous turn, you have the option to stop rolling the dice at any time. Should you choose to stop rolling the dice, you will bank the points that you have scored on your turn. You will keep these points for the rest of the game.

Rolling Farkle

Sometimes there will be a situation where you can’t set aside any dice (none of them can score points). In this case you have rolled a “Farkle”. Your turn ends immediately. You lose all of the points that you earned on your turn.

Rolling a Farkle — On this roll the player did not score any points. They rolled a Farkle. Their turn ends. They lose any points they scored this turn.

Roll Out

If you end up scoring all six dice, you can re-roll all of the dice again in order to score more points. Keep track of your current score before re-rolling all of the dice though.

If you decide to keep rolling, you risk any points you scored before you chose to re-roll all of the dice.

Scoring

When rolling dice there are a number of different combinations that you can score points for. For a combination to score points, all of the numbers in the combination must be rolled at the same time (you can’t use numbers from several different rolls).

For example say you roll one 5 on your first roll. This 5 is worth 50 points. If you would then roll two 5s on your next roll, they will score 100 points for a total of 150 points. You can’t combine them with the 5 you rolled on the first roll to score 500 points.

Scoring example in Farkle — In their first roll this player rolled a one and a five which scores them 150 points (100 + 50). On their second roll they roll two additional fives. Those two fives score 50 points each. They cannot be combined with the five rolled in the first roll to score 500 points.

Listed below are the scoring combinations that you can make in Farkle.

Individual 1s = 100 points each
Individual 5s = 50 points each
Three 1s = 300 points
Three 2s = 200 points
Three 3s = 300 points
Three 4s = 400 points
Three 5s = 500 points
Three 6s = 600 points
Four of Any Number = 1,000 points
Five of Any Number = 2,000 points
Six of Any Number = 3,000 points
1-6 Straight = 1,500 points
Three Pairs = 1,500 points
Four of Any Number With A Pair = 1,500 points
Two Triplets = 2,500 points

Winning the Game

Once a player’s score surpasses 10,000 points, the end game is triggered. All of the players will get one chance to beat the current leader’s total. After everyone has had one chance to beat the high score, the player with the highest score wins the game.

Components

Six Dice
Instructions

Year: 1996 | Publisher: Brybelly, Cardinal, Legendary Games, Patch Products, PlayMonster, SpinMaster | Designer: Charlie Potter

Genres: Dice, Family, Press Your Luck

Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 2-6 | Length of Game: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.