About Five Dice
Solo Five Dice: thirteen turns, one card, and your best score to beat. Three rolls a turn, hold what you like, and fill every box once.
Five Dice is the classic dice game of rolling for combinations. Each turn you get up to three rolls of five dice, keeping the ones you like, and then score the result in one of thirteen boxes on your card: the numbers one to six, three and four of a kind, a full house, two straights, five of a kind and chance. Fill every box once and chase the highest total.
Also called: dice poker, dice game, five dice game.
How to play Five Dice
- Press Roll to throw all five dice.
- Tap any dice you want to hold. They turn yellow and stay put. Roll again to throw the rest. You get up to three rolls a turn, and you can hold or release different dice between rolls.
- At any point after your first roll, tap a box on the score card to score your dice there. Every open box shows, in a dashed outline, what it would score right now.
- Each box can be used only once, so sometimes you have to take a zero. After thirteen turns the card is full and the game ends.
- In Solo, try to beat your best score. Against the Computer, you take turns on the same kind of card and the higher total wins.
Rules
- Upper section: Ones to Sixes score the total of the dice showing that number. Three 4s in Fours scores 12.
- Upper bonus: if your upper boxes add up to 63 or more (three of each number is exactly 63), you get +35.
- Three of a kind and Four of a kind: at least three (or four) dice the same; score the total of all five dice.
- Full house: three of one number and two of another, 25 points. Small straight: four numbers in a row (1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6), 30 points. Large straight: five in a row, 40 points.
- Five of a kind: all five dice the same, 50 points. Chance: any dice, score the total.
- Extra five of a kind: every further five of a kind is worth a +100 bonus, as long as you scored 50 in the Five of a kind box (a zero there means no bonus).
- The joker rule: when you roll five of a kind and the Five of a kind box is already filled, you must score it in the matching upper box if that is open. If it isn’t, you may use any open lower box, and Full house, Small straight and Large straight score their full 25, 30 and 40. If every lower box is filled too, you must take a zero in an open upper box.
Five Dice tips and strategy
- Aim for the upper bonus. Three of each number gets you there exactly, so four 5s or 6s buys slack for a weak Ones or Twos. Put small totals in Ones and Twos, not in Chance.
- Keep Chance for emergencies. It rescues a turn that went nowhere; using it early for 18 points often costs more later.
- With a pair or three of a kind early in the game, keep them and roll for more of the same: they feed the upper section, three and four of a kind, and five of a kind.
- An open-ended run like 2-3-4-5 has two numbers that make a large straight, so keep it and roll the fifth die. 1-2-3-4 has only one.
- If you must take a zero, take it where it hurts least: Ones, or Five of a kind late in the game when time is running out.
Five Dice questions
What happens if I roll five of a kind twice?
If you scored 50 in the Five of a kind box, each extra five of a kind earns a +100 bonus, and the joker rule tells you which box the dice go in. The card shows your bonuses under the lower section.
Why can I only pick one box sometimes?
That is the joker rule: with five of a kind and the Five of a kind box already filled, you must use the matching upper box if it is still open. The other boxes are greyed out.
How good is the computer?
Hard works out the expected value of every way to hold the dice, over every possible reroll, and scores with an eye on the upper bonus and what each box is usually worth. It averages about 245 points a game. Normal uses the same search but only chases points, and averages about 225. Easy keeps its most common number and settles early, at around 170.
Is the game saved if I leave?
Yes. Every roll and every box is saved in your browser, so a reload carries on from the same dice. Your best score and games played are kept too.
Are the dice fair?
Yes. Every game has its own random seed, and each roll draws five fair dice from it. The computer sees the same dice as you do, only when they are rolled.
Is Five Dice free to play?
Yes. Five Dice on Kultured Arcade is completely free: no download, no account and nothing to buy. It runs in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer.
Can I play Five Dice on my phone?
Yes. The game fits your screen and works with touch as well as a mouse and keyboard, on iPhone, Android, tablets and computers.