How to play

2–8 players · 5 dice each · about 30 minutes

Roll → call a game → others accept or refuse → everyone gets up to 3 rolls to make it → the worst hand takes a pencil. 3 pencils and you’re out. The last player standing wins.

Equipment: what you need
  • 5 dice per player. We like Michigan Red Eye dice, but any will work.
  • A dice cup: a leather cup or a dice tower.
  • Pencils or tokens to track losses: sugar packets, coins, chips, anything.
Ante and setup

A typical ante is $5 per player into the pot. Playing for money is optional.

Who goes first? Everyone rolls one die, and the highest roll gets the Hammer. A tie for the highest rolls again. This is the piddle.

Variation: some groups add $5 at parity (when every remaining player has 2 pencils).

Each round

Step 1Roll

The Hammer says “coming out”, then everyone rolls all 5 dice and hides them from the other players.

Step 2The Hammer calls a game

The Hammer looks at their dice and names the game everyone will play, including High or Low for the kicker games.

Or bark: the Hammer passes left, everyone picks up their dice, and a new round starts. What a bark is worth

Step 3Refusal

Two players can turn the call down. If either one accepts, everyone plays it. If both refuse, the Hammer must call a different game.

🔨1st2nd
1st refusal: directly left of the Hammer
Accept, and everyone plays the call. Refuse, and it passes to the 2nd refusal.
2nd refusal: two seats left
Only decides if the 1st refusal refused. Accept, and everyone plays the call. Refuse, and the Hammer makes a second call.

If you refuse but the other player accepts, you still play. Refusing doesn’t mean re-rolling: everyone keeps the dice they have.

Second call

It must be a different game, not just the other High or Low. Nobody can refuse it, and your first roll still counts as roll 1.

Step 4Play the game

Everyone’s dice are now face up. Each player gets up to 3 rolls, and the roll they already have counts as the first.

The worst hand rolls first. Whoever holds it is the loser right now, so they roll until they climb off the bottom or run out of rolls. Then whoever holds the worst hand rolls. If the worst hand never gets off the bottom, nobody else has to roll at all.

  • After each roll, keep some dice and re-roll the rest, or stop. Only dice toward the game can be kept:
    • 10-2, 10-3, 10-4: nothing until you have it. A 10 has to come in one roll, so roll all five each time.
    • Ship Captain Crew: 1-2 or 5-6, not both.
    • Monterey: 2-3, 3-4 or 4-5 (some tables allow a lone 3 or 4).
    • 7’s: one pair that sums to 7 or 11. Pairs: one pair.
  • Kept dice stay kept. Once you keep dice you’re committed to them: keep 1-2 and you can’t switch to 5-6 on your next roll. They’re part of your game, too: keep 5-6 in 7’s and the other 7 or 11 has to come from the three dice you roll (the 5 can’t pair with a rolled 2).
  • A made game can’t be re-rolled. Once you have it, keep the dice that make it or stand: in 10-2 you can’t pick up your 5-5 and roll it again.
  • Try to make the game, then improve your kicker: all the dice that aren’t part of the game.
  • The kicker is rolled whole. Once the dice you keep make the game, only those stay on the table: re-roll your whole kicker or none of it. You can’t keep the 6 of a 6+1 kicker and re-roll the 1.
  • You only ever roll to get off the bottom: beat the next-worst hand and your turn ends.
  • Out of rolls is all day: that hand is final. Anyone already better than a hand that’s all day is in the cup: safe, with nothing left to do this round.

Example: 10-3 High

10-3High kicker 6

The 1, 3 and 6 make 10, so you have the game, with a kicker of 2+4 = 6. Keep the 1, 3 and 6 and re-roll the 2 and 4 together to try for a higher kicker.

Three games play differently
  • Tres Away: lowest total wins (3s count 0). After every roll you must put out at least one die, and put-out dice are final. The caller sets the pace: taking turns from the caller’s left, everyone catches up to how many dice the caller has out, and never past it. Your dice stay hidden until you put them out, and keep their values between turns: on your next turn you can put one out as it is, after seeing what the others put out, or roll them all.
  • Boss: poker hands without straights. The best first roll is the Boss, who rolls once more in secret, picking up any dice as long as what they keep still beats everyone. Then the Boss says “come up” (everyone else gets one last roll, and the worst hand loses, even if that’s the Boss) or “don’t come up” (no loser). A tie for the best first roll means no Boss: no loser, and the Hammer passes left.
  • Razzle: most of any one number, with 1s wild. Three 1s and a 4 make four 4s. Equal counts go to the higher face, so four 6s beat four 4s. The lowest hand rolls first, as in the other games. Re-rolling everything to chase 1s and 6s is common.

Step 5Find the loser

  • Missed the game? Missing is the worst hand. If you’re the only one who missed, you lose. If two or more missed, everyone who made it is safe, and the players who missed play the same game again with 3 fresh rolls until one loses.
  • Everyone made it? The weakest hand loses. The call says what’s weakest: in 10-3 High, a player whose kicker is 2+1 = 3 loses to everyone with a higher kicker.
  • Tied for worst? Whoever has the most rolls left rolls first, until you’ve all used the same number; then the tied player nearest the Hammer goes. Once the others you’re tied with are out of rolls, you can take the tie (replay the same game, same High or Low, with fresh rolls) or roll to beat them. With only 2 players left in the game, a tie (or both missing) means no pencil and the Hammer passes. Alone at the bottom, there’s no choice: you roll until you’re out of rolls.
  • The loser takes a pencil and becomes the next Hammer. 3 pencils and you’re out, and the Hammer skips you.

Repeat until one player remains: they win the pot.