Invented by Howard Fosdick (V 2.0) © BestFreeNewGames.com
Overview: In this game you roll dice to obtain combinations that score points. It's similar to Yahtzee ® or Kismet ® but more exciting because the winner is often only decided by the last throws of the dice. And it's free!
Players: 2 to 4 individuals. Or 4 or 6 players paired into partnerships.
Equipment: 5 dice plus the enclosed scoring sheet.
Objective: Achieve the highest score.
Phases: The game is played in two phases.
Phase I: Roll to see who goes first.
In your turn, you:
1. Roll the five dice up to three times to obtain any of the scoring combinations
2. After the first and second rolls, choose the dice you want to keep and roll the remaining dice again
3. Stop rolling the dice at any time if you achieve a satisfactory combination
4. After your three rolls, you must write a score into one of the boxes on your Score Sheet
Scoring:
Scorable combinations are listed down the left-hand side of the Score Sheet. Inside the parentheses after each "combo" is its scoring value.
A player can enter his score for his turn in either of two columns -- his left-hand column or his right-hand column (labeled Doubled on the Score Sheet).
For example, a Big Straight entered in a player's left-hand column scores 40 points, while a Big Straight entered into his right-hand or "Doubled Column" scores 80 points.
As the game progresses, a player will have fewer and fewer boxes into which to enter scores. He may even find himself unable to attain certain combinations. In this case he is forced to record a score of 0 for that combo.
Phase I ends when all players have entered some value (or 0) into each box of their two columns.
Phase II - the Doubling Round: At the end of the Phase I, total the players' scores. Whoever has the lowest score takes the first turn in Phase II.
In Phase II, enter all scores in the columns labeled Doubling Round on the right side of the Score Sheet.
Phase II play follows the same rules as Phase I -- except that only one player can score for each combination. The other player(s) will score 0 for that combo.
For example, Player A takes a turn and scores for 4-of-a-Kind. All Phase II scores are doubled, so he scores 40 times 2 or 80 points for that combination. He writes that value into his Doubling Round box for that combo.
Since only one player may score for each combination in Phase II, his opponent(s) must record a score of 0 for the 4-of-a-Kind combo in their column(s).
If a player is forced to write a 0 for any combination at the end of his turn, all other player(s) also score 0 for that combo as well.
Bonuses: Note the two lines labeled Bonus in the Score Sheet.
In Phase I, players score a bonus when they achieve positive scores for each of the three combinations listed above that Bonus in the Score Sheet. Players score separate bonuses for both their regular score column and their Doubled Column.
For example, record all three kinds of Straights without a 0 among them in a column, and you score an extra 30 point Bonus.
Phase I Bonuses are never doubled. So even if you obtain all three straights in your Phase I Doubled Column, that bonus is still 30 points.
In Phase II, a player scores a bonus only if he alone scored all three of the combos required for that bonus. Phase II bonuses are always doubled, just like all other Phase II scores.
| Combo: | Points: | Description: | Examples: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-of-a-Kind | 50 | Any five dice that show the same number | 1-1-1-1-1 or 4-4-4-4-4 |
| 4-of-a-Kind | 40 | Any four dice that show the same number | 1-1-1-1 or 3-3-3-3 |
| 3-of-a-Kind --or--- Full House |
20 --or--- 30 |
Any three dice that show the same number --or----------- Three of any one number, and two of any other number |
3-of-a-Kind: 2-2-2 or 3-3-3 --or-- Full House: 2-2-5-5-5 or 6-6-6-1-1 |
| Bonus | 40 | For successfully completing all three combos above | |
| Big Straight | 40 | All five dice in sequence | 1-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6 |
| Small Straight | 25 | Four dice in sequence | 1-2-3-4 or 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6 |
| Skip Straight | 20 | Three dice in skipped straight sequence | 1-3-5 or 2-4-6 |
| Bonus | 30 | For successfully completing all three combos above | |
| Sum of Dice | varies | The sum total of all dice | Any random set of 5 dice |
For the row labeled 3-of-a-Kind --or-- Full House, players either score for one combo or the other. Thus, they must choose whether to score for 3-of-a-Kind or a Full House in those boxes.
Click here to print our PDF Score Sheet. Or print the Scoring Sheets below...
| Player 1: | Player 1 Doubled: |
Player 2: | Player 2 Doubled: |
Doubling Round - Player 1: |
Doubling Round - Player 2: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-of-a-Kind (50) | ||||||
| 4-of-a-Kind (40) | ||||||
| 3-of-a-Kind (20) ---OR--- Full House (30) |
||||||
| BONUS (40) | ||||||
| Big Straight (40) | ||||||
| Small Straight (25) | ||||||
| Skip Straight (20) | ||||||
| BONUS (30) | ||||||
| Sum of Dice (varies) | ||||||
| TOTALS: | ||||||
| GRAND TOTALS: |
| Player 1: |
Player 1 Doubled: |
Player 2: |
Player 2 Doubled: |
Player 3: |
Player 3 Doubled: |
Doubling Round - Player 1: |
Doubling Round - Player 2: |
Doubling Round - Player 3: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-of-a-Kind (50) | |||||||||
| 4-of-a-Kind (40) | |||||||||
| 3-of-a-Kind (20) ---OR--- Full House (30) |
|||||||||
| BONUS (40) | |||||||||
| Big Straight (40) | |||||||||
| Small Straight (25) | |||||||||
| Skip Straight (20) | |||||||||
| BONUS (30) | |||||||||
| Sum of Dice (varies) | |||||||||
| TOTALS: | |||||||||
| GRAND TOTALS: |
Partnerships: Playable with 4 or 6 players paired into partnerships. Partners play together and alternate turns with the dice.
Tips for Play:
As in any dice game, play the odds when choosing your target combinations. But be aware that the points awarded for various combos can not strictly reflect their statistical likelihood.
Be flexible enough to change your target combination in mid-turn when appropriate. You don't have to stick with the goal you came up with after your first roll into your last roll.
In each round you will likely be forced to write one or more zero entries. Strategize their placement to minimize your potential losses. Many players fill in zeroes for the hardest entries late in the round -- for 5-of-a-Kind, and sometimes for 4-of-a-Kind or Large Straight. Put zeroes in your non-doubled column whenever possible.
The two easiest categories to obtain are Sum of Dice and the Skip Straight. The hardest is 5-of-a-Kind, commonly called the Bomb.
Totals for "Sum of Dice" range from 5 to 30, with a median of 17.5. A doubled high Sum scores as much as one of the major categories. So if possible, avoid using this box as a catch-all for failed rolls.
The odds for obtaining a 5-of-a-kind in a turn is roughly 4.6 percent. Thus you can anticipate one bomb about every 22 turns. This suggests between one and two bombs per two-player game, and between two and three in a three-player game.
You can find other odds through any of several free online "dice calculators".
Analysis: Dice games of this kind are often called "category games". The basic idea is that players must score in each category of their scoring chart.
Category games include commercial offerings such as Yahtzee ® and Kismet ®. You don't have to buy anything to play ours, yet it offers greater scope for strategy.
Bona Fortuna is better because:
Phase I consists of 14 turns per player. The Lightning Round consists of 7 turns. The two-player game thus consists of 35 turns total. The three-player game consists of 49 turns total.
A Big Straight scores higher than a Full House. This reflects dice probabilities rather than the chances for these combos with playing cards (where the relationship is reversed).