Rob and the California George Family

In Tina's Christmas post, she mentioned that Lee got a dice game for Christmas. This reminded me of a dice game that our whole family has a lot of fun with. The rules that we use are below.

As I wrote this entry, I searched for references to Zonk. It seems like there are various variations floating around out there that we have not tried (including some that reference it as a marijuana smoking related game). Some versions use 5 dice, although we learned it using 6 dice.

Here are some examples:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~shipwrek/zonk/captjack.html

http://www.reload.ws/zonk/rules.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1006516

Here is a strategy site for a 5 dice version of the game:
http://worksunpublished.org/zonk/zonkStrategies.html

The rules below are a fun way to play that works for us though (with no drugs involved).

ZONK
A Dice Game

1. 6 (six) dice are required to play the game.

2. The object of the game is to go out with 10,000 points or more. After a person ends a turn with over 10,000 points, all of the other players are allowed one last turn to see if they can get a higher score. After all have tried, the person with the highest score wins the game. The winning player begins the next game.

3. A score of 500 points is required to get “on the board” (meaning to start tracking your score). There is no further minimum requirement. After you have started tracking your score, then there is no minimum score for following turns.

4. You can control the dice and continue to roll them as long as you get any scoring combination on your roll. If you successfully roll the dice until all 6 (six) score then you count the total of the dice and are allowed to start throwing all dice again. This can be continued as long as each roll scores points. If you continue to roll after scoring on a turn and do not roll a scoring combination on your roll, then you lose all points for that turn (i.e., a "Zonk").

5. Scoring
When you decide to stop rolling, calculate your score according to the table below. Only 1’s and 5’s score anything when rolled alone. All other values must be rolled together to make a scoring combination.

Rolling 1’s, When rolled singly = 100
Thrown in sets of three = 1000

Each added ‘1’ thrown at the same time doubles the score.
Four thrown at once = 2000
Five thrown at once = 4000
Six thrown at once = 8000

Rolling 5’s, When rolled singly = 50
Thrown in sets of three = 500

Each added ‘5’ thrown at the same time doubles the score.
Four thrown at once = 1000
Five thrown at once = 2000
Six thrown at once = 4000

3 of a kind (2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 6’s) = 100x face value of dice
Example:
Roll three 4’s = 400
Roll three 6’s = 600

Double the ‘3 of a kind’ score for each added die rolled at the same time

Example:
Roll four 4’s = 800
Roll five 4’s = 1600
Roll six 4’s = 3200

3 pair thrown all at once = 1500

3 of one number and 3 of another thrown all at once = 1000

A straight (1,2,3,4,5,6) thrown all at once = 2000

The roller can decide how to score the dice if multiple options are available.
Example: Roll four 2's and two 1's in a single roll of all six dice.
Score option 1 uses four 2's = 400 and two 1's = 200 for a total of 600
Score option 2 uses 2 pairs of 2's and one pair of 3's for 3 pair = 1500
Note that with this example the roller can pickup all six dice and roll again to continue scoring. However, this runs the risk of a Zonk and losing all points for the turn.

To play a longer game, extend the required points to win to 20,000 or more.

Labels: Games