Roll Five

Overview

This is a game for two to four players involving dice, a deck of numbered cards, and strategic bidding. Each player attempts to assemble either the highest or lowest score possible by pairing rolled dice with their cards.

Components

• A card deck with several (4 for 2 players, 5 for 3 or 4 players) copies of each number from 1 (or Ace) to 6. Colors and suits are irrelevant.
• For each player:
• Two cards to indicate "high" and "low", such as a King and a Jack;
• 5 six-sided dice (d6);
• Optional: tokens, chips, or another method of tracking wins.

Start

Shuffle the deck and deal each player a row of 5 face-down cards.

Each player takes 5 dice.

Agree on the game mode: Casual (ties are just ties) or Tournament (resolve ties via tiebreakers).

Gameplay

Your goal is to pair each die with a card so that, where possible, the resulting score works toward either the highest or lowest score in the game. (See the Scoring section for more detail.)

You may peek at the cards in your tableau at any time.

Roll & Pair

The game proceeds in five turns, each turn taken simultaneously by all players.

On each turn, you will:

• Roll all of your remaining available dice; that is, your dice that have not yet been paired with a card.
• Choose one die from the roll.
• Place it on one of your cards that doesn't already have a die on it.
• Gather your remaining dice into hand to signal that you've completed your turn.
• Wait for all other players to complete their turn.

Declare Bids

After five turns, when all dice from all players have been rolled and paired, you declare your "High" or "Low" bid by placing the appropriate card face down in your play area. All players reveal their choice to each other simultaneously. Then, reveal your cards, taking care to preserve the card/dice pairings.

Scoring

For a High bid:

• Add the values of each pair of card/dice
• Discard all pairs whose sum is greater than 7

For a Low bid:

• Subtract each dice value from its paired card value
• Discard all pairs whose difference is negative (below 0)

A player who has the most remaining pairs immediately wins.

In "Tournament" play, you can attempt to break a tie by determining which player most closely approaches the best possible score for their bid (0 for low bids, 35 for high bids).

Revision History

• 2025-05-22: First published online.

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