| I
learned about a simple dice game called "Piggy Six" or sometimes
just "Pig". I didn't think much of it at first, but after
playing it I have come to love it. It seems simple enough (there is only
one decision to make: either roll or stop), but it is very complex and
stressful when actually playing and has the added benefit of improving
one's math skills.
The Rules
Each player takes turns rolling 2 dice. His score is the sum of both dice,
and he can either stop after rolling them once, or he can keep rolling and
add the rolls together. Once he chooses to stop, he writes down his total
score for the turn and passes the dice to the next player. However, if on
any roll one of the dice shows a six, his turn ends immediately and he
gets zero for that turn. Additionally, if on any roll both dice show sixes
his turn ends immediately and he loses all points accumulated so far --
his total score goes to zero!
The game ends after one player
reaches 100 (or 50 for short games). Finish the current round so that
everyone gets the same number of turns. The player with the most points
wins.
So the game has very simple rules.
Six is bad, double sixes are very bad. The only choice a player has is
whether to roll again on his turn. Do you feel lucky (or greedy)? If
you're behind would you take chances to try and catch up, or would you
play it safe and hope the leader gets double sixes?
Large Groups Alternate Rules
This is a social game, but in large groups people may get bored waiting
for their turn. If you have more than 6 people, try playing with 2 sets of
dice. Start with one set, and when you get through half of the players,
start at the beginning player again with the second set. The sets of dice
will "follow" each other around the group and no one should wait
too long for their next turn.
Solitaire Play Alternate Rules
Normally Piggy Six should be played in groups. If you have no one to play
with and just have to get your piggy six fix you can try these solitaire
rules. You play against two imaginary opponents that you roll on behalf
of. Pick a score for each of them that they will stop at -- between 8 and
16 are good choices. For example, Imaginary Player 1 (IP1) will
"choose" to keep rolling until he gets a score of 8 or better on
his turn, while IP2 won't stop until he gets a score of 14 or better. See
if you can beat them when they play with fixed stopping points. See which
scores are harder to beat than others.
3-Dice Alternate Rules
I haven't play-tested this rules alteration. Let me know how it works for
you if you try it. Three dice are used instead of 2. On each player's turn
he chooses to roll either 1 dice, 2 dice or 3 dice. If he gets a six, he
gets zero for that turn, just as in standard play. If he gets double sixes
his score is reset back to zero, just as in standard play. Only the odds
change. If the player uses 1 dice, he has no chance of getting double
sixes, but his score increases slowly. If the player uses 3 dice, his
score may improve quickly. He is also much more likely to get double
sixes. The penalty is not increased for getting triple sixes -- it just
counts as double sixes.
Online Multi-Player Rules
There are dice rollers available on the Internet. One emails them a
command to roll 2 dice along with a list of the other player's email
addresses. The dice roller will roll the dice and send the results to each
player -- so it's fair and everyone knows what each player rolls. I
imagine this would be a slow way to play, but if you have no live
opponents.... Perhaps someone could combine the solitaire play rules above
with an automated dice roller so that one could play online against
"robot" opponents. I think it could be done in JavaScript fairly
easily by someone with programming experience.
Online Dice Rollers
Shadow Island's Dice Server
Irony Games' Dice Server
Titan Dice Roller
To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme
excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance
without fighting.
--Sun Tzu |