How to play Farkle
The rules of the 10,000 dice game, in a couple of minutes.
What Farkle is
Farkle is a push-your-luck dice game for two or more players, played with six dice. It also goes by 10,000, Zilch and Hot Dice. On your turn you roll, keep the dice that score, and decide: bank the points, or roll the rest and risk losing them.
You can try it right now: Play Farkle online, free
Your turn, step by step
- Roll all six dice.
- Set aside dice that score. A 1 is worth 100 and a 5 is worth 50. Three of a kind and bigger combinations are worth more. You must keep at least one scoring die from each roll.
- Bank or risk it. Bank, and the turn's points are added to your score and are safe. Or roll the dice you didn't set aside to add more.
- Farkle. If a roll has nothing that scores, that's a Farkle: you lose every point from this turn and the dice pass on.
Hot Dice
If all six dice have scored, they all come back. You keep the points you've built this turn and may roll all six again. The points are still at risk until you bank.
What scores
Combinations only count within a single roll: you can't add a 1 from this roll to two 1s you set aside earlier.
| Dice | Points |
|---|---|
| Each 1 | 100 |
| Each 5 | 50 |
| Three 1s | 1,000 |
| Three 2s | 200 |
| Three 3s | 300 |
| Three 4s | 400 |
| Three 5s | 500 |
| Three 6s | 600 |
| Four of a kind | 1,000 |
| Five of a kind | 2,000 |
| Six of a kind | 3,000 |
| Straight (1-2-3-4-5-6) | 1,500 |
| Three pairs | 1,500 |
| Four of a kind and a pair | 1,500 |
| Two triplets | 2,500 |
There is more detail on the Farkle scoring chart.
Winning the game
The first player to reach the target wins, with one twist: when a player reaches the target, the other player gets one last turn to beat that score. The traditional target is 10,000 points.
In Risky Rolls online, a quick match is played to 5,000 and a friend match to a target the host picks, from 2,000 to 15,000. Each decision has a 20 second clock. Pass and play in the app is played to 10,000.
A few tips
- With one or two dice left, the odds of a Farkle are high. Banking is usually right.
- Three of a kind early in a turn is a good moment to stop and bank, unless you're far behind.
- On your last turn you have nothing to lose: keep rolling until you pass the score to beat.