Sunday, January 30, 2011

Farkle!

Am I the only person in the universe who had never heard of this game?!

Mark & Vanessa taught it to us this weekend and it's awesome.  It's my new favorite! 

It's like Yahtzee with chocolate sauce and a shot of espresso.

So even self-proclaimed Yahtzee haters (Courtney W.) will love this game!

All you need are 6 dice and you're ready to go.



 Introducing...Farkle!


Game Summary
Object of the Game: 
To score a minimum of 10,000 points.

Equipment: 
Six, 6-sided dice
A piece of paper and a pencil for keeping score
A copy of the scoring guide (see below)

Number of Players: 
2 or more, but best with 3-8
 Farkle is played by two or more players, with each player in succession having a turn at throwing the dice. Each player's turn results in a score, and the scores for each player accumulate to some winning total (usually 10,000).
  • At the beginning of each turn, the player throws all six six-sided dice.
  • After each throw, one or more scoring dice must be set aside (see sections on scoring below).
  • The player may then either end their turn and bank the score accumulated so far, or continue to throw the remaining dice.
  • If the player has scored all six dice, they have "hot dice" and may continue their turn with a new throw of all six dice, adding to the score they have already accumulated.
  • If none of the dice score in any given throw, the player has "farkled" and all points for that turn are lost.
  • At the end of the player's turn, the dice are handed to the next player in succession (usually in clockwise rotation), and they have their turn.
Once a player has achieved a winning point total, each other player has one last turn to score enough points to surpass that high-score.

Scoring Guide: 
1 100 Points
5 50 Points
Three 1's 1000 Points
Three 2's 200 Points
Three 3's 300 Points
Three 4's 400 Points
Three 5's 500 Points
Three 6's 600 Points
Straight (1-2-3-4-5-6) 3000 Points
3 Pairs 1500 Points
2 Triplets                      2500 Points
Four-of-a-kind             1000 Points
Five-of-a-kind              2000 Points
Six-of-a-kind                3000 Points

Note that scoring combinations only count when made with a single throw. (Example: If a player rolls a 1 and sets it aside and then rolls two 1’s on their next throw, they only score 300 points, not 1000.)
For example, if a player throws 1-2-3-3-3-5, they could do any of the following:
  • score three 3s as 300 and then throw the remaining three dice
  • score the single 1 as 100 and then throw the remaining five dice
  • score the single 5 as 50 and then throw the remaining five dice
  • score three 3s, the single 1, and the single 5 for a total of 450 and then throw the remaining die
  • score three 3s, the single 1, and the single 5 for a total of 450 and stop, banking 450 points in that turn
This is not an exhaustive list of plays based on that throw, but it covers the most likely ones. If the player continues throwing, as in any of the above cases except the last, they risk farkling and thus losing all accumulated points.

On the other hand, if they score five dice and have only one die to throw, they have a 1 in 3 chance of scoring a single 1 or a single 5, and then having scored all six dice they will have "hot dice" and can throw all six dice again to further increase their score.

Each scoring combination must be achieved in a single throw. For example, if a player has already set aside two individual 1s and then throws a third with the four dice remaining, they do not have a triplet of 1s for a score of 1000 but merely three individual 1s for a score of 300.

Winning: 
The first player to score a total of 10,000 or more points wins, provided that no other players with a remaining turn can exceed that score.

High Scorers:


Highest Scorer:


Runners Up:


Chief Farkler:

1 comment:

  1. We've been playing Farkle for years! Some friends gave us Pocket Farkle for Christmas one year - 6 tiny red and green dice in a 35mm film canister. I don't know what's happened to it in all our moves, though. Maybe I can find it soon. Oh, and did you know there's a Farkle game on FB? I play daily. :o)

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